Rock the Grill!

Almost anything can turn into an obsession, such as a love of food (guilty), but recently I was given a little glimpse into another world, that of Barbecue.  You might remember I went to an event earlier this month which among it’s attractions were a “sanctioned” BBQ contest of the Kansas City variety.  I won’t dwell too much on that, but competitive barbeque is a world of its own.  Ever watch Pit Masters on TV?  FOJTY has it on just about like wallpaper on his set at home.  And, neither FOJ is slouch when it comes to being around the grill..

Anyway, I did a teaser about Rockwood Charcoal (see image) in the last posting (if you got by Harry Browne’s). At the BBQ competition there are all sorts of (expensive) equipment things

And characters

So kind of tweaked by that event, and a recommendation by both the FOJ’s, I got that bag of Rockwood as part of our Brunch trip to Annapolis.  Speaking of obsessions, who would think the humble bag of charcoal would evolve into a cult industry.  Take a look at this website (and I have NO idea why it is named thus).  If you are at all interested in grilling, you might want to browse a bit for the ratings.

Anyway, now in possession of the coveted bag of lump charcoal (briquettes?  Ptooie!), I decided to give it a try.  So last night we got out a little steak from local purveyor of meats, Mr. Willie Goddard

Unbagged it and I seasoned it with just Kosher salt (eschewing the normal Penzy’s Chicago Steak Seasoning)

So then (in reality) the steak just being the excuse to use the new fuel, I set up the grill (I have not graduated to the Big Green yet) – and note funeral garb of unused gas grill in the background

And got out another recommended exotic product to start the fire (Lighter fluid?  Ptooie!)

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(I think Kamado Joe is a competitor of Green products)

And laid the little fire in the Weber (yeah, I know Weber?  Ptooie!)

And lit (with some difficulty, I might add ) the KJ starter cubes

And after about 20 minutes the conflagration had grown to

And so we continued to sit back with a beverage that clinked in the glass, and….. waited.  And…. Waited.

A passing shower gave us a nice little scene while we waited..

and refilled the glasses, and… waited some more..

Finally and before the charcoal had that “completely covered with ash” look the light and our resolve was fading, and I committed the meat.  Unfortunately, there is no image of the completed product, we were so damn hungry that we just ate the steak.  It was pretty good.

And while all of this sounds negative, I only take it as part of the learning process, and most likely with some FOJ consultation we will try again, this time with a little more perspective.  I think I got the tools (sans the egg/Joe stuff) and just need to brush up on technique.  Which is why food is my obsession!  That and the compulsion to

DFD