Grill+Meat

Yo one, yo all:

This past Saturday night followed a gloriously sunny and temperate day, which meant meant had to find its way onto my grill. Local grocery store X (aka Harris Teeter) provided the meats: 1 rack of beef back ribs (not baby backs, regular backs), some italian sausages, and some chicken thighs.

I took my beef ribs, which I had to cut in half because there was no container I have that would contain them for the dry rub process I was about to have them undergo. That process was short and sweet, as follows: (1) add lime juice; (2) add tons of BBQ 3000 spice; (3) let sit in Ziploc bag for 1 day. (Did you hear that, yea, that's right, I said Ziploc. Not zip-top, zipper bag, or any other lame, generic, and non-brand specific names that they have to use on Emeril and Rachel Ray. )

The chicken met with some Northwoods Fire rub, and the sausages stayed naked.

After seeing ribs several times at the store, I decided it was my prerogative, even my responsibility, as a good Texan to know how to make ribs right. So, I started these bad boys off in some foil packets so as to keep in their juices while they cooked in my low temperature oven. I let them sit for about 2 hours in the 220 degree oven, and pulled them out about half an hour before I was ready to let them hit the grill.

Keeping them in their foil packets, I added a little worcestershire sauce to one half of my rack. I honestly am not sure if it added much, but that one was looking a tad dry and I felt the need to add moisture other than either water or bottled barbecue sauce.

I let the ribs grill over indirect heat (push 1/2 your briquets to one side and the other 1/2 to the other) for a good 30 minutes as we had a beer to start things off. The rules say, if you are grilling you must have a beer. I know because I have read them. On this particular night, it was a Newcastle, which goes surprisingly nice with 60 degrees, no mosquitos, and a quiet night.

The chicken thighs, as I am sure I have mentioned before, got their fill of sitting right on top of the fire, as did the sausage. I pulled the sausage off after about 15 minutes, as it was starting to get a tad too dried out. For the chicken, I know that the thigh will take a lot of heat before it gets dried out, so I let it go for about 18-20 minutes. This made for delicious chicken. Also, I keep the lid on my grill for most of the time I am cooking. I will pull it off to check things and turn my meats every 10 minutes or so, especially with the chicken/sausage combo working up. This also allows oxygen into the fire, which brings back the flame to where it should be.

All said, this grilling experience was a winner.

Oh, yes, there were 2 salads, of Misty creation: 1--potato salad (quartered small red potatoes, coated in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and oven-roasted til brown and crispy in a 350 degree oven; let cool; add the dressing [olive oil, grey poupon, rice wine vinegar, chopped green onion, paprika]); and 2--greek salad (diced cucumber, onion, red pepper, tomato, feta, olive oil -- done!)

This dinner rocked your world!