# Do you BBQ in the winter?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 4, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588 "2007-03-04T22:41:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/1 "2007-03-04T22:41:15Z")
It’s 33 out. 24 farenheit with the wind chill. The sun is behind some clouds. The back yard is covered in snow that’s’ melted and re-frozen enough that it is now about 4 inches of rock hard slush, sorta white, sorta gray.
I just threw burgers on the grill. First time this winter. A few times a winter, I go and do it. Haven’t really been motivated yet but since it’s only March 4th and I live in sorta-Upstate NY, I still have at least a month of bitter cold left.
Nothing like enjoying a meal whose flavors are associated with hot sweltering days, when it’s wicked cold out and the trees are bare.
Who else does BBQ or grilling in the cold? What’s the worst weather you ever did it in? I went to the grill a few years ago after a 30 inch snowfall. It was a BLAST- the bottom of the grill melted the snow away from around it. Much fun.
Cartooniverse
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### Author:  [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/2 "2007-03-04T23:09:24Z")
**Cartooniverse** , not only do we grill in the winter, we throw a mid-winter cookout bash. About a 150-200 people and kids, snowmobiles, 4 wheelers, sleds, and tubes. We live on a lake, it’s great fun, coming up real soon. In some ways it’s a little more fun than the 4th of July party, because it breaks up the long winter. Burgers, brats, and anything else everybody brings.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/3 "2007-03-04T23:11:40Z")
Yes. We use our grill year round. I did last night as a matter of fact. Only heavy precipitation stops it.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/4 "2007-03-04T23:13:08Z")
Back in Northwest Florida, where it does get kinda cold in the winter, heck yes.
Cold or rain, no matter. It is worth it for the fine stuff that comes off that grill.
For the record, lowest temps we usually experience are around 30 degrees F.
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### Author:  [@EnginNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnginNerd)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/5 "2007-03-04T23:16:40Z")
I use my grill at least three times a week. That includes those wonderful sub-zero temperatures we’re occasionally exposed to here in Colorado. Coldest would probably have to be about -15 degrees, but I’m not sure. Even snow or rain won’t stop me, but I will scoot the grill a little closer to the sliding door out to the deck.
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### Author:  [@2pelo\_honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2pelo_honey)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/6 "2007-03-04T23:32:10Z")
I’m also in upstate NY, and have my grill on my covered back porch, so whenever the mood strikes me, I use it.
One memorable time was a New Year’s Eve several years ago, grilling steaks when it was about 10-15 below…even more memorable, although it wasn’t me actually doing it, was in the mid-70’s, and my older brother decided he wanted to grill some venison mid-winter. The house we grew up in had a flagstone fireplace down in one corner of the big backyard, and I remember seeing him tromping back up to the house, through a foot or two of snow, w/ his steaks and a very satisfied expression on his face.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/7 "2007-03-04T23:34:25Z")
We had pulled pork for Christmas dinner this past year. Grilling and smoking is a year round thing.
marc
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/8 "2007-03-04T23:38:05Z")
I had no choice a few months ago when we were without power for 6 days. Last night grilled a nice London broil for dinner. I use both my grills (gas and charcoal) and smoker year round.
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/9 "2007-03-04T23:40:27Z")
Northern Wisconsin here - I grill year round. I have a covered area off my back door, so snow doesn’t matter. I use charcoal with an electric starter and over the years I’ve learned to buy a spare before winter - if it breaks it is impossible to find one in the stores around here because no one carries grilling equipment in the winter.
I don’t really think about the weather; if I want to grill out I do.
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### Author:  [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/10 "2007-03-05T00:30:25Z")
All year here in Kentucky, or anywhere else I’ve lived, for that matter. About any weather except a thunderstorm is fair game. I grill about 2-3 times a week.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/11 "2007-03-05T00:38:43Z")
Yep. Last year we had Wednesday Night Barbecue. Winter, summer, cold, hot, raining, just two of us, or a whole gang… If it was Wednesday night, coals would be lit. Sometimes it would be a Big-Ass Steak (2-1/2 pound chuck roast seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning), other times it would be country-style pork ribs (no bones, and seasoned with an awesome marinade I threw together) or gigantic burgers. And there were usually bratwursts to go along with the other meat.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/12 "2007-03-05T00:39:24Z")
Absolutely- just last week, I tossed some garlic/onion stuffed burgers on the grill, and one day this week, I have a fine looking hunk of tenderloin waiting.
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### Author:  [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/13 "2007-03-05T00:39:43Z")
Well, it’s ‘winter’ here, and at the moment a bone chilling 69 degrees F. 😉
We grilled chicken last night. Tonight I’m attempting cedar planked salmon for the first time, with grilled garlic-lemon asparagus (and sauteed mushrooms and wild rice.)
So yes, we use it all year round.
But I used the grill I had year round in New Jersey too. I just love grilling.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/14 "2007-03-05T00:59:04Z")
I just got done grilling, as a matter of fact (beef shortribs in a quasi-Bulgogi marinade). I’ve probably grilled over a dozen times since the new year. I \*do \*live in SoCal, but I’m in the high desert. If I’m feeling like something grilled though, coals are lit, freezing or not.
I draw the line at rain, but only because I don’t have an adequately covered grilling area.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/15 "2007-03-05T01:03:51Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin]
I draw the line at rain, but only because I don’t have an adequately covered grilling area.
[/QUOTE]
Define ‘adequate’. 😃
BTW, I used to live in the high desert. Lancaster, in my teens and early-twenties.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/16 "2007-03-05T01:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
Define ‘adequate’. 😃
[/QUOTE]
Inadequate = none - I don’t even have a proper porch. Just me and the dirt and the sky. Since I’m out in the Acres, I don’t even have bare protection by way of the neighbors’ house. Not that that has ever stopped my burning desire for ribs and beer. No way. Especially if my SiL is enabling my grilling habit, as she often does. 😃
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/17 "2007-03-05T01:20:27Z")
I have a very small cover over the part of the patio nearest the house. Not a lot of protection from the weather, but enough to stay dry while grilling.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/18 "2007-03-05T01:50:07Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
I have a very small cover over the part of the patio nearest the house. Not a lot of protection from the weather, but enough to stay dry while grilling.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah - I need someone to enable me a deck, but I’ll probably be moving down below in a few years anyway. And then there will be no meteorological constraints on grilling. 😃
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/19 "2007-03-05T01:52:39Z")
We don’t have “cold” here, we also have very little rain. So I BBQ several times a week all year round.
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### Author:  [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bbq-in-the-winter/394588/20 "2007-03-05T01:59:56Z")
My dad always BBQs ribs on New Year’s Day, and since here is Central California, we BBQ year round. My parents have a huge covered patio, so even if if was rainy it was fine. Windy is a problem, and ever since my dad set himself on fire that one time, we don’t BBQ when it’s windy.
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