I tried to smoke an onion today. Let me show yinz how not to do it.
30 min later
1 hr later
1.5 hr from beginning
Tasted like smoke but not sweet at all. Needed to be wrapped in foil and thrown on the [expletive] hot coals. Was really hoping it would loosen up and let the run in. Tomatoes didn't stop the smoke at all. Blah blah blah. Terrible.
Not really in line with smoking but I should be grilling again in about a month. I've been hesitant to buy a grill the past few years for my apartment because I am afraid that it will just get stolen and I don't want to have to clean it up and drag it down the steps to the basement every time I use it, especially since it's just me and I'd only be grilling for one person 99% of the time. I've wanted a nice gas grill but been afraid to spend a couple hundred dollars on one and have it get jacked. At least if something happens to this, it isn't actually money out of my pocket.
That is all changing thanks to work. We used to get a pre-paid Visa card or something like that for milestone anniversaries but now we get to select from gift options on a website. The options were surprisingly nice for 20 years (couple of Callaway golf clubs, TVs, full camping gear were in the running).
I went with a Broil King gas grill. It says the model is "Huntington" but I can't seem to find any reference to it online so I'm guessing they are showing an old model and I'll actually end up getting a newer model since the pictured grill won't be available. Either way, if they substitute a current model with similar features then I'm getting a free $350-$400 grill from what I can find online. I'm OK with that. Now I just have to figure out how to secure it so nobody can walk off with it. There are grills sitting outside other buildings that nobody has stolen and the lady who used to live in the apartment under me had one sitting out back for a year without anybody messing with it. This one will be a lot nicer though. How difficult is it to drive a stake into asphalt to anchor a chain to? I'm ready for the thing to get delivered but apparently it won't ship until August 1 which stinks.
The grill arrived early (last week) so I set up an appointment to have it delivered this morning. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it into the basement without breaking a sweat seeing as it is a big box that weighs 90+ pounds. I'm a beast!
Actually, I cheated. The delivery guy used a dolly to drop it right at the back step so I tipped the box on its side which got it in the building, shoved it less than a foot to the top off the steps and then just slid it gently down the stairs into the basement and left it there so I could get into the office.
The project for Saturday now is to put it together and grill 30 pounds of assorted meats!
tlombard wrote:The grill arrived early (last week) so I set up an appointment to have it delivered this morning. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it into the basement without breaking a sweat seeing as it is a big box that weighs 90+ pounds. I'm a beast!
Actually, I cheated. The delivery guy used a dolly to drop it right at the back step so I tipped the box on its side which got it in the building, shoved it less than a foot to the top off the steps and then just slid it gently down the stairs into the basement and left it there so I could get into the office.
The project for Saturday now is to put it together and grill 30 pounds of assorted meats!
You're in for your own kinda hell come Saturday when attempting to put that grill together.
I'm not really looking forward to the assembly. That is the only downside to getting it as a gift from work and it being delivered to my apartment. I can't pay to have it assembled like I probably could in a store and then just drive it home in the back of a truck. Don't think the idea of paying somebody to put it together hasn't crossed my mind.
I'm going to tear into the box tomorrow after work and maybe I can do some of the assembly in the basement during the evening and then finish up the rest Friday or Saturday outside when I have more time.
Just remember that after you get it all put together, you probably need to burn it at a decently high heat before using it to get rid of a lot of the chemicals/shipping debris.
I actually had a few minutes and watched a video on Huntington's website (turns out that's the brand I ended up with even though the picture showed a Broil King) on assembling a grill and they also mentioned letting it burn for 20 minutes for that purpose.
30 pounds is a bit of an exaggeration but I am going to grill way more than I should reasonably eat... but I'll still force it down. I'm actually thinking about grilling some fish which is something I've never done. Last weekend I tossed a couple of Swordfish steaks on the Optigrill which came out really well but I've never really grilled fish. With the Optigrill I just hit two buttons and then waited for a beep, tossed the fish on, closed the lid and then waited for the beep to say it was finished. I love that thing for quick, lazy meals.
Yeah. It's done. Definitely didn't embarrass myself but it could have been more tender. I think after about 9 hours I cranked the heat up to 275 from 220 or so and maybe that's what happened
