neal brown here

[ilcal]

brand new member from the barbecue capital of the world-BOSTON-----no, no, no, just kidding-----i'm from a suburb of boston.
in addition to a warped sense of humor, i have been a serious food junkie virtually all my life. i've had a built in cold smoker in my back yard for the past 20 years or so and within the past 7 or 8 years have been trying my hand at hot smoking/barbecue which i do with a wsm. a few years ago my wife and i took a trip to argentina and discovered the argentine grille, which has become our regular way of grilling over the past few years since we had one installed in our outside kitchen.

i am a lawyer by profession and am also a wine educator which i do for fun. my wife is a nurse and also a professionally trained chef.

i've been gawking at this site for a while. it is so chocked full of both highly technical and artful information that i felt remiss in not being a member since i have gotten so much out of it.

[Jon Solberg]

Welcome ilcal!

[Breadhead]

Welcome to the Pit ilcal 😎

[HJVR]

Hi Neal, welcome... I had to say hi when I read your wife's credentials. My wife was a critical care nurse for twenty -one years. She got tired of death and dying so she went to culinary school. She says she still nurtures but in a different way

[mackdaddy]

Welcome to the pit.

[smarkley]

Welcome aboard Neal

[Danjohnston949]

Neal, Welcome to the Pit there is a lot to learn to learn here especially from your welcoming committee above and the others you haven't had time to meet! I am glad you didn't add politician to your CV. I love Boston, especially the wharf area Down Town. Dan

[smarkley]

I always figured that when I retire, I will become a Walmart Greeter when I am bored... I am just practicing up... hahahaha!

[dereklhall]

Tell us more about this Argentinian grill in your outdoor kitchen.

[mackdaddy]

Yea, that sounds interesting. Would like to see a pic or 2 or 3.

[ilcal]

i hope the picture came out.

basically, the idea of argentine grilling is quite similar to barbecue-low and slow cooking-but on an open grill and with wood fuel that has been burned down to coals, although you could use charcoal or a combination. there is no water in the system, and you can rotisserie larger cuts over the burning coals.

the basket shaped metal device in the back of the grill is called a brasero. it is separate and is used to burn additional wood down to coals during the cook so that there is a constant source of ready fuel while grilling. the barsero has four legs that are about 4 inches, so that the spent coals drop. a small rake is used to drag the coals to the grill from under the brasero after the coals have fallen.

heat is controlled by raising and lowering the grilling surface which is attached by cables to a metal rod. the cables are rolled up or down (thus raising or lowering the
grill) by turninging the wheel that is attached to the metal rod.

the grill grate is made up of V shaped stainless steel slats/rods. they are angled down (toward the front) a few degrees so that the fat from the meat is collected in a tray and does not drip into the flame- flare ups and flame are a big no no in argentine grilling.



while you can of course use whatever rubs and sauces you like, the argentines use nothing but salt and beef is the meat of choice-overwnelmingly.

in a nutshell, argentines grill low and slow for everything cut of meat/beef. no high temperature charring. steaks, or whatever they are grilling, come out moderately caramelize never charred, extremely tender and very juicy.

i was skeptical when i first saw and tried it. i was surprised at how delicious
the steaks were. it's a lot more work particularly if using wood, but in my view, really incomparable.

there a a few companies in the states that make them. just google argentine grills. some even have a smoker hood.

[ilcal]

don't know why, but i can't seem to post the picture. i'd be glad to email it for posting if you would like

[ilcal]

[Huskee]

​Welcome to The Pit ilcal /Neal from Boston! We love warped senses of humor around these parts... at least I do. Your opening comment made me chuckle. "just kidding- I'm from a suburb of Boston." Have any good lawyer jokes to add to our Jokes! thread? Nice grill! Be sure to add that beast to your signature.

Since this is your first post, please check out our homework assignment post for new members, it contains a few how-tos and please-dos.

Also, it's very important that you add the domain AmazingRibs.com to your email safe list in case you are ever drawn as our monthly Gold Medal Giveaway winner!

Hope to hear & see more from you!