The Secret to Perfect Grilling: Keep It Simple

Tag : Transfer Rib

One exception to this marinade rule is brining. Brines (salt- watersolutions) keep chicken and pork moist during cooking, and becausethey contain very little acidity or none at all, they don't breakdown the meat.
That's also true for dry, salt-based seasoning mixes, which operatein much the same way as a brine: The salt pulls moisture from themeat and the meat reabsorbs the seasoned moisture, giving it deepflavor.
A dry rub for barbecue is a good example. Rubs are fun to playwith. Start with roughly equal measures of salt and red pepper --paprika or powdered chile -- and complement them with dried herbsand spices. A little sugar is nice, too. Keep tasting until themixture hits the right note for you.
This rub is so good that I prefer to serve ribs without anybarbecue sauce. If you want to serve a sauce, brush it on for thelast five minutes of cooking. Most sauces contain sugar, which hasa distressing tendency to scorch and blacken.
There are a couple of tricks to preparing ribs. I prefer spareribsto baby-back ribs, because they are fattier and don't dry outduring slow cooking.
But spareribs do need to be trimmed before the rub goes on. First,cut away excess fat or meat that isn't supported by a rib. You'llalso notice there's a flap of meat that stretches diagonally acrossthe ribs. If you want, remove it; that way, the meat will be doneabout the same. Cook the removed bit and the rest of the meatyscraps with the ribs, and you'll have a griller's treat that willbe done about halfway through the smoking period.
Most important, you must remove the thin, tough membrane that isattached to the bone side of the ribs. It will prevent smoke andseasoning from penetrating, and the ribs will be tough.
Slip a thin, sharp knife between the first rib and the membrane andcut away, leaving a flap of membrane. Use a paper towel to get afirm grip on the flap, and pull gently but firmly across the rack;the membrane will come up with a tearing sound. If it comes up instrips, repeat the process until it's all gone.
Build a fire and let it calm a little. Add soaked hickory chips tocool it more and get the smoke going. Then put on the ribs. Ifyou're doing more than one slab, you can buy a metal rack to holdthem upright, or do what I do: turn an oven-roasting rack upsidedown and stack the ribs between the supports.
You'll know when the ribs are ready because the meat will be sotender that, when you wiggle the bone in the center, it will almostpull free. That can take two hours or more.
Don't sweat the details: If the meat gets a little overdone, you'llhave burnt ends that are so crisp they practically shatter when youbite into them. Maybe you'll even prefer it that way.
With a mortar and pestle or a blender, grind the garlic, rosemary,salt and fennel seed. Continue grinding while adding the olive oilto make a coarse paste.
Using poultry shears or a chef's knife, cut the chicken alongsidethe backbone, all the way from neck to stern. Repeat on the otherside of the backbone, removing it from the carcass.
Place the chicken skin-side up on the cutting board, opened outlike a book. Firmly press down on the center of the breast to crackthe sternum and flatten the chicken. Place the chicken in aresealable plastic bag and spoon in the herb mixture. Press out theair, seal tightly and massage to distribute the marinade evenly.Refrigerate overnight or leave at room temperature for 1 hour.
Wrap a 1-foot-square paving stone or brick in aluminum foil. Startthe coals in a chimney, and, when they are lightly coated with grayash, after about 20 minutes, empty them into the grill, arrangingthem in a gentle slope against one side. Replace the grill rack andbrush it with oil.
Place the chicken skin-side down on the grill rack, away from thedirect heat but with the drumsticks pointing toward the fire. Brushone side of the foil-covered brick with oil and place it on top ofthe chicken.
Grill until the skin is well-browned, for about 20 minutes. Removethe brick and turn the chicken over, placing it skin-side updirectly over the fire. Cook until the juices at the hip and kneejoints run clear when pierced with a knife, for about 5 minutes.Remove to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes to distributethe juices evenly before carving. Serve immediately.