Foody Friday: Independence Day 2025 Edition

When I was a kid, summer, really starting in May and running through September, was when my family earned their living for the entire year on the farm.  Work often went on seven days a week, there were few breaks in the summer season. One big exception was the 4th of July, Independence Day.  The farm would shut down for the day, often for just the one day. The family, and I come from a small family, would gather and from this are fondly held food traditions. 

Often we would go to my Aunt Edith and Uncle Dick's house on Lake Orion. They had a house on Dollar Bay, on the back side of the lake, and a boat, and something my parents never really had, a charcoal grill.  My father found charcoal time consuming and messy, my mother obsessed that the grill was impossible to clean. A summer visit to the lake was always a treat. 

Hamburgers were always on the grill, and hotdogs. 

Hamburgers cooked on a charcoal grill have a flavor that is impossible to replicate without grilling.  I miss them. 

Hotdogs, and other sausages cooked on a charcoal grill char on the outside. My parents would grimace that they were burned, but the flavor that develops in that char is a fond memory of summer. With care, I can duplicate the char on the cooktop or under the broiler.  

There was always potato salad.  Boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, chopped onion and celery, Kraft Miracle Whip, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  I sometimes add more things, but I often revert back to that very basic formula. 

My mother would make baked beans. She had a secret for making baked beans, she boiled the beans until soft before putting them in to bake. The boiling yields a softer finished baked bean. Brown sugar, molasses and tomato paste were added and baked until caramelized. People would ask her how she made them, and she never mentioned the boiling part. I didn't realize until much later in life, that the thing that she did differently than most, was the vigorous boiling before baking.  She could turn the hardest bean, into something devine (hot or cold.) 

This year Independance Day is also the First Friday of the month. Our LGBTQ neighbors normally gather on First Friday. The restaurant will be doing a special limited menu and will be packed, the pool will be swamped with neighbors and guests, so we invited our friends to join us at our apartment. 

I am going to make hotdogs and other sausages, charred under the broiler if that is what people like, and potato salad.  Bringing back memories.