Tiny's Tantalizing Text

Well, it's getting to be that time of year here in the great state of Iowa...even tho we just had some light snow flurries this morning. One of my favorite summer meals consists of grilled/marinated chicken hindquarters. I buy the hindquarters by the 10# bag and break them down into single meal bags to put in the freezer. On the rare occasion that I know I'm going to be alone for supper the following day, I'll take a bag out of the freezer, dump enough Kraft Zesty Italian dressing in it to cover the pieces of bird, and set it in the fridge until the next evening. What works best for me for grilling them is to get the grill (in my case it's a Coleman 2000 series, stainless burner with additional side burner gas grill) nice and hot by setting the burners on high and letting it be for about 10 minutes. Once heated, I'll put the pieces of chicken on the grill, skin side down, and let them sear for about 3-5 minutes, then flip and let sear for the same, 3-5 minutes. Once this is done, I'll shut one burner completely off, move the meat to that side of the grill, turn the other burner down to low or medium low, close the lid and leave it alone for about a half hour to 45 minutes. The last time I made this, my mouth thought it died and went to heaven, even tho the skin got black. Somehow it wasn't crispy black, just colored that way.

Another favorite is a nice Ribeye steak cut from a corn fed, Iowa raised, bovine creature. I like to pre-season it with some Lawry's seasoning salt and fresh ground black pepper before grilling it. I do have to admit, my Dad does a lot better job of grilling Ribeyes than I do...I guess I just don't have the patience. I see it laying there, pretty soon it calls out to me, and my mouth starts watering, next thing you know, it's on a plate headed to the table and I cuss myself out because it's still just a little too rare to be awesome. It doesn't stop me, but, man, I wish I could control myself a litte better.

An indoor favorite that I only recently learned how to make, is fried center cut, bone in, tenderloin pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy. Always knew how to do the taters, but finally figured out how to get the chops done correctly and make gravy. I never used to dredge anything in flour, or fry with butter in the pan. That, combined with covering the pan over low heat while you peel, boil, and mash the potatoes makes for an unbelievably tender and tasty piece of meat. Also, the gravy seems to come out better if you can use some of the water that the potatoes were boiled in...don't know why.

I don't want to give away all of my secrets in a single post, but I do have several more indoor meals. Stay tuned.