Grillin' Like A Champ 101

So it has been forever and a day since I've last posted a blog for my awesome viewers. I figured you all were getting hungry since it's summertime and junk. I've been hungry. Real hungry. Especially for steak. Or any kind of meat you can get your hands on (or grilled veggies for all of you non-meat lovers!)

Once it started getting nice around here, which was around mothers day, I decided to get out the old charcoal grill and make mom a meal she'd never forget! She loves New York Strip steak and so I went to the grocery store to find a couple less expensive steaks for my sister, my mom, and myself. I didn't buy the pre-packaged stuff because that's LAAAAAAMMME. I got two decent sized (1 lb. each) NY Strip from behind the counter or whatever. It was like $6.50/lb. so it came out to be about $13.00 for both steaks. We had some other steak at home I was going to grill up too. I came home and seasoned up the steaks but not too much seasoning. Just enough to taste. A light sprinkle of things- i.e. salt, pepper, garlic salt, and a little basil. 

I let the steaks sit for a little bit with their seasonings so they can get to know each other before they head to their final resting place. 

In the meantime I got the grill going. I learned all my grilling skills from my dad because he can grill up anything and everything. (no joke.) And if I learned anything from him in the past 21 years, it's that gas grills can SUCK IT and charcoal grills reign supreme especially Weber Grills. For a while we were grilling with charcoal lighter and matches. Then.. we got the grill chimney. It's a metal contraption and the way it is used is to put a few pieces of crumbled up newspaper in the bottom, and the old leftover charcoal (from your last cookout) with some new fresh charcoal on top. You light up the bottom newspaper and eventually the coals start to become white (Remember: not completely white.) When this happens you flip the chimney over and lay out your coals (on the coal or bottom rack) evenly and add some more briquettes (charcoal). 

This process takes about 20-30 minutes. It takes up more time this way so people use gas grills to save time and effort. 

So then I put the top grate back on the grill and let that get nice and hot. I went in and got the steaks and put those on. I cooked them mostly with indirect heat meaning I didn't put them in the center where most of the heat was. I put them on the outside of the grate around the coals, not directly on top. When you cook with direct heat, you end up burning and charring the outside of your steak before the inside can even start to have some sexy time. So that way, your steak cooks evenly. 

The steaks turned out AWESOMELY!! My mom is usually a very harsh critic when it comes to my food, but when I cooked for her, she said the meal was the best she's ever had. I also made mashed sweet potatoes. Just steamed up some cut up fresh sweet potatoes for 20 min. Then mashed them up and added butter and some brown sugar. OMG it was awesome. 

I love a man that can eat!

Just a couple weekends ago, Michael and I were wanting steak for lunch and instead of going out for steak, we went to Penguin meats in Rockford because we were in the area. So Michael got two beautiful steaks that weren't too expensive and I got 2 fillet because it was the cheapest they had and I was broke. So we went home and I grilled us up Michael's picked steaks because his were fresh and mine were frozen. My mom pulled out a package of Johnsonville Brats for herself so she could have that for lunch for a few days. Michael loved the steak and my mom loved the brats. She was nervous about me cooking them because we didn't boil them first, we just threw them on the grill. My mom said that the brats were the best she had ever had! And she wasn't joking because she still talks about them 2 or 3 weeks later. Michael ate his steak and I ate mine and Michael had a bite of a brat to try it. He liked it so much he ate the whole thing! I didn't try one. I was too full from the steak. 

Sexy grill lines and not charred whatsoever. :)

A few weeks ago my mom bought some cheap $6.00 ribs from Aldi's. She took them out of the freezer the other night and wanted me to grill them and I decided to cook my fillet as well. I lightly seasoned the ribs and steak and put them on the grill. I wasn't expecting the ribs to turn out very well because I had never cooked ribs by myself without my dads help. Plus we didn't have any Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce. :(

Things to remember:

-Don't over season.

-It isn't always about direct heat. (Slow and in control).

-Charring any food is unhealthy.

-Always use Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce.

-With a little Reynold's tin foil, anything can be done.

-Charcoal grilling is ten times better than grilling with gas. 

Why? 

Gas grills cook unevenly.

Propane tanks scare me.

Well I hope you learned something from this blog. If you have any questions, feel free to comment.