Serves: 5
I feel really manly. It's about 25ºF outside and snowing, and I just came in from the cold with a platter of grilled meat in my hand. Anybody can grill when it's sunny and 80ºF in the shade, but it takes a real man to brave the elements to heed the yearning for my favorite steak prepared on my Weber® kettle grill. Rib-eye. Two inches thick. Crunchy on the outside, tender and pink on the inside. When the muse beckons, I must heed her call. I must grill.
I grill on a regular basis, but when the entire Roker family began showing up to partake of my grilling skills, I suddenly needed two kettles. After a few family cookouts, I discovered I needed even more cooking surface--I wanted to do pork shoulders and authentic slow-cooked ribs. What to do? The answer came to me at the Memphis In May barbecue championship, at the Weber booth. There it was…calling my name with its sweet siren song…THE RANCH™ KETTLE! It's 3 feet in diameter--finally, a grill to match my grilling ambition!
Even though I'm a crossover griller (I own both charcoal and gas grills), I have to admit that I particularly love the ritual of charcoal grilling and barbecuing. I imagine my ancestors cooking not much differently than this: over an open flame, without a lot of fuss, using the freshest ingredients, and not flipping the meat over and over until it's overcooked and dry. Although my ancestors probably used more primitive fuel, I love the challenge of seeing how fast you can start the fire with just a couple of pieces of newspaper wadded up beneath your chimney starter, a pile of charcoal, and a match. I like playing with different types of wood chunks to impart various flavors, too.
But then I appreciate the oh-so-easy gas grill approach, too. I also own a Weber Summit® built-in gas grill, with 75,000 BTUs, and it is a beauty. I have three Weber charcoal grills at our country weekend home, but I decided to put a Summit grill in our weekday Manhattan home, a recently renovated brownstone. Why irritate the neighbors with all that charcoal smoke? But I'm keeping my chimney starter around for old times' sake. There's something about the charcoal smudges on your shirt and pieces of charcoal in your shoes that gives you certain bragging rights. After all, life isn't about easy. (Hey, I'm a weatherman, I know about life not being easy. Try predicting sunshine for a big weekend festival and then having 2 inches of "sunny" rain out the event.)
But whether it's gas or charcoal, grilling and barbecuing are great family activities. That's what I love most. Family and food go hand in hand. In fact, the only way to get rid of my family is to run out of food!
And while not everybody is as manic as I am about grilling in all kinds of weather (no grilling during thunderstorms, though, unless Weber comes out with a rubber grill), we all associate a backyard barbecue with sunshine, cold drinks, and good times. But you don't have to be a fair-weather griller. Follow my lead and grill come rain, sleet, snow, or shine. But mostly, have yourself a grand ole grilling time! Enjoy!
From Weber’s Big Book of Grilling. Copyright © 2001 Weber-Stephen Products Co. All rights reserved. First published by Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, California.
This _Weber's Big Book Of Grilling: Forward recipe is from the Weber's Big Book of Grilling Cookbook. Download this Cookbook today.
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