Black Hand Productions

Yesterday I made my second attempt at a Beer Can Chicken.  This time instead of a masonry jar I used a beer can chicken roasting rack.  I like to believe this made all the difference.  I used a ‘Kickin’ Chicken’ rub, about 6oz. of Brooklyn Lager and I basted the chicken with butter, oil and some more beer.  The whole chicken took a little over 2 hours on a weber charcoal grill.  I think it could have gone another 15 minutes to make the skin more crisp but we’ll have to wait for football season to test that hypothesis.

The rest of my photographs are on Flickr here.

Last Friday we had a Cookout and as before Dan brought a keg of beer.  Some people go to a cookout and bring a desert or maybe a six pack (eight pack if it’s Schlitz) when Dan goes to a cookout he brings a keg.  On the other end of the Kilburg spectrum Jimmy brings unending excitement.

As you can tell in the photos a wheel chair some how found it’s way into my yard.

*Side Note:

I refer to this as doing the FDR… too soon?

Yesterday Julie and I hosted our Fifth of July BBQ.  I spent the better part of the day smoking 8 racks of ribs which went off pretty well considering it was only my second attempt (I think they could have gone a little longer).

We had a pretty good turnout, Dan offered up a keg of beer which is never a bad idea, Jen brought cupcakes that were inhaled and there was only one casualty (a plastic chair).  Thanks to everyone who brought food.

A good time was had by all.

*Side Notes:  

1. The rest of the photographs are on Flickr.
2. I marinated the Ribs for 24 hours with a rub that I had shipped from Dinosaur BBQ in NYC and I roughly followed these directions regarding the grill.

 

Yesterday I decided to perform a test run with regards to grilling a pork loin.  Granted this was probably the first pork loin I’ve grilled in nearly two years I think it came out pretty well.  You can always do better but I think we had the right amount of Sweet Baby Ray’s, maybe the timing was off but all and all it was pretty damn good.

* Note:  More photographs on Flickr.

To celebrate America’s birthday Julie and I, along with Dom and Kelly put the grill through the paces. Some have pointed out that I really didn’t need to use the amount of charcoal that I did but those would be the same people who point out that the grill is still hot two days later.

After the cookout we headed inside for the first Wii Pentathlon to be held in my Wii Arena. The scoring was close but yours truly pulled it out in the end due to my superior Wii pugilistic skills. It’s fair to say everyone was sore afterwards but none more than Dom after pitching a 5 inning no hitter.

Side Note: Previous Cookouts.

As American as it could get we hung out most of the day and watched some American things on Television. What you ask? Well to start we watched the Great American Hope (Joey Chestnut) try to Torpedo Japan’s Kobayashi in Nathan’s Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest. Chestnut put up a hell of a fight but hit the wall with about 7 minutes to go and was passed by Kobayashi. Kobayashi went on to set a new world record by eating 53.75 hot dogs. After this setback of being American we proceeded to grill some hot dogs of our own. Needless to say I won eating contest but I came rather shy of the world record. To make it even more American we managed to roast a couple marshmallows.

Next up for our American viewing enjoyment was the Shuttle Launch. The tv coverage was horrible but can there really be anything more American than shooting 7 people into space on the back of a rocket?

To finish off our Television Independence celebration we passed on watching the World Cup (because that would be very un-American, and Un-American Nik Bronder is not) and instead caught the second have of the Mets victory over the Pirates. As we all know the only thing more American than watching Baseball on tv with a beer is watching Football. Considering it’s early July Baseball will have to do.

We ended the night by watching the New York City Fireworks on top of Alicia’s roof. Beers were drank, (which needed to be open with the help of the wall seen behind me) chips were eaten, and a good ol’ fasion American time was had by all.

Today was my first attempt at Grilling in New York and I must say it was a moderate success. A ten dollar grill from Rite Aid and some really good steaks from the itailian butcher (meat shop?) around the corner were just the right mix.

*Note: Click on the images below to view larger images.

This cookout was more of a test run than anything. I can’t really compare it to some of the legendary pork roasts I’ve been a part of but it’s good to get back in the game.

Previous Cookouts:
Final Cookout.
Another Cookout.
A Cookout Gone Bad.

This past Friday night was the Home Coming Football game at my illustrious alma mater Franklin Heights. As an upstanding member of the community I felt it my duty to attend. True to recent form the Falcons fell 35-7 to Dublin Jerome.

On a positive note Chad got to see first hand the legend that is The Heights and later on in the weekend there was a Colonel Milholen sighting at St. James Tavern after the Buckeyes fell once again on the road in the Big Ten, this time to Penn State.

Last night was more or less the last cookout at the current homestead. The food was good by all accounts, the turnout was great considering the earlier rain and beer was plentiful. At one point the fridge was filled entirely with beer and watermelon… No complaints.

The Official Myles Tersnak Open House went off without a hitch. Various types of meats were consumed, possibly two of every animal. We also learned that Kyle (Nuggy) managed to rack up a $600 tab in the city of Gahanna. I’m not exactly sure where in Gahanna but I do know I have a long standing policy of never putting more than $20 into the Gahanna economy in one evening.

*Note: Click the images below for larger version.