How do U Q?

I was just cleaning up the back yard today for a little BBQ get together this evening. Any pit-bosses out there? I thought I'd pose the question: How do you cue? What is your best, most secret, most enjoyable form of grill/barbecue? Bari-friendly, of course.

Here's what I'm up to tonight:

I spatch****ed a few chickens. They're in the fridge with a dry rub on them right now (about 5 hours until the BBQ). It takes about 4-5 TB of the rub for each chicken. I do it very liberally.

Rub: (I make a mason jar of this and keep it in the cupboard)

1/2 C paprika
4 TB Black Pepper
6 TB Kosher Salt
1 capful liquid smoke
1 TB garlic powder
1 TB onion powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 C brown sugar

I toss it skin-side down on the grill. After it's nicely seared I start mopping it with:

Mop: (I make this the morning of the BBQ and let it sit on the counter to blend)

1 C white vinegar or wine
1 small onion sliced thinly
1 dried pepper torn into bits
1 TB salt

It's absolutely delicious. I usually do about four or five chickens to make sure there are leftovers. I like making chicken salad out of it with yogurt the next day. Add almonds, celery, and cranberries. Good stuff.

JC You've got me beat man.  That sounds great.   Just copied down your rub and mop.  We just normally buy the BBQ sauce (low carb these days).  But I am going to try your rub and mop.  Licking my chops as I type. Have a great time tonight. Chris

Hey Jake, First, I would like to say that your avatar is a 100% improvement over that acid trip you use to have up. (No offense to acid tripping) When I BBQ it's usually steaks or grilled chicken. The most bari friendly steak, that I have found so far, it the New York Strip. I cook it with seasoning salt and pepper until medium. (I used to be a cook at a steakhouse) The boneless chicken breast I buy are already seasoned, my wife and I like the garlic herb something, I forget what it's called. I've got a huge stainless gas grill so I also buy some hickory wood chips, soak them in water for a while, then wrap them in foil and loy them in the grill for smoke. I live in an apartment, upstairs, and it's some sight when we're grillin'. The office requires the tenants to grill down on the grass. Keep wishin! I'm not haulin' my monster grill through my apartment, then down the stairs and out onto the lown just to grill. Sorry, not going to happen.  Happy Grillin' Tonight! Ron

So, you have a huge stainless gas grill inside the upstairs apartment, upon which you use a smoke-box? Yup....you're Texan. But you see, our's is a non-smoking apartment, so we do it outside.

Yea, inside the apartment, wouldn't that be something. Especially, since we have automatic fire sprinklers all over the our apartment. We have the grill outside on the balcony. One side of the balcony is gazebo like shaped, I have the grill as far out from the apartment as I can get it. From downstairs, mainly because of the smoke, it looks like our place in on fire. We try to do our grillin' in the evening, that way we don't scare as many people, and the office is closed.  Ron How is school going? What's your major/minor?

School is going great. I graduated last year with a BA in Anthropology, Minor in Linguistics. I'm 1/2 way through my California Teaching Credential now (finishing in December). I'm headed to teaching 6-12 English. Crazy, I know.

Hey Jake, I'm with Chris, that sounds awesome. When do WE eat? I'm firing up the grill Memorial day, for my sisters 40th birthday party. I'm doing half-chicken's on the grill. Usually, I just salt and pepper them, and spray them with lemon/ water as they're cooking over mesquite charcoal,  but I may have to try some of your "west coast rub". DD 

Friday, I went to a cookout at a friend's house, BYOMeat.  I went with salmon, marinated in a cajun sauce.  My friend was concerned the spaces on his grill were too big, so he put the salmon on a cedar board, that on the grill (charcoal).  The result was shockingly juicy and the cedar flavor permeated the meat. I already ordered cedar boards before my next cookout.

OMG. Cedar planked salmon is FANTASTIC! That's an old family secret of ours [my great grandfather worked at a lumber mill...he started it with us].
I don't know how you did it, but we slightly char/tan the board [after soaking it], then put the fish down on the charred side before indirect grilling it. YUMMY with lemon and capers.
As you can see, grilling is deeply entrentched in our family. In the summer we grill easilly four to five nights per week. Sometimes only veggies, sometimes fish/chicken/shellfish. You name it, and we've tastefully burnt it!

He just soaked the board for a few minutes (he said it's best to soak an hour), then put the salmon on the wet board, skin-side down, then put it on the grill.  No pre-charring.  When the salmon was beginning to bubble on top, we removed it, no flipping.  Th board was on slightly darkened on the corners, so he rinsed it to use again. I thought the match between the cedar and cajun spices was fortuitous (given that it was unplanned).  Lemon and capers would have worked great too, as would a sweet BBQ sauce marinade. I personally don't grill very often because I live by myself and I can broil most things about as well.  My parents (more at Dad), however, grill most nights in the summer, and at least a couple nights year round; they'll grill anything, but steak, shrimp, and pork ribs are the mainstays.  So between meals at my parents and with friends, I see a lot of grilling.  And I just got my dad's hand-me-down grill, so I may start grilling more at home, too.