Grilling "In" in Kazakhstan

Hard at work grilling lunch.

For guys there is just something about cooking on an open flame. I'm sure it goes back to the days of the Joe Cave Dweller who went out and killed a dinosaur and then carried it back home and cooked it over a roaring fire, while his adoring wife looked on in amazement. That's one theory anyway.


Maybe it's just that guys like meat and fire. That could be it. Either way, one of the things I've missed most while we have lived in Kazakhstan is cooking meat over fire - commonly known as grilling unless you live in the North where the Yanks call it barbecuing. Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of finely grilled meat. This love men have for cooking meat over fire is global and the Kazakhs do a fine job. Shashlik, which is just meat of any kind grilled on a stick, is a delicious meal. 


But buying your grilled meat just isn't the same as getting out there and starting the fire and hearing the sizzle when you plop the meat down on the grill. So, I've had withdrawals. Because of our housing situation, grilling out isn't really an option for me.

The homemade grill.

So, a few weeks ago, I decided to grill in. Jennifer and I went to the market and purchased some high-quality horse-meat hot dogs. (Given the situation, mostly the cleaning that would follow, this is the best I could do on the meat.) Then I came home and went all McGyver by rigging up a grill. I took the grate from our oven and flipped it upside down on our stove. Then I cranked the gas all the way up on the stove so that they flames would reach the grate and tossed on some hot dogs.


In just a few minutes, Jennifer and I were sitting in front of the computer - that's how we watch things here in Kazakhstan - enjoying a hot dog and a college football game. It was like little America in here, and I had my "cooking-over-fire" fix.