Grilling from scratch
Have you ever been around
when a real pro is grilling, making his charcoal from scratch on
site? It's quite an experience.
Meet Keyen. He
learned to barbecue from his father, and his stepson Anthony is
currently following in his footsteps. The duo seemed cool as
cucumbers despite being engaged in cooking up pork and chickens for a
horde of people in ninety plus degree heat.
They started out by making
charcoal out of split firewood. The burning logs on top were
heating the coals below, which Keyen shoveled out to fill the bottom
of his grill. He admonished me not to watch the temperature dial
on the front of the grill, but to instead keep an eye on the steam
billowing out the vents and to listen to the sizzle to make sure the
meat hadn't caught fire.
Although no one was able
to finagle the secret recipe, Keyen started out with some sort of
spice rub, marinated the meat throughout by spraying on apple juice,
and finished with his special sauce. Here's where I tell you that
I don't like barbecue...but this meat was amazing. The whole
chickens had been split in half down their backs so that they held in
the juices, and I've never tasted such succulent chicken. But the
pork loin was even more delicious.
After an hour and a half, the
chickens were ready to go into the cooler. Since it's well
insulated, the cooler holds in the heat and lets the birds keep cooking
a little bit as they wait to be put on the table. Keyen's trick
for telling when his meat is ready to take off the grill is to twist a
leg --- if the bone pulls right out, the chicken is done.
Just as I was about to
succumb to the heat and leave the grilling theater, Keyen told me
about his career as a cowboy and how he lassoed an unruly guest at his
wedding. And he wasn't even pulling my leg.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.