Those of you who’ve been reading this newsletter for awhile know that aside from urbanism and the built environment, I also like to write about cooking, food, and restaurants. For example, I wrote here about sous vide cooking, a method that uses a heated water circulator to basically poach food at very low temperatures. And here, I wrote about the obscure history of a humble Italian dish I grew up eating.

Today is one of those posts, because for the first time in my life, I finally grilled with charcoal! One of my wife’s friends/former classmates wanted to do a barbecue at a park, with a few other friends/former classmates. Most of them are Chinese, so they prepared Chinese-style skewers and marinated meats. (We brought some veggies.) Sorry for the title—we didn’t actually grill any steaks, but I’ll definitely try that at some point. The charcoal flavor is subtle, but it really does enhance the meat.

A reconnaissance visit to our nearby park yielded this unfortunate tweet:

Addison Del Mastro @ad_mastro

This is the condition of almost half the grills in the picnic area at Lake Fairfax Park @fairfaxparks

October 4th 2021

1 Retweet5 Likes

We did, however, manage to find a grill in decent condition. The only thing was, nobody in our group had ever grilled with charcoal before either! I’d been reading about it for a couple of weeks, because I wanted to make sure we could eat, and also because I really like trying different cooking methods and tools.

Two big tips: a charcoal chimney is a must; most folks online recommended it, and while I’m skeptical of gadgets, it’s a very simple device that does exactly what it’s supposed to do. Instead of using lighter fluid and/or trying to light the loose charcoal with kindling underneath, the chimney concentrates the coals and the airflow, and all you really have to do is light a piece of paper or kindling, which fits directly under the coals, all in an enclosed cylinder.

The other tip, which is barely a tip at all, is to have enough charcoal. With all the reading I did, I managed to forget one very basic question: how long does a batch of charcoal stay hot enough to really cook food? Briquettes apparently only last an hour or so at true searing temperatures, and we had only half a bag of briquettes. (Lump charcoal is considered better, but these were just fine.) It was also extremely windy, so we probably lost a fair amount of heat to the wind.

A woman from our group managed to get some more charcoal from another party that was finishing up, and we had enough to just make all our food. It was really fun overall—one of the first big social events in a very long time—and while we’ve got a lot to learn and perfect, I’ll definitely be trying charcoal again.

Sometimes outdoor grilling is poked fun at, as a typical suburban activity that isn’t really as exciting as people like to think, or that’s only done because of a kind of conformism. Sure, if you do it poorly the food can come out really, really bad. Charred to a crisp, tasting like lighter fluid, etc. And maybe some people don’t actually like the extra effort of grilling over using your stovetop or broiler. But there really is something just plain fun about putting in that extra work, and getting to cook with a real fire. It’s a social event, and the company makes it easy. Maybe it’s just memories of campfires and s’mores, or maybe it’s truly something primal in our evolutionary memory.

There’s something similar in what we apparently call “the discourse” regarding gas stoves: an argument that they’re only popular because of advertising or prestige. As someone who cooks every day, I find my gas stove extremely intuitive to use—you can judge how hot the burner is from the size of the flame, which is key visual information—and extremely responsive in terms of temperature changes. I’d like to think I love grilling and stoves alike for my own reasons, and not because of peer pressure or advertising. Plus, tell our mostly Chinese party with their cumin lamb skewers, traditionally barbecued in China, that they’re acting out an American suburban fantasy.

It’s fun to play with fire, and grilling is probably the safest and most satisfying way to do it. I’m looking forward to my first charcoal ribeye.

Related Reading:

The Best Steak

Some Thoughts Inspired by D.C. Restaurants

Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekend subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive of nearly 200 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this!

Share