You can thank American GIs for your backyard grill
What would Don Draper grill?
The recipe for American grilling involves Henry Ford, a buoy, and the modern war machine.
Next time you fire up the Weber (or these days, the smart grill) thank the military and its service members. In a span of 10 years, they popularized the basic grill design and backyard lifestyle we still know today.
Before World War II, grilling in the United States centered on travel and adventure. In the 1930s, people hauled “fire boxes” to their campsites, where they duplicated home preparations by cooking dishes in pans over charcoal. Ford designed “picnic kits” filled with charcoal and portable grills, which accessorized each Model T purchase.
Then, in 1942, the Army gave the Coleman Company 60 days to design and manufacture a portable cooking device for soldiers. Dubbed the Pocket Stove, the resulting unit was roughly the size of a quart of milk and weighed five pounds.
When middle-class GIs returned from war and settled down in the suburbs with their young families, grilling took off as an American pastime. Go figure, they had become accustomed to cooking outdoors.
In the late 1940s, homeowners ordered permanently constructed grills for their backyards. Marketed as “barbeque broilers,” they were made of bulky brick with a chimney for ventilation.
But then Weber changed the cook-out game forever. Founder George Stephen invented the iconic kettle grill in 1951. To achieve a hemispherical design for evenly distributed heat, Stephen cut a marine buoy in half, then laid charcoal briquettes in the bottom and a grate across the top. The kettle retailed for $29.95 (about $271, adjusted for today’s inflation).
Once Americans had the relatively inexpensive and portable technology, demand skyrocketed. Commercial barbecue device sales jumped from $1 million in 1952 to $75 million in 1959. By 1958, one-third of American families had a backyard grill or fireplace. Up until then, advertising had been predictable: Pair your cookout with a refreshing Coca-Cola or a Schlitz beer. But in the mid-’50s barbecuing helped sell everything from “sports shirts” (a.k.a, short-sleeve button downs) to cellophane.
On the rare occasion Don Draper barbecued — between bedding secretaries and being a functional alcoholic — he likely used a 1960 Weber Galley-Que, whose technology kept the grill level even on a boat.
As the country prospered and nuclear families turned to domestic technology, home cooking blushed with convenience and playfulness: TV dinners for weeknights and club steaks on the weekends. Popular cookbooks like Big Boy Barbecue Book touted the benefits of ‘cuing:
“Husbands become the experts and do the barbecuing. Wives take it easy. All they have to do is make the salad and dessert.”
Today, we encourage all genders to grill their grass-stained tushies off. Since the suburban cookouts of post-WWII, consumer grill technology has proliferated, and in some cases, headed indoors. Infrared burners took off in 1980s restaurants; the 1994 George Foreman Grill drained fat juice into a convenient tray; today’s Lynx SmartGrill ($2,399 and up) is large in size but does everything except mend your trousers, including respond to voice control.
Like everything else, even grilling is focused on what’s new and next. But this summer, maybe hat tip the veterans who inspired mainstream barbecuing in the first place. Then get down to brisket town.
