I finally did it. I cooked some ribs and some wings that actually say "WOW that tastes good". I know im tooting my own horn but what a surprise for me. Onto the prep. I picked up a package of wings from shoppers as they have the best wings so far. The BB ribs i got from costco. anyway the ribs were already saused so i didnt have to do anything to them. The wings were marinated in two envelope packaged marinades, a mesquite and a southern. they were in the marinade for 40 minutes. i heated the 4 burner grill up with the first burner on medium, the second burner off, the 3rd burner on medium, and the 4th burner off. I put the wings on the burners that were off so i could sear them for grill marks. I turned them after 10 minutes and seared the other side for 10 minutes. i then moved them to the 4th burner which i turned to low and the 3rd burner which i turned to low to finish cooking. i then basted them with some ruby tuesday hot sause. after 10 minutes i flipped them and basted again with the hot sause.

i put the BB ribs on the first and second burner set to medium right after the wings were seared and moved. i flipped the ribs about every 5 minutes basting them with the extra sause from the package. the ribs were cooked for the remainder time i cooked the wings.

had a tinfoil tray with asperagus, onions and peppers sitting in sweet and sour sause. This was on the warming rack the entire time i was cooking the ribs and wings.

when i pulled all of this stuff off of the grill i wasnt expecting the flavors i got at all. the wings were the best i have every had. The ribs were really good for store prepared. and the sweet and sour sause combined with the veggies was a really good complement to the hot wings. if this is how you all are eating then i now know why you all love to grill. To hell with the oven/stove. I now feel if you aint grilling you aint eating... LOL. well thanks for listening.

jonathan,

Congratulations on obtaining the results you looked for! I'm a shoe-in for wings of any kind - so, kudos for your work there!

However, on the ribs, I can't agree with your statement about "if you ain't grilling you ain't eating". I don't agree that just heating precooked ribs from a store is grilling. I personally love grilling (and in the case of ribs - smoking) mostly because I can only get the unique results I look for by creating my own sauces, rubs, glazes, cooking times and methods. So, for sure, it just "ain't grilling" when you are merely reheating precooked ribs purchased from a store. That being said - I will agree that the ribs sold by Costco as you bought are certainly tasty and require little effort on your part, but until you've prepared your own from scratch - you won't know that they can't begin to compare to good smoked ribs in your own backyard. Or grilled in the event you don't own a dedicated smoker.

How about some pictures next time? Those veggies would have made for a great presentation!

Thanks for taking the time to share! And please don't take my words to heart as derogatory, which they are not. Just a simple correction in verbiage. Here on the Source we are receptive to any and anything related in any way shape or form of bbq or grilling!

Mike

You gotta walk before you can run, methinks that anything that lights a fire under ones butt to get outside and fire up that grill is a good thing. Jonathan, Cuskit is right though, however, I suspect that you are already thinking about what you can create yourself as a result of this experience, and as I said, that is a good thing...

Bluesin

And you have to crawl before you can walk.

Cooking is more than opening a can, heating up some precooked foods or using packets of flavor from the store. Most of these have salt as their main ingredient. And precooked ribs are usually boiled first (removing all the meat flavor) then put on the grill to finish, and basted with sauce before packaging. It works but so do fish sticks et al. We have all eaten them.

All food tastes good, as we respond to salt, which is usally the predominant taste in super market foods.

I hope that you, Jonathan, soon branch out by using your own rubs, marinades et al. So what if it isn't perfect the first time. Keeping track of the proportions of ingredients is key to changing recipes until they work for you. You can start with equal amounts of all the dry ingredients and work from there. Use juice or wine or tomato or soy as a liquid base of the marinade, and work from there as well. Sweet works well with salt as well as hot and sour. Try brown sugar, honey or maple syrup to sweeten your sauce or marinade. Alcohol (wine, beer, etc.) in a marinade helps flavor and tenderize as well.

There are many recipes posted on this forum and in reputable grilling books. There are no real secrets out there, except mine, of course.

Your grilling technique for your cook was great. Now is the time to work on developing your culinary skills.

But don't negate using the kitchen stove and appliances as well in conjunction with the grill. You have been given all of these cooking toys, indoors and out, to use and enjoy.

Shelly

Sage advice for sure, Shelly, wonder if you've seen The Flavor Bible?

Bluesin

Yes, I actually asked for it last Christmas but have not read it as yet.

But I like the book a lot based on a quick perusal and hope that I can tear myself away from watching movies to get some reading done. I like that it is not a recipe book but is built around the concepts of cooking.

Shelly

yes i totally agree on the pre-fab ribs not being grilling. I am crawling right now. using some pre-mix stuff to learn as im still learning how long stuff takes to cook, what it is suppose to look like when done, what temps i need to cook without burning, etc. Im not doing my own sauses or marinades yet but with what the wings tasted like i can only imagine what the ribs would taste like when you guys do what you do.

I cant do a smoker as i live in a condo unfortunately. i got my hands full just learning how to grill right now anyway LOL. I will do some pictures when i get my finances back. With the recent expences its kind of tough right now. Just dropped 2 grand on building my patio, a new vehicle for the wife, and a vacation coming up. so right now im tapped. Later i will pick up a camera and then you all will get sick of me LOL. I may even write a book "100 things not to do when grilling, with pictures."

you all are great. thanks for all the encouragement.

johnathanwinters,

I like your attitude! Don't fret about the finances - we've all been/are there and hear you well!

But don't hesitate to post questions or input on what you are grilling, cooking or anything else related to cooking outdoors. We're all ears!

Mike

Thanks.

Im sure ill come up with a thousand questions. something i really like about grilling is it seems that the wife and I eat healthier with all the fresh veggies and such. She has also mentioned growing some veggies next year.

One thing i have found out though...
John Williams RULES (for me) when it comes to grilling music. There is nothing like throwing a steak on the grill while listening to the theme from Jaws. its a hoot, and the wife thinks im crazy. Especially when i told her i missed my entrance when the Imperial March came on. LOL.

#100 (it would be a countdown, right? Just like the VH1 shows.) #100, don't have 24 hamburgers and sausages on the grill and a porch and yard full of hungry people because you started late on your first major family cookout and just as you flip the hamburgers you hear "whooompppfffffff....." That is the sound of the flames extinguishing because you ran out of propane.



We live in the sticks, hillbilly country, the scrubs, BFE, whatever you want to call it, there are many names. Luckily there is a little hardware store that has anything and everything you could possibly need that you wouldn't find anywhere else right down the road. They also have propane! In the car and flying down the road I go. The burgers were still sizzling on the hot grates when I got back with a full tank to fire up again. Whew!

Unfortunately, it fired up and fired up HOT! I ended up burning everything to a nice crisp. Everyone was still pretty generous with their compliments though, those lying *********.....

You had a couple of things in your favor. They were hungry and they didnt have to cook LOL I cooked for the family once. never been asked to do it again for some reason. I guess they just didnt like multi-use food. For instance; eat the hotdog or drive it into the ground as a stake for horseshoes.

Biggest mistake I ever made was GROSSLY underestimating how long it takes to cook a whole beef tenderloin. I was cooking based on times I got for a "center cut", not a whole tenderloin. Ended up taking hours longer than expected. The internal temp just WOULD NOT increase faster and nobody but me and my wife like rare! Oops.