Sunday night grilled Mexican syle chicken dinner...

Back in 2006, I took a trip to visit my buddy Jerry Flinn in Texas, and in turn, he introduced me to his friends, the Rincón on family, who happen to live in the vicinity of Lucio Blanco, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The head of the family, Rodolfo Rincón, is a successful local businessman, and the owner of several restaurants. During the course of my visit, we were invited to a family barbecue, held on a ranch the family owns, and I was treated to a Mexican barbecue of chicken, sausage, salsa, tortillas, washed down by lots of cold beer. Not only did I enjoy the wonderful company of the Rincón family, and some delicious food, but I leaned how to cook Mexican-style barbecue. Sunday evening, May 24, 2009, it was my turn to cook dinner, so I decided to introduce my brothers to Mexican barbecue, Rincón style.

Photo: I've just placed the chicken and veggies on the grill, and the oak chunks are really smokin'. I only used briquettes to get the oak going.

Tonight's menu was as follows: Grilled chicken, cowboy beans, cooked salsa, and fresh, corn tortillas. It just doesn't get any better than that, and the delicious food tastes even better when its eaten under the stars, in a beautiful place such as Jerseydale Campground.

I did as much as I could do at home, as I'd already rubbed and marinated the chicken, and frozen it, to help keep it cold for two days in an ice chest. Note that it's very important to keep the chicken cold, as it spoils easy, and spoiled meat can result in disaster. The fixin's for the beans had already been prepared at home and also frozen, and I used canned pinto beans to make it really easy. The recipe for my Cowboy Beans is on our sister Web site; click on the hyperlink for the recipe. I brought my Weber Smoky Joe charcoal grill from home, and lots of oak chunks, to provide a good, lowdown smoky flavor. I might mention that we were camping in a pine and cedar forest, but I NEVER use pine or cedar in my grill, as the soft wood implants a bitter flavor. I use mostly oak, as it's grown locally, but I also use hickory, and mesquite, albeit, quite sparingly.

Photo: Veggies are placed on the chicken so they'll cook at a much slower rate, and also to help baste the chicken.

So I lit the charcoal, and when it got going, I placed wood chunks with the charcoal, and after the wood chunks got going, I placed the chicken on the grill and covered it. Before placing the chicken on the grill, I rubbed a half onion on the grates, which is a trick that I'd learned from the Rincóns, as it not only cleans the grate, but it adds additional flavoring, and it's a good way to utilize a marginal onion. When you're smoking chicken, you have lots of time, as everything seems to go in slow motion, and nothing is critical. While the chicken was on the grill, I mixed the beans fixin's with the canned beans, added chopped peppers and onions, and put the pot on the stove cook the ingredients, meanwhile helping myself to our well-stocked bar that we'd opened for the evening. Then, I cut the ends off the Roma tomatoes, cut the onion into slices, removed the skin from the garlic cloves, and cut open the Anaheim chili pepper, and removed the seeds and stems. I left the stems on the peppers intact, just for the effect.

Photo: The veggies are finished cooking, and I've removed them and chopped them up, to be eaten as a side dish to accompany the chicken, tortillas and beans.

Photo: I lift the lid to show my pot of beans to the camera.

To cook the veggies, I placed them ON TOP of the chicken, which is another trick that I'd learned from the Rincón family. The logic in this is twofold, as a) The veggies baste the meat, adding additional flavor, and b) The meat keeps the veggies from burning. The photos clearly illustrate how this is accomplished. Timing is not critical, as it takes about 1-1/2 hours for the chicken to cook, so I probably cooked the veggies for about an hour.

When the beans had simmered for around an hour and a half, I removed them from the stove, placed my cast iron griddle over the burners, and turned the heat to high, to toast the corn tortillas. I placed two tortillas at a time on the griddle, and allowed them to heat about 10 seconds, or when bubbles and blisters began to appear. Then, I flipped them over and repeated the process. When both sides were finished, I placed the tortillas in a tortilla warmer, to keep them warm and soft until we were ready to eat.

Photo: Here's the way to cook tortillas while camping at Jerseydale Campground.

I didn't make salsa, per sé with the veggies, as I merely chopped them up, mixed them together, and served them as a side dish.

Michael and Paul loved my dinner, and I have to admit that I loved it too. I thought that I'd made enough beans to have some in the morning for breakfast, but the three of devoured the beans Sunday night. No problem, we solved the breakfast issue by eating at a local restaurant.

Photo: Paul shouts Olé! and toasts to dinner. Michael is too busy preparing a chicken taco to notice. It looks like Paul is getting very well acquainted with his buddy, Tom Collins.

My Mexican barbecue dinner turned out to be a real hit with my brothers. Thanks to the Rincón family, I took the skills that I learned from them all the way to Mariposa County, and grilled an authentic Mexican dinner at Jerseydale Campground.

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