I’M ALIVE !!! I’M ALIVE !!! Oh man that felt good, like a warm spring rain or a light jog down a sandy beach in September. I lit a FIRE !!! I think boys & girls need to light fires at least once a week, that’s how I see it. Going a month or two just won’t do, nope.
I’ve been in a fog for a little bit and the nasty winter weather hasn’t been helping. Well, here we are at day 2 of daytime temperatures in the mid 70 degree F range and I couldn’t be possibliy feeling any better. Yesterday at 4:30pm Biggles was at the grill, in shorts and lighter in hand, cool refreshing beverage in the other. It was time to light a fire and cook dinner, wanna see?

This meal came together so quickly it was insane. The only thing slowing me down was waiting the 30 some odd minutes for the coals to gray.
Pieced up a whole natural chicky and tossed in to a bowl. Extra virgin to coat, swing around that bowl maybe 2 to 3 times. Fresh ground pepper, paprika, onion powder, chile powder and a little ground celery seed to finish. Oh, no wait, that’s not done. You need juice from a few lemons, now it’s done. Let this rest, not in the fridge. Unless you’re going to be more than 30 minutes, then cover and fridge the sucker.
Yank out some florets from a head of cauliflower or two. Do nearly the same with the cauliflower as with the chicken, but far less oil & lemon, not enough to coat.

8 second exposure, neat eh?
After the coals are just barely gray, close the lid with full exhaust. Let your cooker warm a bit and the coals to simmer down, 5 to 10 minutes. An even fire and warm cooker helps with high fluctuations in temp while cooking and smoking, that’s a helpful hint right there.

Toss a handful of hickory chips in the fire, smoky love ensues. Install meat and cauliflower at some time over direct heat. Don’t walk away from the grill, foo! Keep an eye on the little darlings and turn when they begin to brown. Once nicely browned, set to side of fire and toss another handful of hickory chips on fire. Let it smoke a bit to get the chips caught and close the lid, full open exhaust. Open the lid to move pieces around a bit (play with your meat, it likes it).
Cook until done.
Mama and I enjoyed the meal immensely, the chicken was cooked just until done and the skin was rich and had some crunch on the dark meat pieces. First the lemon juice tanged your taste buds, smoky chicken next with a happy finish of pepper. I enjoyed the cauliflower just fine, but Mama said she liked the oven roasted version better.
And that, was pretty much that.
Xo Xo