First Fire

January 1, 2009:
The morning was spent cleaning the house, so we didn’t fire up the egg until dinner. Followed the recipe on the BFE website for the steaks. Season with salt and pepper only, wish I had used a bit of oil. Firing up the BGE is as simple as they claim. Had it to 650 in very little time. Slapped on the meat, let it go for two minutes, flipped, two more minutes, flipped again, closed the vents and finished for three minutes. Wow. One of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten and I grew up on a steak farm. Seriously, when mom was out of town dad made steak for breakfast. A bit rare, but I like my meat bloody and the kids don’t mind. Henry ate a huge portion; Olivia doesn’t eat much anyway so we had some leftovers.
Henry was bound to get the ribs on, so after cleaning up from dinner, I did make a salad, we removed the membrane, added salt/pepper, and rubbed with my Rub #1, see below. Added a bit more charcoal and the wood chips, I had soaking. The chips were a combination of fruitwoods. Got the BGE up to 250 and put the ribs on in an inverted roast rack from my aluminum roaster pan. Three hours later they came off. I nibbled a bit, but at 10 p.m. didn’t care to gorge on ribs. I was pretty happy with the results. Not the best I’ve eaten, but pretty darned good for the ease. Nice crispy outer layer and tender meat. Better than most bbq places in Kansas City. Not as good as my dad’s, but he sets the gold standard on most things related to meat.

Rub #1
4 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp fresh black pepper
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Mixes with healthy dose of Morton salt.