Grilling Tips

Public grilling is not for the faint of heart. Anyone who has ever had a group over to their house for a cookout knows this from personal experience. There’s always at least one guy, and often more than one, who will gather around the grill, telling you between swigs of their beer that it looks like the hot dogs are done, the brats need a bit more time, and the burgers are ready to be turned. Basically, everyone who has ever wielded a spatula is a grilling expert who is not shy about dispensing unsolicited advice.

Chuck Schumer, the senior senator from New York and Senate Majority Leader, learned this lesson the hard way when he published a Father’s Day post on the social media platform X with a picture of him at the grill. The Senator’s post noted that he has lived in an apartment all his life and is a grilling newbie–so he was apparently unaware that any published display of grilling is going to elicit a wave of comment and criticism about the griller’s technique and the condition of the food.

Sure enough, Senator Schumer got plenty of responses. Some people questioned the heat settings on the grill. Some wanted to know why the hot dogs looked to be fully cooked while the hamburgers were still raw, when everyone know that, if you want the dogs and the burgers to be done at about the same time, you have to start the burgers first. Others wanted to know why the poor Senator was using the spatula to balance a raw hamburger patty, when seasoned grillers understand that you’re much less likely to experience a dropped patty incident if you put them on the grill by hand.

But the piece of cheese on the still raw hamburger patty drew the most comment, because it’s hard to see you could actually cook the burger that way. In fact, it makes you wonder if Senator Schumer not only has never manned a grill, but has never been to a cookout or watched others flip a burger. But hey–Senator Schumer’s political instincts remain strong, because at least the cheese appeared to be a slice of American cheese.

Senator Schumer quickly deleted the post, as indicated in the photo above, and his office apparently has made no comment about the incident. It’s just another affirmation of a lesson as old as time: if you can’t stand the heat, step away from the grill.