Early 'que memories
Had my first chance to "bbq" when my downstairs neighbor lent me his weber kettle that was abandoned in the backyard. I had a huge group of co-workers coming for a 4th of July party and ordered 6 racks of spares w/ no idea how to prep or cook them.
I looked up a few tips (discovered some new online bbq forums) and got up at the crack of dawn on the day of for the task. I was begged and urged to take shortcuts. The bag of charcoal he gave me had been out in the yard and wouldn't light-- I was once again begged to just bake the ribs, but being typically stubborn, I scoured brooklyn for charcoal, and banked my coals to nurture the fire.
In retrospect, they were edible (super tender)-- I made a sweet-chipotle glaze and babied them ribs for about 8 hours. The beer and burgers were more popular, though, but people were blown away by the effort for the ribs and swore they would never work that hard for food. Meanwhile, I was thinking "this is for me!" :lol: