If you don’t know, I am always open to new things. Just don’t try to trick me into an old thing I already hate, presented in a different way – that’s not a new thing buster! Anyway, a my friend Ted at work bought some grape wood and was nice enough to give me a few chunks to try. I thought I would try it out on chicken first because chicken is a smoke magnet! Chicken absorbs smoke like a sponge would absorb water in a full bucket.

I already had some boneless skinless thighs so I took them out of the freezer. I also bought some regular bone-in, skin-on thighs to add to the mix for good measure – and more food! I smoked the chicken indirect on my Chargriller Smokin’ Pro and using Kingsford regular charcoal briquettes. I got the chicken on the grill and threw on two chunks of grape wood.

The smoke that the grape wood produced was like apple wood; in fact, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought it was apple wood. It smelled so good though! So, in about 3 hours at about 250* to 275* and my chicken was done. I glazed it with some Weber Grill Restaurant Hot Hickory BBQ sauce and gave it a little direct heat to crisp up the skin on the pieces that had it. Ok, so I tasted some before dinner time… Excellent, but not much different than apple wood flavor – at least to me. The smoke flavor was light and pleasant; I knew I had a smoked piece of chicken but it was not overpowering. As for the flavor; again, very much like apple wood.

So I chopped up some fresh green leaf lettuce, grated up some fresh sharp cheddar cheese, got out the EVOO and made a nice salad to go with my chicken. This is what it looked like…

I was extremely please with the cook overall. The chicken tasted great; even my youngest daughter the “Chicken Critic” said it was great – now that’s a score… believe me! So, I didn’t find any difference in the flavor of chicken smoked with the grape wood as compared to chicken smoked with apple wood – I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference. This 4th of July weekend I plan to try the other pieces on a small pork butt to see if there is any noticeable difference there.

Here are a few pictures of the grape wood, maybe you have some and don’t know it…

I have to say that I am one of the most blessed and fortunate fathers in the world.  I have a wonderful wife, 5 wonderful children and they always make sure to go above and beyond on special days. My family made father’s day a weekend extravaganza for me.

On Friday evening, my youngest daughter took me to play mini-golf which I really, really love.  On Saturday evening, my twin daughters came in from Bloomington, IN to take me to Cosmo-Bowling and on Sunday, my family took me out to dinner at my favorite BBQ restaurant the Weber Grill!

I took advantage of the Father’s Day special which consisted of a three-course meal which had various options.  I chose to start with a terrific Blue Cheese and Apple Smoked Bacon Wedge Salad.  My entree’ was a full slab of hickory-smoked spare ribs which were completely awesome!  I finished with a heavenly slice of Chocolate Cheesecake.

Not only did I eat like a king but I got to spend time with my family with the exception of my oldest son who was out of town handling some business.  I don’t know about you other guys out there, but I had a wonderful time with my family on Fathers Day 2009!

I have had Danish ribs before but this is my first time buying some for myself.  All the BBQ forums I frequent seem to hold these ribs in high disdain.  Being a BBQ competitor myself, there is no way on this side of life I would ever try to use these in a competition.

In spite of that, I have to say that the ones I bought were not too bad.  They are not the best quality pork ribs by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn’t turn out too bad for me.

They cost cost me a little over a dollar per pound and the box was ten pounds.  They are not very meaty and in fact there were lots of shiners.  A “shiner” is a bone on the slab of ribs that show through because of the lack of meat.  I think the ones I bought had a little more meat on them than my esteemed colleagues have been accustomed to.

Another complaint is that the ribs can sometimes have an off flavor, but I did not notice anything like that.  My step-father has been buying these for years and they always taste like natural pork.  Maybe not the best quality pork, but still not any “off” flavor.

I smoked them over a mix of hickory and oak and they came out tasting pretty good.  I bought two boxes of them but only cooked one.  I will smoke the second box for our 4th of July family pitch-in.

So I was not blown away by these ribs, but I was not completely turned off either.  I probably won’t buy them again, but when I visit my step-dad and he has cooked some, I will definitely be eating them!