The better half and our anniversary dinner(PrOn)

Well today was our anniversary and the Gramps took the Little One for the evening, so the Wife and I knocked back some good beer, smoked a couple cigars, and cooked up some strips for dinner.

Fired up the OTG with a full chimney and a couple small chunks of hickory cause that's all I had split up. For this cook I placed all the coals on one side and heaped them up as close to grate as I could(pics of this to follow). Here's what we started with...

I clarified about a stick of butter and add ~1/4cup veg oil. Dip the steaks and drain off the excess. Heavily season one side with kosher salt and large grain black pepper. I will put this side down first on the grill and then season the bare side the same.

Here's are side for tonight; simple; split zucchini's tossed in evoo with s & p.

Zucchini on the grill.

Steaks just on.

My gorgeous wife and some meat.:-D

After the first flip...

Ready to come off...

The wife's plate, hers was prettier than mine. There's also a squirrel in there since some of you are so obsessed with these farking things.:shocked:

Wife's sliced.... what is that darn thing looking at.

Mine, if I can fight the squirrel off...


Everything was delicious...

For those interested my strip technique for a perfect rare steak...start with room temp 1.5 inch steaks, super hot grill, wide open bottom vents/lid off, only flip 3 times every 3 minutes so each side see's the fire twice for a total of 12 minutes cooking time. No lid only move the steaks off fire during flare ups briefly, dont slide, pick them up with tongs. Flare ups usually only occur at start when butter/oil melts off, as long as your coals are close enough to the grate. The heavy salt and pepper mix ends in a crust that is almost as good as bacon.
Cheers and thanks for looking

bigabyte said:

Congrats on the anniversary! Fine looking meal!:thumb: Watch out for that squirrel though.

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Thanks bigabyte... isn't it strange how in each pic it seems that squirrel is looking right at you? Someday I hope someone let's me in on this secret squirrel society, oh wait it doesn't exist... maybe I need to purchase a subscription first.

big brother smoke said:

Outstanding, Brother thanks for sharing!

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Thanks bigbrother!

RevZiLLa said:

Well done, and you can see the wife is eagerly anticipating the meat...

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:redface:The wife got the meat.... HA HA better be careful so this doesn't end up in the woodpile.

JMSetzler said:

That Double Chocolate Stout should have been dessert instead of an appetizer

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That's my wife's fav., she can drink it whenever she wants as far as I'm concerned...I'm just lucky my wife has good taste in beer.:clap2:

JMSetzler said:

It is good beer... if she likes that, let me suggest a couple others to try along those lines that are very good as well...

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock
Rogue Mocha Porter
Rogue Double Mocha Porter
Rogue Chocolate Stout
Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

All are fantastic...

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Never seen the Sam Adams choco bock, but I have a buddy that works for Rogue and have tried all there brews and some test batches over the years. In fact I have some of there yeast banked for homebrew that I use on occasion. Never had anything bad from them.

Sweet... always looking for new inspiration/input, it's easy to get into ruts when you've been brewing as long as I have. I seem to always get obsessed with one style or another and burn everyone out on it before I switch to something new. I do have some staples though. I use to post a lot of my recipes on HBD under KrautBros, but I can send some your way if you let me know your interests.

Smiter Q said:

Looks like a great meal and a great woman for an awesome occasion!
Great looking yard as well! We are dry and dusty down here!

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Thanks, believe it or not I have not watered once this year which is unusual for here. I know about the drought down there, been praying for awhile for yall down there. I grew up around H-town and still have fam down there. The yard is actually a nightmare as far as grade goes so I'm going to tear it out next spring and re-grade it. It's hard to see in the background, but there's about 2 cords of cherry and oak wating to be split:clap2:....I pretend to be happy about that.

JMSetzler said:

Since you are a homebrewer, I'll send you a PM with a recipe I make that might be useful

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Thanks again for the recipe, wife saw it so now it's been moved to the front of the line for my next batch. I'll let you know how it turns out.