Here’s a link to a great site for BBQ recipes. He’s a friend from the “sticks of Virginia” so check out his site, The Wolfe Pit
Larry also has some of the best rubs this side of the Mississippi! Best of all you don’t have to buy those small 6oz containers of it at the store. You can buy the whole darned recipe and make it yourself whenever you want! Not many Qer’s will do that!
I just came across a few grilling statistics that got me thinking.
Let’s start with the easy one: Heinz 57 sales increase 25-30% during the summer season. Well no kidding. 57 is a good sauce for what it is. Originally developed when most meats were salt cured, 57 was designed to simply make steak taste better.
Today’s meats generally don’t require salt curing because of refridgeration technology, butchering and transportation advancements. There’s no need to buy a product just to cover the taste of the meat. Make your steak the main event of the show. Season with some salt and pepper, add a pat of homemade compound butter when plated and you’re all set.
Here’s an interesting stat: During summer, the Grilling Season, the average American family grills outside 5 times a month. People, it’s the GRILLING SEASON! I co0k outside 4-6 times a week during grilling season and 2-3 times in the off seasons!
My motto is: “If it can be cooked in an oven or on a stove top, you can cook it outside.” Try meatloaf on a grill. Make a breakfast Fatty. Pizza anyone? The key is Controlling Grill Temperature.
The last stat: 63% of Americans prefer gas over charcoal. Alright, I get the gas for convenience argument. Just tonight I grilled on my Ducane natural gas grill. Not my preference, but it’s raining and my gas grill is under cover.
The gas industry has sold the grill buying public a “Bill of Goods”. Food cooked over gas just doesn’t taste the same or as good. Flavorizor Bars? Please. Nothing beats the food drippings actually hitting hot coals and offering up that good smokey flavor in return.
Remember cooking over a fire while camping as a kid?
Cooking over coal is interactive. You have to work at it. You have to pay attention. However, once you get somewhat proficient you’ll enjoy it so much more than cooking over gas. Think of this, all your friends use their gas grills, but you stand there proud over a smokey kettle grill controlling live fire.
You ARE the man! Or woman. Whatever. You’re the coolest griller on the block.
My grilling arsenal is: Ducane (Weber) Meridian natural gas Stainless Steel with side burner, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, and a black Weber Performer. I want a Weber Rancher, but I have to find a cheap one on Craigslist to justify the purchase.
Here’s how I grilled a Porterhouse steak over a chimney starter. I saw Alton Brown do it with a Ribeye, so I figured what the heck, let’s see what happens. Boy was it easy.
Start by lighting 1/4, or less, of a chimney. Place cooking grate over chimney and let the coals become fully lit. Clean and oil the grate then place your steak on the grate over the chimney. Be careful! It gets seriously hot over that chimney.
After about two minutes flip the steak. Two minutes after that begin testing for doneness using the Poke Test as described below by Steven Raichlin.
I didn’t try to put crosshatch marks on the steak because I was concerned about over cooking due to the extreme heat. However, you can see I got some beautiful grill marks anyway.
My steak came out a perfect medium-rare to medium on the edges.
What I learned using this method is much less coal is needed to cook the food. I also wouldn’t cook a thick cut using this method as a thicker cut would require some indirect heat to finish without burning. Overall I give it an A+ and I’ll definitely use the chimney to cook over again.
Steven Raichlin, the author of The Barbecue Bible, describes the Poke Test as this:
Test for doneness using the poke test: A rare steak will be soft, a medium-rare steak will be gently yielding, and a medium steak will be firm.
Please note there is no description of a Well Done steak. I refer to a Well Done piece of meat as “Ruined”.
Porterhouse on a Chimney
How to clean a charcoal grill is a common question asked by new Pit Master Wanna Be’s. Here’s the quick and easy, down and dirty method for getting it right the first time.
Start by dumping your ash catcher before your next cook. You’ll probably need the room especially if you use a processed briquette like Kingsford.
After the cook remove the thermometer, if equiped, by pulling it straight out and set aside. Heck, take it in the house and wash it! The excessive heat you’re about to generate could ruin the therm.
Next step is to add a fully lit chimney of coal to the grill ( you may need two if your grill is super nasty). Be sure to spread all the coals around for a nice even burn. Ensure all the vents are wide open and crack the lid. It doesn’t take much, about 1/2″ is sufficient.
Now sit back and watch the smoke as your grill self cleans. Oh yeah, it’s going to smoke like crazy and it’s going to get “hyper” hot with the cracked lid.
After about an hour go ahead and scrape the cooking grate. If you have welding gloves you can even flip the grid over and brush the underside.
The next day, or many, many hours later, start removing the ashe in a safe manner and store them in a metal container.
Next use balled up household tin foil to scrape the inside of the grill including the lid. The tin foil won’t damage the ceramic baked on coating of good grill like a Weber kettle, but it will remove the “grill candy”.
Dump the ash catcher again, wash the outside and you’re done.
Hope this helps.
The keys to a good grill cleaning are heat, time, and safety.
OK, here’s how I grilled my first Fatty and what I learned. If you don’t know what a Fatty is, you’re about to find out what you’re missing. Seriously good eats! But just take notice, I did screw up a few things.
To start I cooked a few strips of bacon in the oven to my desired texture. Cook your bacon the way you like it, drain and set aside.
For grilling I’ve found the thinest bacon works the best, so buy the cheapest stuff you see.
I then sauteed 1/4 of a very large white onion and two minced cloves of garlic in butter. I always start with the onion, then add the garlic and pull from the heat when the kitchen smells of garlic and everything looks soft.
The sausage was placed on a large cutting board over clear wrap. I then worked the meat until I had about a 12″x14″ piece of meat. I then added the Onions and Garlic, spreading them out evenly across the meat. Then the Provolone and freshly chopped bacon was added.
I then rolled everything up and tucked the ends tightly to avoid gaps for the cheese to escape as it melted. At this point I used a commercial rib rub lightly dusted on the Fatty and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.
I cooked indirect on the Weber Performer at 350* until the Fatty hit 160*. Tented it and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
I found it to be a great treat for breakfast. Much better than just plain old sausage, but as you can see from the pics, I should have added some eggs to the plate. That would have completed it!
The problems I bumped into weren’t too serious, but did have an effect on the final product. Next time I need to use a rub without salt. The salt in the bacon and rub together were just too much.
I made a mess in the kitchen because I didn’t use clear wrap under the Fatty at all times. Bits and pieces of the meat stuck to the cutting board.
I used way too much onion and garlic. When the meat is wrapped it doesn’t take much to spread the taste out along the entire length of meat. I wasn’t happy with my prep on this.
We all make mistakes when cooking over live fire, especially when you’re trying something new, so Man-Up and give a Fatty a try. Just learn from my errors.
Look at those grill marks
Let’s look at how to grill a steak, potatoes, corn, squash and zucchini all on one grill. With proper temperature control it’s actually very easy.
Start out by building your fire using the Minion Method described here: Minion Method for a kettle grill
If you’re using a gas grill, heat one side so you can cook indirect.
I started with the potatoes since they take the longest. I brushed them with melted butter and covered in course sea salt. I put them on the grill indirect at 400*. When the spuds reached 185* internal temp things started picking up. I wouldn’t check the temp again, but I was shooting for 210*, or there about.
Next on the grill went the ham wrapped corn, also indirect, right next to the spuds. Lid on the grill I wouldn’t peek for 15 minutes or so. When they started finishing I removed the lid and moved the food as far from the fire as possible. This did two things for me, it let the fire build for the squash and zucchini (S&Z from here on out) and it also slowed the cooking of the corn because now most of the heat was escaping straight up and not acting like an oven.
I seasoned the S&Z with EVOO, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. On the grill uncovered grill they went. I kept a close eye on them and as soon as they got some handsome grill marks I rotated the 90* to cross hatch them. I then made a big mistake. I couldn’t resist playing with my 16 month old so the handsome grill marks charred themselves away. Oh well. I flipped them over and moved them as far from the fire at this point.
For the steak, I used just salt and pepper. Nothing Fancy. I flipped it at about 3 minutes and pulled all the food when the steak was gently yielding. Medium rare to be exact.
If it wasn’t for the S&Z being over charred, not overcooked might I add, the meal would have looked beautiful. As it was, it tasted great! Even the S&Z.
The key to cooking this much food on a grill is proper temperature control. Remember, if you can cook it in the oven, you can cook it over fire.
