I love summertime!

m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
> Sasha Rowan wrote:
>
>> "Kat Hein" <katenigma00 DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
>>> Not a guy thing. My grill is all mine! And used exactly because when
>>> it's hot, I'm not interested in adding more heat to the inside. Our
>>> gas grill died last week, and I even made the decision to switch to
>>> charcoal. Used it Friday for the first time, and I'll never go back
>>> to gas!!! Chicken cooked over hippie-style real wood (no chemical!)
>>> charcoal is yummy. And lighting charcoal with a chimney-thingy was
>>> fasy, easy, and not stinky. In fact, it was so simple and worked so
>>> well that I want to buy a bulk lot of them and hand them out to all
>>> the apartments in our vicinity. Most of them use entirely too
>>> much lighter fluid, when I can smell it a building or more away! This
>>> was my first time ever using charcoal, so if I can do it, I'm pretty
>>> sure everyone can.
>>>
>>> Kat
>>
>> Chimney thingy?
>>
>> Sasha
>
> Metal cylinder, with wood or other temperature-safe handle on the side.
> Open top and bottom, some holes in the sides (vents). About an adult
> hand-length in diameter. You put crumpled newspaper in with charcoal on
> top, light the newspaper, and, in theory, the newspaper will ignite the
> charcoal, which you can then pour into the grill to get the whole mass
> of charcoal going.
>
> Low-tech, but usually effective. Slower than lighter fluid, but much
> less smelly.
>

I don't know about slower- I had a pretty efficient flame going
immediately. Once the charcoal is lit, you're supposed to let it burn
anyway- not do what the neighbors do and dump more lighter fluid on.

Of course, we have a small (14") grill, so all the charcoal I need fits
into the chimney, I don't need to use the lit stuff to then light more.
The one I have, though, would fit in more charcoal than I need.

I'd seen Alton Brown use one, but not having any other experience with
them, I was very happy with how easy and well it worked, without needing
to add chemical-flavors to my food or my hair. I was, instead,
wood-smoke scented, but that's not so bad.

Kat

Edna wrote:
> In article <Il6ii.8638$bP5.3960@newssvr19.news.prodigy.net>,
> Kat Hein <katenigma00.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> Our gas
>> grill died last week, and I even made the decision to switch to
>> charcoal. Used it Friday for the first time, and I'll never go back to
>> gas!!! Chicken cooked over hippie-style real wood (no chemical!)
>> charcoal is yummy.
>
> We have one of each. We use the gas grill a lot more often (charcoal
> requires planning ahead, and we often get home from work/school/lessons
> tired and hungry), but marshmellows toast better over charcoal
>
> Edna
>
>

Yes, I had thought of that problem, and will probably end up with both,
honestly. For now, though, since it's just us, we can eat at 10 PM (and
sometimes do, regardless of what kind of grill we had) without starving
children. *G* I forget to put chicken on enough ahead of time often
enough that extra 10 minutes for the charcoal to get going (20 total, vs
10 for the gas one to heat up) isn't that much of a difference. :-/ But
we still have a small propane cylinder from a tabletop one we used to
have, so we intend to get another one for when we don't want to wait.

I'd also considered the marshmallow thing. My parents used to let us
toast marshmallows over the charcoal when I was a kid. Of course,
being a grown up, we sometimes already toast them in the fireplace
during the winter- which neither of our parents let us do. LOL

Kat