17.6.10

firestarter.
















It's pretty cool having someone "handy" around the house. Sometimes all you have to do is say, "I'm thinking about buying a charcoal chimney", and the handy person says, "No need!", and then you go buy a gargantuan can of olives at a very nice Middle Eastern grocery called Interfood (Groen van Prinstererstraat 88), take the ends off, drill some holes, attach some thick wire to serve as a grate between the charcoal and the newspaper, pour a Pimm's Cup, head up to the roof, and light that bitch (the, eh, chimney).

+++

As for the food: this was a test run, and the results were something we'll call "mixed". We ended up with some nearly perfect BBQ drumsticks; some initially disturbing but fixable asparagus; and borderline disastrous salmon that seriously tested the cook's patience and good humor. Two alterations would have made the whole endeavor markedly more successful from a cooking perspective: properly cleaning the grill BEFORE putting food on it; and starting with enough charcoal to to make a seriously hot fire.

But that's what test runs are for. The home-made chimney worked flawlessly (at a cost savings of more than 20 euro), so let's extend a big VDuck thank you to DIY Girl ("Thanks, DIY Girl!").

Oh yeh: anyone got any idea what to do with 400 green olives (besides tapenade)?





2 comments:

Klary Koopmans said...

looks great. but what's the chimney for?

MEM said...

Ah.......it's to light the charcoal without lighter fluid. Much easier, healthier, cheaper. You stuff newspaper in the bottom of the can and charcoal in the top. Light the newspaper, and the amazing laws of physics do the rest. In 5-10 minutes you have burning coals, and you dump them into the grill and then put some more coals on top and wait 15 minutes or so before starting to cook.