RIBS!!!

We had our Memorial Day BBQ Party (see next entry) but we cooked so much I had to split it into two blog entries! One for all the rest of the food and one for the...

RIBS!!!! Our first attempt ever! The night before, we made a barbeque rub - Kansas City-style - with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup paprika, 1 tbls chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder - and a few shakes of cayenne pepper. We rubbed that rub all over our four sections of RIBS - two racks cut in two - and then wrapped each individual 1/2 rack very tightly in plastic wrap. The ribs slept peacefully - unsuspectingly - in the fridge overnight...

RUB IT IN:


The plan for the Ribs on the day of the party was: 1. out of the fridge for 30 minutes, 2. transfered to triple-layered alumninum foil, 3. moistened with 1/4 of a beer poured into the one, last open end, 4. and sealed off tight. Then, the packages met a very low, covered grill (about 325 was the lowest I could get it) for 2.5 hours to simmer and steam in the rub and beer.

After all that time, take them off and let them rest for about 15 minutes. Then, out of the foil packs and back onto the grill for about 8 minutes/side, basting with bbq sauce (store bought - KC Masterpiece) that entire time. Just watch them closely and finish 'em like you want 'em.

SIMMER AND STEAM:


The result? Two of the four packs (the two bigger ends of each of the two racks) came out PERFECT - and the other two were RUINED!!!!! The smaller ones were charred to an unsaveable crisp, while the two bigger ones were perfectly tender and fell right off the bone.

This is just out of the foil, BEFORE I put them back on the grill to finish them with the bbq sauce:


So, it was 50% of a whopping success! These two 1/2 racks came out so delicious - SOOOOO TENDER! - with very subtle flavor from such a seemingly POWERFUL (sweet and spicy) rub... And the SMELLS from the grill all day while it was cooking out back - sweet and delicious!

Next time I will kill the 2nd burner too and just run the one (out of three) on the lowest possible setting. I KNOW we can get these to be competition-level! It is my mission this summer...

Grilled Sweet Potatoes, More Chicken, Pizza, and Ribs?

We've been eating... food!

We sliced sweet potatoes in one-inch, three-sided spears and dressed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper and grilled them 10 minutes each on the two non-skinned sides. They came out good and mushy with lots of charring - will do less time and move away from the direct flames next time, but this seems like a good alternative to boiling or roasting.

Still trying to perfect the split breasts on the grill... tried searing the skin side down, then turning and grilling indirectly for about 45 minutes (the temp in the grill maintained about 375)... Too charry on the skin side, wondering if should even put the skin side down? My brother says my dad's secret is to always be turning the food - but that goes against every recommendation I've read that says "don't turn any more than you have to!" I'll have to consult with the big man to get the real scoop.

We tried adding smoke to the chicken by putting an aluminum tray full of soaked hickory chips under the grill racks - that didn't seem to do very much! Perhaps I added too many in a big pile, next time I will try one layer and see if that helps...

Made pizza with that leftover dough from a while back that had been in the freezer. We made a VERY thin crust and made sure that the oven was a very hot 500 degrees this time... came out great with turkey pepperoni and sliced red peppers and mushrooms - no sauteing!

We have lots of summer vacation planned this year, but this weekend - Memorial Day weekend - we have no plans! Except for one plan, of course - to run the grill all weekend long. The weather for Sunday and Monday looks great.

So we wanted to try our very first attempt at ribs. Have been doing lots of research but if anyone out there reading this has any specific RIBS recipes or pointers, please leave them in comments! We are, as always, open to experimentation!

Thanks!

~S & M

Our Visitor

We had a visitor stay with us for almost a week - part of the reason we were posting so infrequently. Our nephew, Jackson, came and stayed with us in Boston! He is one year and two months old. He thoroughly enjoyed his visit, even though it rained the whole time.

Jack even got to go up to Maine and visit his Great-Grandmother, along with his Grandparents and Great Aunt and Uncle! We also went to Haverhill, MA later that same day and he got to meet his Dad's cousin and his Dad's cousin's daughter, Jordan! I guess that makes them cousins once removed?

He was very well behaved and a perfect house-guest... We wish the same could be said about his parents!



Here is Jack with his father!


He loves balloons and he was fascinated by our fish tank!


Bath time...


Jack and Jordan


Stacey has her hands full!!!


Dad reading to Jack and Jordan:


Jack and I sleeping after a long day in the car... We both get cranky without our naps.

A Life-Changing Event

Our lives changed today - changed forever for the better. A door to a new world has opened up for us, leaving us giddy with anticipation for what lies ahead. Our culinary lives will never be the same - indeed, the sky is now limitless - after this glorious day in May, 2006...

Today we got our grill!!!



We are looking forward to many years of use from the grill - a Weber Silver Series B. We got right to work by hooking up the tank and checking all the connections for leaks. Everything looking good, we wiped down the enameled cast iron grates, positioned the grill in the spot we wanted, and fired it up. Preheating it with all three burners on high takes about 10 minutes to get the grill to temperature - 600 degrees.

We immediately dove in with some Sirloin Steak Tips that had sat in worcestershire, steak seasoning, and water for 30 minutes. About 15 minutes total cooking time, turning to get all sides. We enjoyed these tender tips with chips and a cut up cuke for lunch, and plotted our night's sacrifice to the grill gods...

For our first evening with our new baby, we wanted to go big. We trimmed the fat off of a sampler pack of chicken pieces - two split breasts, three drumsticks, and three thighs - and put them in a freezer bag with a quick marinade of worcestershire, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic/onion powder and let them sit in the fridge for about an hour.

We peeled back the husks from two corns on the cobs and removed the silks, then put the husks back up and secured them with some kitchen string. We soaked those in cold water for an hour. We also cut up some red pepper into big chunks and let them sit in olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Preheated all three burners on high again (this is S.O.P.) then we turned all the burners down to medium, we put the chicken skin side down right down the center of the grill (horizontially). We let the skin side get a sear for a couple minutes, then flipped them over in their spot and turned off the center burner. This will allow for indirect cooking, having the front and back burners heating the grill cook the chicken without direct heat from below.

After 10 minutes, we added the corn to the medium direct heat in the back. Looking for 30 minutes for the corn, turning every 10 minutes.

With 15 minutes to go, we added the red peppers.



The drums came off first, then the thighs, corn and peppers and we were ready to eat. The breasts took a little longer - they'll be for leftovers after the GYM the next night.

Everything came out delicious! The peppers were wonderfully roasted - will definitely try charring whole peppers over high heat. The chicken was fantastic, perfectly cooked - we usually brine chicken pieces but didn't have the time, can't wait to try that. The corn was great, too - very SWEET! Maybe a few more minutes for the corn next time.

All-in-all, what a wonderful day - Banana pancakes with eggs and bacon for breakfast, tips and chips for lunch, and grilled chicken and corn for dinner!

THANKS to those that helped us buy this grill, we still had some Home Depot house-warming gift cards from friends and family. We had to buy the grill, the cover, the tank, fill the tank, and rent a Home Depot van to get it home... but with the gift certs, 10% off by opening a credit card (which is 0% APR for this purchase and will immediately be paid off and never used again), and a $50 gift card rebate, we were very happy with the cash out-of-pocket that we spent.

Looking forward to lots of experiments with the grill and really working to get the best flavor out of it by cooking on it ALL THE TIME!

Here's to many days of cooking outdoors this summer!



Love,

Stacey and Michael