A Salute to Steak
Booth and Hodgins had been planning their cookout for a month, watching meat sales like their mothers once did to snag some good buys on filet mignon in order properly to celebrate their new favorite holiday, National Filet Mignon Day. Brennan was taking a dim view of this event, a given considering her preference for tofu and any other non-meat main dish she could think of whenever Booth started up his backyard charcoal grill.
Although she had surprised him the previous Father's Day with a high-end grill, which could utilize either propane or natural gas, she would always opt for vegetable kabobs or seafood rather than meat. Booth had been thoroughly delighted with his gifted grill, but also hung onto the charcoal version he'd inherited from Pops. When she questioned his need to keep the older style Weber grill, her husband had enlightened her enthusiastically about its virtues.
"A gas grill is marvelous, but it can't capture the aroma or added taste of smoking meat over hickory chips, cherry wood, or similar additions to the Kingsford charcoal briquets my grandfather always used," he had declared.
Booth's Grams was equally skilled at outdoor meat cooking with a personal preference for mesquite and apple wood chunks. A long-ago trip to visit grandparents in Chicago with her parents had introduced her to the smell and taste of mesquite-smoked meat. Grams' Midwestern family lived next door to George Stephens, a part-owner in the Weber Brothers sheet metal shop.
This neighbor cooked on a brazier grill at home and spent several years tinkering in his spare time, trying different ideas to make a larger grill. Mema and Papa Henderson, Grams' beloved grandparents, were addicted to Mr. Stephens' steaks and purchased one of his first "Barbeque Kettles". Stephens eventually formed a barbeque division of the Weber Company and bought out the brothers. He had sold several varieties of smoking wood by catalog and Grams ordered mesquite chunks from him for years.
Hodgins had developed his taste for smoked and barbequed meat from the same company; his father having heard of "George's Barbeque Kettles" from an old Harvard classmate. The two men spent hours comparing notes on family recipes and traditions; how long to let the grill heat up before adding the wood chunks, how long to let them burn down, what kind of marinades worked best; on and on until Angela and Brennan rolled their eyes, poured each other more wine, and enjoyed another piece of Carly's Original cheesecake together.
When the much-anticipated day arrived, the Booth-Brennan family arrived at Hodgin's home right after breakfast. The families played badminton and croquet until lunch, then shared ham sandwiches which Christine had proudly prepared at home the night before. Afterwards, the kids and their mothers enjoyed the pool while the fathers cooked hamburgers and franks to satisfy their children, veggie kabobs and shrimp for the ladies, and filet mignon steaks for themselves. Hodgins liked his wrapped in bacon, while Booth preferred his plain, and the thicker, the better.
At 6 pm, they all sat down to a picnic dinner in the greenhouse whose louvered windows were open to an unseasonably cool August breeze. A Caesar salad, homemade rolls, German potato salad, and "heavenly hash" completed the menu. The latter was Max Keenan's specialty. There are almost as many variations of this fruit salad as there are churches where ladies prepare delectable meals, but Brennan's father favored a version which featured lime jello rather than any of the traditional pink fluff cherry recipes.
As a child, Russ had hated cherries and Brennan had disliked coconut, so Ruth/Christine had altered the time-honored treat to suit her kids. She used lime jello, pineapple, miniature marshmallows, sliced green grapes or bananas, and real whipped cream whenever their budget could afford it, or Cool Whip if necessary. This first year since Max's demise, Angela had volunteered to make the pale green creamy recipe, claiming she needed the practice. Brennan knew exactly what her friend was up to and hugged her silently as she blinked away tears. She hoped her children could enjoy it without missing Granpa Max.
Their celebratory meal went off without a hitch, and Parker thoughtfully cleared the table as Angela and Brennan cut generous slices of French Silk pie for the adults and scooped ice cream topped with chocolate syrup for their kiddos. Paper plates and plastic cutlery made clean-up a breeze. As the sun set, the last of the Fourth of July sparklers were carefully lit and shared before the two families bid each other goodbye.
"We need to make this an annual event, Booth!" Hodgins exclaimed happily. "Filet Mignon is the best cut of meat around."
"Let's see what meat prices look like next year, buddy. We can also try the pork version, if you'd like. My Pops made those taste every bit as good as steak; and in a family that loved meat, that was saying something." Booth replied.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Hodgins agreed. "Or we can grill both."
"Thanks for having us; we enjoyed this so much."
"It was our pleasure. We all needed a break after Covid messed up holidays the last couple of years," Angela remarked. "Have a relaxing Sunday tomorrow and we'll see you at the lab on Monday."
A/N: My dad was a charcoal/barbeque/grilling master who got his first grill from a neighbor whose company manufactured them out of cast aluminum. The love of meat runs deep in our family, so a story about this holiday is a perfect fit for me.