A Fistful of Charcoal

Beef Ribs and Smoked Baked Potatoes

2008-05-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Pork ribs might be more popular, but nothing beets the looks of a huge rack of Beef ribs roasting away on the grill just like Fred Flinstone would eat.

The first thing to do was make the sauce that would be smeared on them, as well as used in the marinade. The sauce was ketchup based mixed with a number of other things to create a nice smokey flavour.

Next up was the marinade, which was mostly pineapple juice, some of the above sauce and a few other things.

While the marinade was simmering the ribs had to be prepped. Just like with Pork ribs the membrane on the back of these should be removed. Also just like Pork ribs I find the best way to remove this is by first getting it gone with your fingers and then use a paper towel to grip it as you pull it back. Now look at how bright and red these ribs were! Then have a look at what they looked like after 12 hours of being in the marinade, not nearly as bright red, but smelled of pineapple juice.

The ribs then smoked on medium heat for 4 hours with Alder wood. The meat really pulled way from the bone, once done it was nice and tender and juicy. The potatoes also went on for an hour. They were, as usual basted with butter, and then sprinkled with salt and pepper and cooked until they were soft.

Once the potatoes were done, I squeezed them to soften the insides and then cut them open and filled them up with sour cream, and then a shot of the BBQ sauce, and sprinkled real bacon bits and dried chives on them.

After 4 hours on the grill the ribs looked like this. They were being basted for the last hour.

and of course the meal as it sat on my plate before I chowed down on some real good eating. YUM!

Back after some slacking off with one big Update!

2008-05-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I kind of slacked off on the updates for the last year, so here is a big one, two dinners and 2 lunches. This update includes a chicken breast with Honey and Maple syrup, a T-Bone Steak with Dry mustard, pepper and salt, and two types of Ribs, pork and Beef. Lets start with the Pork ribs.

The first step with the ribs was remove the thin membrane on the bone side. The best way I find to do this is to get it going first with your bare fingers, and then use a paper towel to grip it as you peal it right off. After the membrane was off a texas style dry rub was applied to both sides all over for some heat.

Next the ribs went right on the grill for some indirect smoking for almos

t 4 hours. Making sure to not open the grill to much so that the smoke didn't escape.

After two hours it was time to start applying the mop sauce, and put the Sweet potatoes on. They were salt and peppered before putting them on to cook. After they were cooked they were mashed and mixed with Maple syrup and Jack Denials.

Once the Potatoes were done they were mashed as described above and covered. Next up was Chicken wings. They were marinated in just plain old salt and pepper. But while cooking they were continually basted with pure Honey. This made a tasty sweet glazed for them.

Next was the Tofu, Tofu absorbs the flavour of whatever it is mixed with. This Tofu was marinated in Orange juice, sesame oil, and Honey. Also bellow is a picture of the final outcome of the ribs.

OK, now a lunch I made. This was a chicken breast, I first seasoned it with just salt a pepper and put it on the grill. While the chicken was on the grill I started boiling a mixture of Honey, Maple Syrup, garlic powder salt and a few hits of Franks Red Hot sauce. On the side I just had some store bought french pasta salad.

My next lunch was a T-bone steak. The steak was first seasoned with salt, pepper, Mustard Powder and Tobacco sauce.

Tomorrow I will post todays dinner, which was Beef Ribs and Potatoes.

Pizza Burgers, with Pizza Potato slices

2007-07-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

This evening we had lots of direct heat, no slow cooking indirect smoking at all. Tonights dinner was 1/2lb Pizza burgers and foil wrapped potato slices with pizza flavourings added. You might say that it lots of pizza without actually having any pizza. Well maybe you are right, but it was still really good.

I Started off by making my hamburger patties. They consisted of close to 2lbs of ground beef. Mixed into that beef was ground up pepperoni, a spicy pizza sauce, Kraft parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. I formed this all into 1/2lb patties.

These went right on the grill, but I had to make sure to put them on lightly, these are big patties and I didn't want them crumbling on me. On medium hear I waited 10 minutes to flip these just to make sure they would flip without falling apart.

This is what they looked like after the first flip. The rear left one was really started to plump up, I would have preferred if they had stayed the same size, next time I will make them thinner. Those grill marks look great though. The potatoes were sliced and then wrapped individually for each potato. In the foil was pizza sauce, Ketchup, diced pepperoni, butter, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. These were first put on the grill right over high heat, after they puffed up they were moved to the warming rack. When it was time to take the burgers off, I didn't do it right away, instead to spooned on some pizza sauce and layered on some grated mozzarella. At this point I put the potatoes back down on the grill over medium heat. Then cheese buns went on the warming rack, and let that go until the cheese was melted on the burgers, then it was time to chow down.

Brined Beer can Chicken with Texas Jack finishing sauce and French Fries.

2007-07-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight dinner was a Chicken brined in a honey, cinnamon, salt and water brine over night, and then slow roasted on a beer Can. The first step after Brining it was to rub it down with a home made rub, and then let it "sit" for a few minutes.

After letting it sit for a few minutes it is time to stick in the the barbecue. At this point there really isn't anything else to do for the next 2 hours with the chicken.

I started to cut the baking potatoes into french fries and put them all in a plastic zip lock bag. I melted some butter and pored it over the french fries and then mixed in garlic salt, dill, and pepper. Mixed it all up my shaking the bag. I put these on the grill on a sheet of aluminum foil and smoked them for 2 hours. I then made the Texas Jack sauce. At this point all that was left to do what wait. So what can you do what you are waiting, well it is beer can chicken, so break out the beer for yourself.

After 2 hours on the grill I basted the chicken in the Texas Jack sauce, this is what it looked like before the basting.

A nice golden brown, I bet it would taste great right now, but I wanted to step it up another notch and ad some heat to it. How do you ad heat? With a whole bottle of Tabasco sauce that is how. And here is the final product, after 2 and a half hours of waiting.

And finally the french fries, which were great. I jacked up the heat on the grill to max for the last 10 minutes to get them crispy on the outside.

Everything was great, the Cinnamon taste really came out in the chicken from the brine, and the chicken was very moist. The french fries were really crisp.

Pulled Pork and Mashed Potatoes

2007-07-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this is the very first entry on "A Fistful of Charcoal" a Blog dedicated to grilling, smoking, Barbecuing, and other manly activities that are done during summer, and other parts of the year.

This first entry is 2 days late, it is a record of this past Sundays BBQ activities. What was served was pulled pork, with a side of Ceder planked mashed potatoes.

Lets look at the Pork first. It was first rubbed down with just a basic store bought rub and marinated in a heaving plastic zip-lock bag over night. The next mourning I got up to hear the loons calling back and forth on the lake, and lit up the BBQ for indirect heat, and lots of hickory smoke. Bellow is the pork after 4 hours in.

Every hour it was being basted with a vinegar based mop sauce to keep it moist, plus ad more flavour to the meat. Bellow is a picture of the pork after 9hours, at the very end.

at the 8hour and 30minute mark it was time to put the potatoes on. Now this might sound strange, I thought it was too when I read about it on another forum. Let me tell you this though, they turned out fantastic. First thing was to make mashed potatoes the night before, I mixed Basil, Garlic salt, Garlic powder, and Pepper in with them. Then let them cool and in the fridge they went. The next day before putting them on the ceder planks I mixed some shredded cheddar cheese into them, and put mozzarella on top. Cooked until browned on the outside and cheese is melted.

So there you have it, the first post of many to "A fistful of Charcoal" I hope you are hungry, see you again next week.