The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I'd say grilling is influenced by the heat level, which depends on source.  I find gas to be insufficiently hot.  Charcoal of course is among the best, and these high end ovens at steak houses are great.  A cast iron skillet can be great too.  Cast iron on an induction cook top ....

Wood is not great unless you let it burn to coals, that off gasses the volatiles that otherwise keep the heat down.

Agree for the most part.  But flavor can be influenced by a lot more than just the Maillard reaction. Hence, steaks grilled over mesquite coals taste different (and better IMO) than steaks cooked solely on a cast iron skillet.

Definitely have to burn wood to coals for grilling, but for BBQ this is not necessary.  Some of the "dirty" smoke is absolutely necessary, to get where you need to go.

Taking the oldest son to college tomorrow. He’ll be a sophomore at Sam Houston State. Coincidentally A&M and Sam play each other in the first game. I guess I need to find one of those “ house divided” shirts.

My son also went to Sam Houston so Ive been there

Yup, got himself ousted as governor because of it.  He was a good man for the most part.

Sam Houston was against slavery.

Was he?
I know that he was against secession, and he delivered one of the pithiest and most perceptive explanation for why secession would fail.
But I'm not aware of his anti-slavery stance.

Yes, Sam was against secession, and yes, his stance on slavery overall is more nuanced than I suggested.  He was against its westward expension on practical grounds.  And he thought emancipation would result in a calamity.

Houston initially had the support of many of his constituents in Texas. As more slaveholders moved into the state,^[18] he suffered politically for holding firm to his belief that every state should decide for itself whether it wanted to be a slave state. The only Southern Democrat to vote against the act, the Texas legislature did not reappoint him to the Senate, but allowed him to finish out his term until March 4, 1859.^[2] It later earned him a spot, though, in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.^[19] Houston said of his stance: "The glory of my life was that I had the moral manhood on that occasion to stand up against the influences which surrounded me, and to be honest in the worst of times."^[20] Houston lost the 1857 Texas gubernatorial election against Hardin Richard Runnels, but defeated Runnels in the 1859 election, becoming the 7th Governor of Texas.^[2]
Speech on slavery (1855)[edit]
Houston gave a speech on slavery on February 22, 1855, in Boston in which he stated that each of the original states relied on slave labor, although Northern states later outlawed slavery. He felt that each state should determine whether to allow slavery or not.^[21]
Houston stated that progress in the United States was due to the supply of low-cost foreign labor, and if low-cost foreign labor could be sustained without the capital investment to purchase black people, slavery would die. He expressed his belief that blacks were better suited to performing long hours of hard work in hot weather in a way that white people could not sustain. Throughout his speech, Houston talked of the need for Northern and Southern states to work together for their individual and mutual interests.^[22] The products of slave labor, sugar, and cotton were purchased by Northern states so that there was a mutual dependence on slavery.^[21]
He felt that if enslaved people were to be freed altogether, they would end up living on the streets without jobs, without means to sustain themselves, and the Southern economy would be ruined.^[23]
He expressed his opinion about a possible future for enslaved people in the Colony of Liberia:

There they can rise to the stature of man; there they are prospering and doing well, where there is no opposing race, and they are not trodden down. The slave turned loose here cannot rise to the condition of the white race, and the white race cannot sink to the condition of the black man. Hence the system of transportation to Liberia is the only one that seems to loom up in the distance, by which a provision can be made f

I can envision the five or six of us settin' on a porch perhaps with a few cold ones and the conversation might drift about a bit, and probably should be recorded for posterity.

Food and drink seem to be common themes, especially chili and BBQ, and I think we're all down with that.  What is Number Three on that list?