When you start cooking early in the afternoon and have a professional firefighter running the pit...Mmmmm, mmmm, BEST meat we've ever tasted! Watching this video that my 14-year-old son Paul edited for us brings tears to my eyes, a smile to my face, and joy to my heart. It's so special to connect with friends around food! Last summer we had an incredible opportunity to travel as a family around a big part of the U.S., and we'd like to share one of our favorite moments with you: learning REAL Texas barbeque from our friends, the Branch family, who do this competitively! I'm blessed to have gone to high school with Mrs. Branch, and we had the most special time staying with their family. They treated us to lessons about fire safety, how to grill meat over a pit, how to handle raw meat, and how to treat your parents (for the "Yessir" lesson that I just adore, hit about the 16:30 mark in the video. Show your kids!!).This process begins the night before the big barbeque, and the meat cooks for HOURS...I wish you could smell and taste the result!We put a lot of ingredients on the meat!! I know you'll never be able to recreate this experience, but in case you're wondering what all is going on in the video, here you go:Ribs and chicken:- Dry rub (secret competition recipe!)- Worcestershire sauce- Lots of mop sauce: rough-chopped red onion and sweet onion, 2 bottles of Italian dressing, a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ, 2 bottles of beerRibs only, for the foil packet:- Brown sugar- Honey- Canned jalapenosTexas Smashed Red Potatoes: - Green onion- Bacon bits- Sour cream- Butter- At least 5 pounds of red potatoesThose Brussels sprouts were the best vegetable ever created, y'all -- Leah says they're like dessert! We could never recreate them at home though...Some tips you CAN use at home on your grill:* Listen to Mr. Bryan's fire and food safety talks!* Use gloves for kids handling raw meat.* Prepare meat the night before with your favorite dry rub (be sure to take the membrane off the ribs. We used Eagle Claw Pliers: https://amzn.to/31W7Hgp* Rub the grill grate with a red onion to prevent the meat from sticking and season everything* Don't you love the way Mr. Bryan butterflied the chicken? * Thicker meat over direct heat and thinner over indirect heat to get everything done at one* Use a foil packet technique on ribs after grilling them for a while to steam them super tender -- 2 on the bottom, 1 on top. Be sure to wrap it well and don't get any holes!* If you're barbecuing and the recipe calls for sugar, you can't just replace it with honey to be more "real food" -- there has to be some granulated sugar to crystallize in the process.* Kids can do hard things! Paul did wonderfully cutting up those ribs, even through the knuckle. Be inspired! * Call your mom and dad "Ma'am" and "Sir." You'll score big points! :) Sooooo...do we use a lot of bottled dressing, Sweet Baby Ray's with high fructose corn syrup, and bags full of sugar on our meat on a normal day at Kids Cook Real Food?Well, no. But when in Texas, do as Texans do! We don't worry too much about compromising here and there, especially when we have an opportunity for an incredible life experience like this one. I love that my friend Mrs. Branch regularly frequents Yonderway Farm, where the chickens run free and everything is sustainable. http://yonderwayfarm.com/A huge thank you to Bryan and Amanda Branch for hosting, teaching, and letting us participate in this process from farm to pit to becoming family. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.Visit the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse and see how we teach children confidence in the kitchen: https://kidscookrealfood.comFind all the Kids Cook Real Food Healthy Parenting Connector videos at https://youtu.be/GVRq0m-Ehe4
