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Friday, October 22, 2010

How To Barbeque - Cheap Cuts of Beef (Part 1)

A lot of you out there love to barbecue, but don't do it as often as you'd like because you think you either don't have the time, the patience, the skill, or the money to put food on the table from your grill as often as you'd like.  Well, I'm here to tell you, that's just not the case!

I've already told you how to start your fire with a chimney, if you're using charcoal, so that saves a ton of time in the start up process, and if you're using gas, I know you're not going down that road! Impatience is something that you overcome with confidence and knowledge and goes hand in hand with the skills that you're learning on this site, because you never mind waiting for something good.  So, what about the money?  How do you overcome that?

A lot of people think that, if they're going to learn how to grill, they need to buy either steaks to impress everyone, a slab of ribs for the summer holidays, and burgers and hot dogs for the weekend games.  Truth is, they're missing out on the whole middle range of great meats that don't cost an arm and a leg.  So, when I talk about cheap cuts of meat, I'm usually referring to the  "$2.49/lb or less" variety.   It's not often you can get any kind of steak cut for that kind of money, and if you figure on about a half to two thirds of a pound per person, plus your sides, we're really talking about a quality home cooked meal, serving meat off the grill that tastes like steak, for about $4.00 a plate!  Do I have your attention?


I'm going to focus on two particular cuts and how I prepare them, even though I've said a hundred times, I'm not your recipe guy.  I would far rather teach you how to drive your car, than tell you what car to buy and where to drive it.  Grilling is about using your knowledge to create something you can be proud of, so feel free to experiment!

One of my favorite cuts is boneless or country style beef ribs.  I get mine at the big box store, because they go through enough volume to keep the price low and the stock fresh.  Sure, sometimes I buy more than I can use at one time, but they freeze just fine.  A lot of people don't eat beef ribs with any regularity, probably because, if you go down to your local rib shack, they specialize in pork or baby-back ribs, and the sauce that smothers them.  (I know, a lot of people love the sauce, and there's a lot of great sauces out there, but once you get used to having flavorful, tender, juicy meat, pork or beef, you may want to leave the sauce in the bottle!)  Besides, a lot of rib shacks don't do enough volume in beef-on-the-bone ribs, so they buy a cheaper cut that's tougher and fattier, then don't cook it right, so nobody orders it again!  Vicious cycle.

Anyway, out here where I'm at, I can get a nice cut of boneless beef ribs, nicely trimmed, in strips about six inches long, an inch and a half wide and two inches thick.  'Bout half a pound apiece.  We have a local sauce out here, called Chaka's MMM Sauce (We call it Mmm, Mmm, Mmm sauce in my house!) that I use as a marinade and it goes with just about everything...except some fish, I've found.  Comes in Zesty or Original.  I like the Original just fine. Doesn't have hardly any sugar in it, so it doesn't set your grill on fire and you can baste with it, or cut up your meat, dip it and put it back on the grill.  I put my meat in the marinade about the same time I'm startin' up the grill, so the meat reaches room temperature while the sauce is soaking in.  I like to put some steak salt on the ribs too, but you can use whatever's clever!

Fifteen minutes later, the coals are ready, I spread 'em out, nice and even, as low down as I can get from the surface, then close the lid.  Give it about five minutes to melt any residual grease, then give it a quick scrape, then a brush and we're ready to go.  Place the ribs over direct heat, correct side up, as in the way they were packaged!  Remember, they are a little thicker than they are wide.  Give 'em about ten to twelve minutes each side, depending on your weather conditions, fuel source, ventilation, distance between heat and grill and grilling surface.  (All that stuff you already learned in my "Layman's Guide to Great Barbecue" ) Roll them in Chaka's when you flip 'em, then again before you serve 'em.

If you're serving a larger gathering outside, you can slice these up on the grill and, believe me, you'll get a whole bunch of hungry on-lookers wanting tasters.  Put the slices in a bowl and nobody needs to worry about cutting up the pieces. ( No need to add any more Chaka's on top or let the meat swim in it.)  If it's just the four of you, take it straight to the table and let everyone pick their own piece.  Honest truth, every time I serve it and there's someone new at the table, I have to explain to them that it's not steak.  Looks, feels and tastes just like sirloin.

So, what do we have?  As far as most are are concerned, a steak dinner ($10.00). About forty minutes total time, light to bite, assuming maybe some rice ($3.00) and a salad ($4.00) with some garlic bread ($2.00)?  Low maintenance, quick and easy, one pot clean-up, under five bucks a head.  You couldn't get out of the McMeal grill for close to that!

Looks like that's all I'm going to get through right now, but look for Part II of this mini-series and I'll take you through another one of our family's favorites!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Why The BBQ Pit Is Man's Territory

 Let's face it gentlemen, man has been playing with fire for over twenty thousand years. We like the power of fire. We like the potential that a fire represents; it can protect us from outside intruders while we're huddled in our caves; warm us on those harsh, sub-zero, blizzard nights; light our way through treacherous caverns; feed us the warm protein of cooked meat we need, when we're sick of eating the tubers the gatherers collected...and we like that it can destroy almost anything in its path! It's a readymade disaster, waiting for us to tame it.

Men like to destroy stuff, blow stuff up, figure out how stuff works...and if we're lucky, swear a lot and get really dirty in the process. Don't fight it or deny it...it's in the genetic code. So...knowing that about you, me and guys in general, it's only natural that we're attracted to something as mystifying and hypnotic as the barbecue grill.

But, what else does it represent, and why is strictly a man's domain?

It doesn't matter to me what you cook, what you cook it on or how many you want to cook for. You can call it a job, a chore, a challenge, an art, or a learned skill, but what you'll find is, however you view it now, once you get good at it, you think of it like dating, marriage, parenthood and even sex, if you want, and get a whole lot more satisfaction out of it!

Now, I'm not talking about lavishing new tools and diamond studded accessories on your grill, or getting crazy with sauces and trying to do bananas flambĂ© on your grill...though that sounds like a cool challenge...I'm talking about your attitude toward grilling.

Something about providing… preparing, caring, tending and nurturing, whether it's for another person or cooking a good meal, strikes a visceral chord in us, akin to our flight or fight response.

Pride in man is overwhelming, because we want to be appreciated for what we do, what we can accomplish and what obstacles we can overcome. If you don't think that's a strong inner sense, let me know how you feel when you burn the dinner! Does it feel like abject defeat?  Maybe, dejection and self loathing? Pretty close, huh? That's why you take her out to eat when you're dating. If the meal's bad, it's not your fault.

Let me tell you how to take your barbecue experience one giant step in the right direction and make a lasting impression. Don't just be A Man and do what's expected of you, be The Man and do as much of the whole dinner as you’re able, yourself. There's nothing worse than going to a barbecue and watching some poor guy's wife slave over every detail, just to hear him get the credit for starting a fire and managing not to burn the meat beyond recognition.

If you're going to host a barbecue the right way, then you need to know:

  • How many people are coming? 
  • How much each person will reasonably eat? 
  • What's the best fare you can provide on your budget? 
  • Does anyone have any allergies or meat issues? 
  • What cut or types of meat you will provide? 
  • How should you prepare and season those meats? 
  • How long before cooking time should that be done? 
  • How long will each type of meat take to cook? 
  • How much room will that take up on your grill? 
  • What needs direct heat versus indirect heat? 
  • What sides can you grill at the same time? 
  • How can you get everything to hit the table at the same time?

(My personal opinion is that, the inability to figure out the answers to these questions, not taking the time and energy to learn things which, to us grill masters, is second nature, is part of the reason that most people don't host parties, of any kind any more. I can't tell you how many people I've invited for dinner parties and barbecues where the invitation isn't reciprocated in some way. Could be my company, I suppose, but they keep coming back to my house! Maybe my barbecue tastes so good, they'll put up with my company! Maybe they don't reciprocate because they feel they can't measure up. Or maybe, just maybe, they haven't figured out the answers to the questions I laid out, basic to any kind of entertaining and don't know how to do it!)

Once you have a grasp of these barbecue entertaining and hosting basics, you can figure out the best places to buy your meats, seasonings, rubs, seafood and produce to get the best quality for the best price and start worrying about what people will want to drink, have for appetizers and what you can listen to while entertaining...and no, that doesn't mean keeping the game on in the background and eating on the couch...unless it's a tailgate party, of course! (Part of your new education may involve listening to music that wasn't necessarily popular when you graduated High School!)

Now, when you've got all that figured out, when your wife, or special someone, asks you what you need them to do, you can go pour them a glass of that whatever-they-like and tell them to put the music on, put their feet up and relax for a while. You've got it all under control...because now, you're The Man. Don't that feel good...?

In my house, we believe in sitting at a table for a meal (unless there are too many of us, which'll happen at a barbecue) and having a conversation, and we have trained our kids to do the same. We also seem to have trained a lot of their friends; judging by the way they still like to come around at dinner time! As for background noise, that's what a stereo is for...not a television.

Need some other benefits to being The Man? I've never figured out the fight over division of labor in the house between a man and a woman. There is no way possible that it can ever come out fifty-fifty, and I don't care how you break it out! Mowing the lawn equals doing laundry equals doing dishes equals taking out the trash equals making the bed equals grocery shopping equals...and on and on, using some non-definable point system! As long as you're both participating and not complaining about it, and as long as you feel appreciated for doing it, life is good.

One of the rules in my house is "if you cook, you don't have to clean up". I'll cook before I clean, any day of the week! I take the time to shop for what I want to cook, about an hour before I want to cook it (yeah, takes about fifteen minutes...). I hate trying to remember to take stuff out of the freezer. What I know is, if I barbecue, not only is it going to taste great, I'm going get the ephedrine high of being the appreciated provider, my lovely didn't have to stress out after getting home late from her tech job, we get quality time with the kids…and there are hardly any pots and pans, so even the kids will do the dishes without complaining...much!

Don't panic...I know it seems like a lot to learn and do, changing attitudes and responsibilities…sharing…plus having a personality transplant and all, but believe me, once you've got this stuff down, there isn't anything you can't handle on the grill. Plus, it's a great reason not to let her wrestle the tongs out of your hands! That's like attacking your manhood!

Oh yeah, one more thing...some people take the "Hey, get your damn hands off my grill" thing a little too seriously and think that no man should ever let another man cook on his grill, like it's adulterous or something. Let me tell you: I've got family and friends, all over the country, and because people know I love to barbecue, especially for large groups, and they know I'm good at it, they want me to take care of it for them. I personally grill with charcoal, but that doesn't mean I can't work with propane. Variety is the spice of life!

New experiences create the opportunity to overcome new challenges, and with that come confidence and pride. I'm proud of my grill master status and it's a sign of acknowledgment when other people, even other grill master friends, ask me to wield the tongs for them and their group of family and friends. 

Feed them right and you'll have them eating out the palm of your hand...gladly!