Venus Rising

Food for SoulIssue: Gemini 08

The Art of Natural Grilling

With warm weather finally here, it is time to fire up the grill! These days it seems that just about everyone in the neighborhood has an expensive gas grill. However, while gas grilling has become more popular it has yet to replace charcoal grilling. In fact, the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association maintains that 37% of household grillers still use charcoal.

Perhaps many people have switched to gas because of the negative aspects of using charcoal briquettes. Charcoal briquettes contain various chemicals, not to mention the toxic petroleum-derived lighter fluid needed to start them. Many find it hard to believe that those chemicals do not somehow find their way into our grilled food. Luckily, a solution has been found to avoid this chemical mix. All-natural “lump charcoal” that can be lit using a “chimney starter” is now fairly easy to find at your local grocery or natural foods store. I have had great success grilling this way. In fact, I have found that it is actually much easier and tastier! 

Lump CharcoalLump charcoal is simply carbonized wood made from seasoned hardwoods. It is created by partially burning wood or heating wood without oxygen. Natural lump charcoal is merely 100% carbon and free of the tars and toxic chemicals (carcinogenic compounds, such as benzo-a-pyrene) found in generic charcoal briquettes.

Lump charcoal also lights very easily. It can be lit with one or two pages of a newspaper at the bottom of a chimney starter. A chimney starter is a steel cylinder about 8" in diameter and about 12 to 18 inches tall with a plate or grate where the charcoal rests and several holes around the bottom. The holes allow air to flow up underneath the charcoal. Once the paper lights on fire, it will quickly ignite the charcoal pieces. The fire spreads up through the charcoal until all of it is Chimney Starter glowing red. Once the charcoal is red and white-ashen, the chimney is picked up by its handle and the lit charcoal is dumped into the grill. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the number of coals.

Lit lump charcoal will quickly get to cooking temperature in as little as 7-10 minutes. This is significantly less than the 20-25 minutes of regular charcoal briquettes. And one pound of lump charcoal produces the same amount of heat as two pounds of charcoal briquettes, so it will save you money. It can also be reused. After you are finished grilling, simply close all your grill’s vents to snuff out the charcoal. The next time you are ready to grill, you can reuse any leftover chunks. Best of all, natural charcoal provides a woodsy flavor to foods since it has significantly more hardwood content than regular charcoal briquettes.