A Change of Scenery

For many people grilling is strictly a Summer thing. Once the Labor Day Holiday weekend is over, they stow away their grills for the Winter and wait patiently. When the Memorial Holiday weekend rolls around in May they bust it out, fire it up, and make up for all the lost time from the past eight months or so.

What a waste!

Then there are others like me, who don't seem to care what the temperature or conditions are, they will light up the coals in any condition and suffer the consequences as a result. Yes, I proudly grill year round, but once the snow starts to fly, I usually move my grill from the back yard to the front yard so I can roll it into the garage when I am finished.

In addition to that, now that our dog Jovi is no longer with us, I don't keep the back deck as free of snow as I used to, so it's harder to get up and down the steps to the grill. I'd much rather suffer a little cold weather than a broken back.

The neighbors probably think I am a bit of a nut when I sit at the garage door opening in my orange folding chair drinking my beer, but so be it.

It was a chilly twenty something degrees out when I fired up the grill this past Saturday. Luckily, I had a nice Oktoberfest beer from Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati to keep me warm. It was actually a bit hoppier than I usually like, but it was still good. I'm not surprised coming from Rhinegeist. They tend to lean into IPA's and similar hoppy beers. In any event, I enjoyed that beer on a Saturday, so this definitely fits into @detlev's #beersaturday tag.

In the past, I used to use our trash and recycle bins as a sort of table when I grill in the front yard, but we just got new ones a couple of weeks ago and I don't want to ruin them. Then I remembered I have this small table I built for @mrsbozz to use in her office at work a while ago. She doesn't use it anymore, so it ended up back at our house and it works perfectly for my "staging area".

It's really important to have a good solid prep and holding area when you are grilling outside. I totally understand why folks who can afford it splurge on elaborate outdoor kitchens. It makes a huge difference!

With the kettle rolling at an alleged 500 degrees (those thermometers are never right), I scooted as close to it as I felt prudent to keep myself warm. There is a whole community of people who modify their Weber Kettle to customize it and make it their own. One of the first things they usually do is add an aftermarket thermometer to the lid.

I'm still using the built in one that came from the factory, though I don't pay too much attention to it. I use it more as an indicator of "yep it's hot" versus an actual measure of temperature.

This is going to be a familiar sight for you if you have been following me at all. Chicken and pork chops on the grill. When your wife doesn't eat beef or some of the fattier cuts of pork, there are only so many varieties of things you can cook on the grill.

Trust me, I wish I was showing you a photo of a couple of burgers, big porterhouse steaks, or a slab of baby back ribs on there. It's just a lot of food for only me to eat. I don't really mind either way, I just enjoy grilling and sharing the photos here with you. Even if it is the fortieth grilled chicken breast you have seen from me this year!

Some might argue the chicken got a little over done and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you, but @mrsbozz used a different kind of marinade this time that I wasn't quite prepared for and it ended up doing a bit of "blackening" on the chicken. It still ended up turning out really good.

She has been eating it all week for her lunches and I think tonight we are going to use some of it for fajitas at dinner. I'm looking forward to that!

If you don't have one of these, I highly recommend you get one. An instant read digital thermometer is pretty much a must. In fact, I have two of them. One I keep at home and the other I keep in our trailer for when I grill during camping. I know a lot of people think they can tell the doneness of a steak by looking at it or by touching it. I don't disagree with that, I've honed that skill myself, but when you are grilling as much poultry as we do, it's best to know for sure.

I've never had salmonella and I don't plan on getting it anytime soon!

I thought it might be fun to let the thermometer sit for a bit and give us a reading of the outdoor temperature.

Twenty eight degrees or so. Plus there was a bit of a breeze coming from the North. It wasn't the polar vortex we are now suffering, but it was chilly.

The chicken was clocking in at 175 degrees which is more than done technically, but that's pretty much perfect for us. It was still juicy and flavorful as I was cutting it up. The pork chop I took up to about 147 degrees as you can see in the photo and that was probably just a little too hot. The standards for cooking pork have dropped in the past decade or so and I am still trying to get the hang of it. Plus, if there is any pink in the pork chop that will be a non starter for my wife. Even if it is perfectly healthy to eat.

With the meat all ready for consumption, I swigged down the last of my beer, tossed the can in the recycle bin, snuffed out the grill, and pulled it into the garage until the next time I fire it up!

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