Weekend of grilling! (beware: lots of pictures)

[Frantz]

So we had a family gathering this weekend when my sister and brother-in-law came in from out of town. My brother-in-law was born and raised in Italy, so he is naturally an AMAZING cook. I thought it would be a good time to bring my grill to my parents' house to test out his skills. Needless to say, I think we ended up going a bit overboard with the amount of meat that we grilled. Actually, I take that back: you can never have too much meat! I have never grilled ribs or done a slow cook (besides my stew) on the grill before, so I really wanted to try them out. We ended up purchasing 4 racks of baby back ribs, a T-bone steak, a rib eye steak, some chorizo sausages, some regular sausages, and about 8 chicken breasts for 7 people. It ended up being a full-day event with the family just sitting around the grill, relaxing, and having fun. It was a blast! Sorry for the sizes of the pictures - I can't figure out how to resize on this sucker...

We used a really simple rub because we were sort of short on time. We covered the meat in mustard and then added a generous amount of a garlic & herbs blend as well. They cooked for about 4 hours. About 3/4 of the way through, we flipped them. We then foiled them when we took them off to keep them hot while we grilled the rest of the meat. Here is the meat prepped:


Here is the prepped grill. I purchased a rib rack for the occasion ($5 at Walmart). I only used a small amount of charcoal and a few chunks of hickory wood soaked in water at a time to keep the heat low (I was shooting for around a 200 degree temperature). We filled the drip pan with water and the top pan over the charcoal with some beer.


Ribs loaded up.


Note to self: be careful when adjusting the bottom vent... I was too nervous about my dogs and nephews to realize that I was the one that was going to get burned! Battle wounds...


Lid closed and the waiting begins... Ain't she purty?


Just waiting for the temperature to rise and enjoying a beer on the porch with my dad in the background. Note the aloe plant for my burn...


Looks done to me! And I was getting impatient... In retrospect, I probably would have kept them on for another 30 minutes.


Here's a picture of all of the meat finished up ready to be cut up and served! My brother-in-law is on the left and I'm on the right. My 8 month old golden retriever, Luke, would be the one begging...


Prepping...


We served all of the meat on that giant blue serving plate. We also made a salad and grilled some corn (there's plenty of it here in Indiana).






This is my sister's portion... Double that amount for my portion, please!



Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures. The ribs were the best ribs I've ever tasted. We didn't even use barbecue sauces and they were amazing. As I said before, I had a blast. If someone were to have asked me to do another session of ribs the next day, I would've done it in a heartbeat. I think that's how I know that I'm truly obsessed over my new-found love for grilling! I've been doing it for about a month or so now, and I keep learning something new every time I cook, and it continues to get more fun with every session!

[1buckie]

Now that's my kinda story !!!!


Lots of pics.....tells the tale, people had fun, ate great food.......a lasting memory, brought to you n part by Weber Kettle Grills !!!

Thanks man !!!!

[SixZeroFour]

Had to skip dinner tonight and NEVER should have looked at this post. It all looks mouthwatering ... Another awesome cook, nice work frantz!

[Winz]

Awesome cook and a battle scar to boot!  Can't wait to see whats next on the menu - good job!

Winz

[argentflame]

Great cook and awesome pics. The battle scar is part of the fun. For me it is.

[Frantz]

Thanks guys! Haha blister grew to about twice that size... It's quite appealing!

[Metal Mike]

Wow, What an event! You'll need an extra grill(s) soon!

The old Boyscout trick of minty toothpaste helps with burns too

Weber has some excellent books to step-up our grilling also:

Way To Grill, Time to G, Smoke, etc.

Always Fun to learn   

[Frantz]

Wow, What an event! You'll need an extra grill(s) soon!

My thoughts exactly! That's why I currently have a new WSM on its way to my house as we speak! Should be here tomorrow just in time for a good weekend test

[pbe gummi bear]

Great job! How did you setup the charcoal? Banked or snake?

[Frantz]

Great job! How did you setup the charcoal? Banked or snake?

Thanks! I actually just banked the charcoal. I want to try a snake, but I was a little nervous on doing it for the first time when we were sort of in a time crunch. I'm going to smoke a butt or something on my new WSM this weekend, so maybe I'll test the snake method on my grill at the same time so I know what to expect!