The Grill

Okay, so I have grilled on other peoples grills, and started a few, a couple nights ago Rooster gave me money to buy groceries and enough to purchase a grill. So after heading to the grocery store, and stopping at the Mexican market for Jarritos, which have become our favorite beverage choice this month, I stopped at Home Depot.

I bought the cheapest large grill they had, it was about thirty dollars, a bag of cheap charcoal "all natural", and a few grilling utensils. My experience at Home Depot was not the greatest. Where were all the dude workers? All I saw were chicks in orange aprons watching me fumble around this large box... Lame.

By this time it was dark out. I was hoping to have the grill set up with coal fueling before Rooster got home. This was not the case. After getting all the groceries inside, and letting our four dogs out, yes four, I tore open the grill box. Apparently the cheapest grill = LOTS of assembly. Under normal circumstances I would be a whiz at this, but for some reason I got very overwhelmed. It was dark out, it was cold out, and I was looking at a million parts. Rooster to the rescue!

Rooster pulled in on his Harley, just as I was thinking about packing it all back up and getting my money back. He grabbed some extra tools and started nut and bolting it together. I went inside to prepare the meal.

Since time was going quickly, I threw two potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees. I knew they would take forever and the grill was not even built. Baked potatoes always get me, who knows how long a grilled potato would take.

When Rooster was done with the grill assembly I took over. I put down a good size pile of "natural coals", twisted some paper, added a bit of lighter fluid and tried to light the grill... And tried to light the grill, and lit the grill. Apparently cheap "all natural" coal is hard to light, really hard. After about thirty minutes of getting some okay heat to the coals, I put the corn on the grill.

The way I cook corn on the grill is, I take off most of the husk, peel the rest all the way back, remove the silk, and rinse the corn really good. I then pull the remaining husk back over the corn and grill. The water provides extra moisture, while the thinner husks hold moisture in, they protect the corn from getting chard, but still letting that smoky flavor in.

I bought some inexpensive steaks from the grocery store along with a four dollar marinade. Sometimes I experiment with my own rubs and marinades. When it comes to cooking either for a large group, or in a small time frame, shortcuts are okay with me. As long as they are good shortcuts.

I forgot what the brand of marinade was, but I use it in an upcoming blog so I will get that info to you shortly. They have three different ones. One for pork, one for beef, and one for chicken. I bought the one for pork since I planned to use it for both the meat I was cooking this night, and for drum sticks I planned on grilling the next night. Pork marinades tent to be good for both dark meat and light meat. Chicken ones tend to have lemon in them and beef ones tend to be fairly salty, I find the pork to be a good balance between the two. My favorite, a sweet and spicy combo. While doing my grocery unload I put the steaks I bought and half the marinade in tupperware and slid it into the fridge.

After waiting forever, I got real impatient and it was getting late. I took the half uncooked corn and put it under a low broiler in the oven. I figured, one; I didn't use enough coal, and two; the grilling grate was not close enough to the coals to get everything hot enough. I took the grill grate and finagled in closer to the coals, basically setting it on the coals. I threw the half pound, marinated strip steaks on grill for about 4 minutes on each side. Rooster and I like our meat, closer to rare, medium rare. This is what I would normally cook them at under the the broiler, so, test run?

Around 11ish, we finally ate. It was the first charcoal cooked meal I have had all summer, and although it was a slight disaster, the corn and meat were both smoky and sweet. The steak had a spicy kick. They were just slightly over cooked but still pink in the middle. I got the charcoal bug. Now how to perfect it.

For now, Kitchens Closed