UV Buena Gente Social Club, Parrilla building 2.0

"Eh, che, todo bien?"

"Dale boludoooooo"

Hi y'all,

UV Buena Gente Social Club en Salt Hill Pub-Photo courtesy of Jennifer Roby

Buena Gente! - Photo courtesy of Jennifer Roby

Everything's well in Vermont right now, despite the added stress of building a parrilla, or my derivative of one, in less than a week. I've also begun organizing weekly spanish conversations at a local pub through the Upper Valley Buena Gente Social Club. It's a group of folks, both native spanish speakers and gringos who enjoy speaking the language, who get together several times a month to converse in Spanish. I enjoy organizing the evening events at the pub. It's a great way to bring folks together from all backgrounds to share experiences through the spanish language.

Carne para que asar

Nancy, my mom, has recently retired from her job at the Tuck Business school at Dartmouth, a post she has held for 27 years, and I decided a celebration dinner would be the best opportunity to test out the new parrilla. Regrettably I should probably admit to myself that I rushed the job a bit. Doing the entire thing in one week meant that I had to devote almost every day to working on it in some way, for at least two hours and up to five hours on a few days, after I got home from my full time work which I begin every day at 6:00 in the morning.

To anyone with plans of building a brick barbecue, BE WARNED, it is worth it, but it's best to know what you are getting yourself into.

The process itself is straightforward enough. First, you should map out a basic outline of the dimensions you want for the grill. I chose to have the grill 54 inches by 36 inches, though I only used 26x26 for the actual grilling portion.

L Parrilla a la Kyle, es una obra en construccion

Do not build a grill just to cook hot dogs and hamburgers. You can cook hot dogs and hamburgers in much easier ways. Build a brick parrilla for the big stuff. Sirloin, brisket, ribs, chorizo. This is what a big grill is meant to cook. Save the dogs and burgers for the frying pan. 

You should make a mental map in your head of how you want the parrilla to look. Do you want it low to the ground or at chest level? Do you need added working space or just the grill itself will suffice?

Furthermore, once you have the dimensions, get the dimensions of the bricks and do the calculations of how many you will need, and always get a few extra.

When you are working NEVER RUSH! We rushed a bit and one of the sidewalls was slightly skewed, which I could successfully hide a bit by chipping off around some of the bricks with a hammer and chisel to make the side look straight. But if you really want it to look good take breaks to survey the progress, keeping an eye out for any misalignment or aesthetic eyesores. Because once the mortar sets you won't want to take the sledghammer to it just because you severely misaligned an entire row of bricks.

Also, don't be afraid to improvise. I was stuck the day before the asado with an unfinished grill and not enough brick to complete the job. After thinking things through I discovered that we could complete all the fundamental stuff so the grill could function without actually completing it.

The grill worked excellently for the first asado. Though I suggest if you plan to show off your new grill and have a grand opening asado with it, secretly do a pre-asado a week or so before so you can get to know the grill, how it works and what temperature it cooks at. The photos here are from the second time using it and the meat was infinitely more tender and cooked more slowly.

The grill I made isn't fancy, and doesn't raise or lower to keep the meat at a specific temperature. So I will need to learn how to maneuver the coals to get the optimal temperature for each cut of meat. This will come with time. But as I recently learned from experience, you probably don't want to cook for people on a grill you've never used before. Master the parrilla first, then invite the guests.

Now you're probably wondering how the party went. You probably are thinking I burnt the ribs, or charred the sausages, or dried out the brisket. Well, all of that pretty much happened. Fortunately though the damage was moderate to minimal, and the guests enjoyed the warm hospitality and the food regardless. A great chimichurri (Argentine barbecue sauce) helped cover the dry and tough brisket, while American style barbecue sauce covered the charred flavor of ribs.

To end this section on a bright note, building a brick barbecue/parrilla is a big task, but it's worth it. There's nothing like grilling meat over embering coals on a grill you made with your very hands. Furthermore, the more you use the grill, the better you will get to know it, and the better your barbecue will be.

Below are a few more photos as well as some from the garden.

Cheers

Tomato plant with one little tomato

Peas almost ready!

La primera cosecha