I've had a couple of cooking sessions go sideways due to weather. I should be the last one to play the odds when the weather forecast says 30 or 40% chance of rain.
Anyways, last summer, I had gotten some pork chops prepared and the chimney loaded with charcoal ready to light up then a front of dark, ominous clouds appeared on the horizon. I joked with one of the neighbours over the fence about whether I should go for it and light it up or go inside and turn on the oven. We both kind of laughed and looked at the clouds, wondering if it was going to pass by overhead without doing much or if I could get the cooking done before it started raining. I went for it, lit the charcoal and cooked. I finished up and brought the food in as the first rain drops started coming down and got everything cleaned up and shut down before the deluge began. We had a good laugh about it later since the neighbours saw me running inside with the last of the stuff that had to be brought in just as the sky opened up.
Back in the fall, my best friend was visiting from out of town and we planned to smoke ribs but the rib smoking fell behind schedule right from the very start. Neither of us are morning people and we both overslept. We went out for breakfast and did a couple of things, it was a beautiful day, 30% chance of rain according to the forecast, and we stopped on the way back to my place and picked up the ribs for dinner. It was already pretty late in the day so this was going to be a late night barbecue and supper but "midnight barbecue" is something we've done many times before so not a problem there. Preparing the ribs took a long time though. I've never had such a battle removing silver skin. We finally got them into the 22.5" WSM and after the first hour, the sun started setting, the clouds rolled in, and the wind started up.
I have one of those clamp lamps with a circular reflector that has a 100 W rough service bulb in it that I clip to the fence and point down at the grill or smoker when I'm cooking after dark next to the house so I got it out and plugged it in after it got dark. The wind and cloud cover kept getting heavier and both of us were seriously questioning the weather forecast which still showed a 30% chance of rain meanwhile the ribs were cooking along inside the WSM and were starting to smell good. At some point my friend turned to me and said, "I'm sorry, I hate to tell you this, but it's going to rain." Sure enough, off and on, some drops came down but nothing too bad. Finally, it was time to put the sauce on the ribs so we took the lid off the smoker and I began brushing sauce on when all of a sudden, huge drops of rain started coming down and one of them landed on that hot 100 W bulb in the clamp lamp on the fence above the smoker. The bulb immediately shattered and sprayed glass all over the ribs. There we were picking broken glass out of the ribs in the darkness and the rain by flashlight. We got all the glass out, sauced the ribs and finished them off and are inside a lot later and wetter than we planned.
I had a roast beef turn out badly this spring shortly after I got the rotisserie. I'd prepared the cut of beef, I think it was an eye of round, and gotten it skewered on the rotisserie when it suddenly started raining out and snuffing the coals as they were trying to light. Even holding an umbrella above the grill didn't help so I ended up pouring the coals into the two charcoal baskets and putting the lid on the grill to try and get them to light up and stay dry that way. Eventually I put the rotisserie on even though the coals were still smoking. It turned out awful. Between overdoing the onion in the rub and the smoking coals, it was terrible. I learned the hard way that thick white smoke is bad news.
I remember last year doing a roti chicken in the dead of winter. No snow this particular cook, but bone chilling 9 degrees out. I remember cause it was so beautiful out. I sent a text to my sister who lives in Memphis. Black night with no cloud cover and no wind. Very calm and COLD. Funny how it's manageable when there's no wind.
My favourites cooking experiences are quite similar to this. My house has a huge back yard because of an oddity with the way the streets were laid out here and I normally keep the kettle grill in the middle of it. Fall is my favourite season. Being outside on a cool, still fall evening, standing in the middle of this big back yard with a fleece sweater on after the early sunset in the quiet and the darkness with a good cup of coffee while a chimney full of charcoal is starting up and some good food ready to go is the perfect evening. Seeing the glow of the coals starting at the bottom and slowly working it's way up the chimney with the occasional snap or crackle with a shower of sparks breaking up the quiet, and watching the smoke billow up into the sky towards the stars or drifting towards the Niagara escarpment with its row of street lights along Mountain Brow Rd. along the edge at the top is so peaceful.
Topic: Cooks when the weather is not so good (Read 3380 times)