Here and There

Okay, so this summer, my friends who skipped town (you know who you are) were kind enough to leave behind one small Weber grill, much like the one seen in the link.

After a few experimental grilled chickens cooked over white-hot Kingsford briquettes, I decided I wanted to cook with something more … organic? The idea of some poor mountain in West Virginia being further reduced to a pile of earthen ashes, or another poor mining town getting left in the dust when the multinational mining corporation skips town was, well, starting to bug me. Plus, there’s the appeal of the flavor of wood chips.

So I called my local hardware store to make sure they carried cooking chips, and that they’d fit in my backpack. “Yeah, the bag is about the size of kitty litter, if you can imagine,” the clerk told me. Great.

When I showed up and was pointed to the charcoal section, I was a little confused. They had wood chips, alright. But I was told a bag of “Mesquite Charcoal” was what I wanted. “Oh, but, see, I’m trying to get away from charcoal,” I said, “and start cooking with plant-based products instead.” “I think all charcoal is plant-based, but let me double-check,” he said.

A few minutes later, one of the managers was there, and the situation was explained to her. “I was hoping to get a non-coal charcoal, to get away from a mined-type of coal,” I said. My lesson was about to be served.

“Yeah, all charcoal comes from wood,” the manager replied, not entirely accurately, but close enough. “Really?” I said, literally feeling the lobes in my brain shift a little. Fuck me, I thought. I’ll look that up when I get home.

Lo and behold, charcoal is primarily derived from wood. Specifically, it’s produced by heating large quantities of wood (or, in some cases, saw dust) with enough of a flue to convey the heat.

A few years ago, one of our dogs had diarrehea, and, unexperienced pet owners that we were, we asked the breeders what to do. They told us to get charcoal capsules (sold at most health food stores), and dissolve the powder in her water. Sure enough, the runs went away!

And, according to Wikipedia, the carbonization of wood (which is what the heating process that gets the charcoal is called) also leads to gunpowder and drawing crayons. Who knew that bullets and crayons had so much in common?

Most importantly, I can rest assured that the coals I use to cook with are sustainable (I hope. Next project: find out). And man, that mesquite-cooked chicken was delicious!

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