Late yesterday afternoon, the temperature in Columbus hit the fifties. That combined with the fact that it was a Friday and I had some pork chops in the fridge made me feel like if I didn’t grill dinner, than I would be wasting a perfect opportunity.
I started things up right around dusk, about the same time the outside temperature seemingly dropped 20 degrees. Even with less light than I’m used to (thanks to the shorter daylight hours) I was able to get the grill started. I had to scramble to find all of the grilling equipment that we had put away for the winter.
Even though I had a good flame, things felt different. Not just the cold or the dark, but even the flame, which stayed blue the whole time I was warming up the coals in the chimney starter. I’ve never seen a blue flame last that long, because usually it dies out once the top coals start burning.
Along with the pork chops, which I had brining since that afternoon, I made some potatoes on the grill and some peas on the oven.
As expected, dinner was great. And it was nice to have some food fresh off the grill in early January.
As an added bonus, the small run of books was individually numbered, and the first 500 ordered received signed posters. I ordered within ten minutes of the Twitter announcement last month. Somehow, my poster is numbered 34 and my book is numbered 387.
I’ve never cooked prime rib before, and was a little bit nervous. I got a 6.5 pound section and had the whole afternoon planned. Out of the fridge at 1:15, in the oven at 3:05, lower the heat at 3:25, baste/check every half-hour, out of the oven by 5:15 (as long as it reached 120 degrees) and let it rest 20 minutes. All I did to it before putting it in the oven was put some butter on the sides and a pepper-garlic powder mixture over the whole thing. But when the estimated removal time came, the temperature was still lower than 100 degrees, so I had to let it cook longer (another 40 minutes all together).