Hot coals are ribtastic

After my initial attempts at charcoal grilling failed, I allowed a suitable period of mourning before trying once more to get a decent temperature in the grill. Ignoring the earlier problems, I stumbled forth (now with a thermometer so all would be well!) and set up a beer-can-chicken with a chimney-full coals glowing nicely below (I’d cast aside the minion method). An obvious choice since chicken requires a hotter temperature than ribs. However after half an hour of the temperature not getting above about 250 I threw in another chimney-full of coals, the temperature rose and briefly toyed with the idea of going over 300, but got bored with that and settled back at 250ish. Another half hour passed and the chicken looked more likely to regain the skill of flight than be cooked that night. So to ensure our dinner stayed in the same zip code we switched it to the gas grill and roasted a lovely juicy chicken. There is however a high note, the charcoal wasn’t a complete failure, as the pictures show we were able to toast some spiced-butter bread to perfection.





A quick call to the barbecue hotline ensued, and more tips were forthcoming: next time I’d try raising the level of my charcoal and also add in some (dare I say it here on a prized blog and when in such esteemed company...) briquettes to the lump.

So.....would it be third time lucky? Having got a recipe for Kansas City Sticky Ribs I decided to give them a try. The ribs were rubbed, wrapped in cling film and refrigerated overnight; then brought out of the fridge to come to room temperature as I lit the chimney starter. This was filled 50:50 with briquettes and lump and roughly the same amount of unlit material was placed in the grill (back to the minion method once again). The fire was raised to the middle level, all vents were opened and ready to go. A few minutes after adding the lit coals, the temperature had reached a respectable 300 and the ribs were put on the grill and covered (not wrapped) in foil. I then remembered the wood-chips I’d had soaking and threw them on the fire for good measure. The ribs were turned each hour, and for the next two hours the temperature stayed at about 300, before beginning to fall slowly. The instructions I had called for another chimney of coals (same as earlier) after two hours, so these were lit and added to the fire. The temperature went up to 350ish just after they’d been added and stayed in the 300-350 region for the rest of the cooking time. Again I forgot the wood-chips and threw them on as an afterthought. They did create smoke as the pictures show and my eyes felt at one point, but this only lasted about 20 minutes as they soon dried out and burned – do I need big chunks for longer lasting smoke? After the third hour of cooking the recipe called for the ribs to be liberally painted with sauce (see picture of half painted ribs) and wrapped in foil for the last hour. After this the ribs were taken off the grill and rested for half an hour. Finally they were painted with a little more sauce, sliced and served. The ribs were tender, juicy and (of course) sticky. At last, success. I think I’ll stick to mixing my fuels in the future and just keep practicing.....

I do still have a couple of fire management questions though: How do people generally rake coals into a pile? I used a fish slice/spatula this weekend – is there something better which may help to prevent arm singeing? and, Is there a good way of adding lit coals to a fire from the front? My grill surface isn’t hinged so this weekend we lifted it off to add the coals.