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The Rincón family have many enterprises to attend to in the Lucio Blanco area, as they are some of the town's leading citizens. Besides their restaurants and political endeavors, they also own a complete of small ranches, where they keep a few horses and a herd of goats. Their ranches aren't huge spreads, like the Ewing family ranch outside of Dallas, but their ranches are rather modest affairs that only spread a few acres. They aren't moneymaking enterprises, but the ranches are just places for the family to relax, ride horses, and raise a few horses and goats.
Left: We're setting up the party and the fire is burning mesquite logs to coals, as "Nacho" hauls freshly cut mesquite branches. Right: Yoli, Tomás and Rodolfo relax as I snap their photo. Rodolfo invited Jerry, Edna and I over to his place one night, for a get-together and barbecue at one of his small ranches. He has a small ranch that borders the railroad tracks, near the infamous "Cucero del Muerto," the crossing where the August 2005 propane explosion took place. To get to Rodolfo's ranch, you have to drive a few hundred yards west along a railroad access road and there's an opening in the mesquite trees that leads to his ranch. When nobody is at the ranch, there's a gate that blocks access, but that wasn't a problem for us, as they'd already arrived and were in the process of setting things up by the time we got there. Four wheel drive is very handy to have, because as you pass through the gate, you'll come in contact with a large mud puddle that can be nasty. Since it had rained only a few days prior to our visit, the nasty puddle awaited us, and we made use of Jerry's four wheel drive. Dora and Rodolfo were already there, along with Roldolfo's brother Tomás, family friend "Nacho" and Sandry's employee Yoli, who is not only a trusted employee but a friend of the family. Tomás was busy building a small grill using a couple of cinderblocks and a small mesquite fire between the blocks. He is much like his older brother, as that he's very friendly and easygoing, but he has a very distinctive feature rarely seen in Mexican's; very blue-green eyes. He had just got the fire started, using mesquite that Nacho had gathered, and was about ready to dump a bag of mesquite charcoal on the fire. Nacho was busying himself gathering wood and sawing small branches off some of the many mesquite trees that grow on the ranch. I asked Tomás if they always used mesquite, and he simply replied "Siempre," (always) which makes sense, as mesquite is native to the area. Besides providing a good smoky fire for the barbecue, the mesquite smoke helped to chase away some of the many unwelcome gnats who had joined us.
Left: Rodolfo salutes me, the producer of this web site, with a Coronita beer. Right: Setting up the barbecue and the party, under the mesquite trees of one of the Rincón family ranches. Note the fire and the raised grill to the extreme left of the photo, as the mesquite wood is in the process of burning down to charcoal. However, mesqite charcoal will be added to the fire. The grill will be lowered, and used to cook the chicken and sausage... Dora and Yoli were busy cutting up vegetables for salsa, arranging things on the table, and generally getting things ready. One great highlight of a Rincón barbecue is that there is always an ice chest stocked with Corona beer, and tonight's festivity was no exception. Naturally, everybody was laughing, and engaged in animated conversation, and "banda" music coming from Tomás' truck added to the festive atmosphere. I asked Dora if there was anything I could do to help, and she said to help myself to a beer, wander around and take photos, and enjoy myself. So I took Dora's advice and wandered around the ranch, admiring the horses, taking photos, watching what everything was doing and chit-chatting. I was especially keeping an eye on Tomás, as he was the one who was going to do the cooking, and I'm always interested in learning a few new cooking techniques. Perhaps I sound like a broken record, but the Rincóns are some of the nicest people that I've ever had the pleasure to meet.
Left: Rincón family horses, with mom to the left, and son to the right of the photo. Right: Yoli and Dora take a break from cutting up vegetables and setting up the table to chit-chat and to take a bite of the fine salsa that they're in the process of making for dinner. Our main course featured barbecued chicken wings, made in the style known by the locals as "vanpirro," as two wings are joined together, hence know as "vampire wings." Rodolfo buys the wings pre-seasoned in town, and by all accounts, they are the best chicken wings that can be purchased in the area. In addition to the wings, there "Salchichas Con Queso" which are cheese-filled sausages, about the size of a Louisiana sausage. Jalapeno peppers, tomatoes and onions were to be roasted on the grill, along with the meat, to be made into fresh, grilled salsa, on the spot. Not to be grilled were the fresh cilantro and key limes that Yoli was busy cutting up. Refreshments consisted of Corona beer and Coca Cola. You can't find a better menu than that...When the mesquite fire was hot, Tomás dumped the entire bag of mesquite charcoal on the fire, arranged the charcoal to allow good combustion, and placed the grill atop the cinderblock. After all of his effort, it was time for him to grab another beer. I asked him if he'd ever used any wood besides mesquite, and he replied "A mi me gusta mesquite." I guess that settles the question. Meanwhile, Dora and Yoli decided that they didn't want to go through the whole routine of making salsa, so they just elected to roast the jalapeno peppers and save the tomatoes for another night.
Left: Yoli looks on as master outdoor grill chef Tomás Rincón places rubbed chicken on the grill. Right: Tomás places chicken on the grill. Note the heat consists of burned mesquite and mesquite charcoal. When
the grill got hot, Tomás
did something that I'd never seen before: He speared a
half-onion with a knife and proceeded to rub the surface of
the grill. As I was taking in this sight, Jerry rushed
over to me and told me to check this out, as I'd find it of
interest. He was right, as being a barbecue and grill
enthusiast, I was very interested at what Tomás
was doing. As he rubbed the onion over the hot surface
of the grill, the grill began to sizzle and spew out delicious-smelling
smoke. When the onion was used up, he threw it into the
fire. I asked him the purpose of what he was doing and
why he was doing it, he told me that his actions serves
four purposes: a)
It cleans the dirt, grease, leaves and debris off
the grill He was right on all counts, and I learned a new barbecue trick to dazzle and amaze my guests at my next grilling party. It goes to show you that you learn something new every day.
Left: Tomás is adding more chicken to the grill. Right: Chicken wings and jalapeno peppers are roasting on the grill, over a fire stoked by fresh mesquite branches, and locally-produced mesquite charcoal. Rodolfo placed the chicken on the grill. As I alluded to earlier, the wings are attached to the leg of the chicken, and the locals call them "vanpirros" and they're known in Texas as vampire wings. Rodolfo buys his wings in large quantities from a local grocer, and the wings are already pre-seasoned with what appears to be a basic four-ingredient dry rub, similar to what I make at home. They don't use any barbecue sauce, as the pre-seasoned wings are cooked until they're ready to eat. Oh yes, the wings are turned over only once, in order to produce attractive grill marks. Rodolfo turned the wings and then placed the salchichas on the grill. After a few minutes, the jalapeno peppers were placed on top of the chicken. When I asked Rodolfo why he was doing this, he told me that the idea is to cook the peppers, but not to sear, of worse yet, to burn them. By placing them on the meat, the peppers release juice to baste the meat. He said that if they were using onions and tomatoes to make salsa, that those veggies would be place on top of the chicken, just the way that they were doing the peppers. As an aside, many times the meal includes corn tortillas, and they are cooked on a sheet metal griddle that is placed over the fire. Of course, the griddle receives the onion treatment as well, but not enough to really lubricate the grill, as a dry grill is preferred to heat up corn tortillas.
Left: Tomás isn't afraid of the smoke, which is one of the occupational hazards of a master griller. Right: Here's the plate of delicious food that I took home from the grilling party. Due to the fact that we'd already eaten dinner before we were invited to the fine barbecue with the Rincón family, we just weren't hungry for food, so we had to save it for breakfast the next day. Oh boy, what a meal! Unfortunately, I wasn't very hungry, so I had room for only one plate of food. Not only did I have a very enjoyable evening, spent with some wonderful people, but I learned a few grilling techniques from some experts, who believe that simplicity is the best way to go. I'll be using many more onions in my grilling future and making a lot of fresh, hot salsa, as I grill the main course.
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