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Yes! Yes! This is the grilling content I wanted! Thanks for the amazingribs link.
I do not possess lighter fluid. I figured even if it was true that lighter fluid burned off before it got on the food, a charcoal chimney would probably be cheaper over a long period of time because you do not have to buy fluid continuously.
I have a very tiny 14 inch used Char-Broil tabletop kettle grill. We'll see if I can do two-zone with that.
I think the first thing I cook will be brats and chicken thighs and then maybe chicken leg quarters, too. I might try grilling up the cabbage in the fridge. Do you do marinades or anything like that? My lazy air frying usually involves just seasoned salt and a meat and it usually turns out pretty great, but then my uncle (who grills a lot) avails me of his complicated adventures involving brining and marinades and rubs and I feel bad.
I'm too cheap to experiment with steaks. Steaks are very expensive, especially lately.
I would think that this is a wash, because you still need something to ignite the coals when you use a chimney starter (just throwing a match in there doesn't cut it in my experience). I use paraffin wax cubes for that purpose, which means I'm still buying consumable stuff to get the coals going. Newspaper does work, so if you have it sitting around you can always use that at no marginal cost to yourself. I just don't have anything like that.
I suspect that a 14" tabletop grill is going to be too small to do two zone cooking, but I certainly could be wrong. I don't have direct experience with those.
As far as food prep goes, it depends on the specific thing I'm cooking. I do use a marinade for making jerk chicken, and something like a marinade for salmon (I cover the fillets with a mixture of brown sugar and Dijon mustard, them cook them indirectly). For burgers and steaks, I just do salt and pepper as a rule. For brats I do nothing at all - they are seasoned enough already that you don't need to add more, and I'm not a beer brat kind of man (though many people do like that).
When I was learning how to grill, I found that brats are surprisingly tricky to cook. This was where I learned the importance of temp control, because I was turning out brats that were blackened on the outside but were raw inside. Even now I probably don't do an amazing job (I think that I have a tendency to overcook them so they come out dry), but at least they aren't raw. You might find them easier, but just something to look out for.
Steaks, by comparison, are trivial! Which is good because they are expensive as you said. Salt and pepper, maybe a seasoning mix, and then you cook them like 3-4 minutes per side. And if you really want to be thorough, you can use a thermometer to temp them, though I generally don't bother.
Another thing which is really good is grilled corn. I've done a couple of different methods, but the one I have found I prefer is to peel back the husk (don't remove it), take the silk out, and then put the husk back. Then you soak the ears of corn in water for a long while (I do overnight), and cook them directly over the coals, turning the ears every now and then, until the husk is dried out and brown/black on all sides. The corn inside should be perfectly cooked and it's delicious (with the usual salt and butter of course).
Soak kitchen paper or cotton in cooking oil. can get a chimney starter to emit blue flame in 6 minutes.
I didn't know that one, I'll try it out. But my overall point was just that you need to use something to get the chimney starter going, and that something (probably) coats you money. Using oil and paper towels is cheap, but so is lighter fluid. So my guess is that no matter what method you use to light coals, it'll be similar in costs.
For me, our house gets a bunch of Chewy boxes in the mail, so spare cardboard is handy at about any moment.
I hope I abuse this smaller grill enough to break it so I can get a proper Weber kettle soon.
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The objections against lighter fluid are usually taste not cost wise. Never used the stuff so I can't comment.
But I think that for me this is more of a - a knife never runs out of bullets situation. If you are grilling you will have paper towels and cooking oil nearby, buy you can run out of lighter fluid.
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You don't get any junk mail or grocery store circulars? I agree that the "lighter fluid bad" crowd tends to be a bit overzealous, but the problem I have with it is more one of consistency—unless you're very careful about how you apply it, there are always a few briquettes that don't seem to light, and you usually have to stir the pot a bit to get everything going. Match-light charcoal avoids this, but it's also the most expensive solution. This is the same reason why I think lump charcoal is an affectation as well. It looks cooler but is more expensive to produce and doesn't give the consistency that good 'ol Kingsford blue bag does.
I do, although to be honest I have never thought to keep them for that purpose. I just throw them out immediately. It's a good idea, though, and one I will probably start implementing. The paraffin wax cubes I currently use to light my chimney starter are not super expensive, but free is even better.
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I think that a lot of people still live with the first seasons of good eats, not realizing that the 80s suburbia is long gone. More and more briquettes are pressed dust with some starch as binder. And they deprive themselves of the brilliant asian briquettes with hole - those things can make your local blacksmith passing by to ask if they can use your forge for some minor work.
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Chicken is difficult because it is non-uniform in thickness, and non-uniform in density (bone-in). Brats are easy because they are uniform, as are steaks (cut to thickness). Chicken thighs can handle some abuse, but bone-in leg quarters seem challenging to me. Hard to get the inside cooked without burning the outside. It's easier to cook those in the oven where you can control temperature better, but then you're roasting, not grilling.
I would absolutely use a marinade on the chicken. Acid, salt, and fat are what you need, along with aromatics. Acid is usually lemon or lime juice, but can be vinegar or even wine (red wine makes dark chicken). Salt is salt, or soy sauce (again, dark chicken). Fat is some liquid oil. Aromatics would be garlic and fresh herbs. How's your herb garden looking this spring? If you don't want to make one, use a bottled salad dressing, or a bottled sauce.
Seasoned salt will work fine, as will salt and pepper. Powdered spices to include on top of just S&P would be garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and so on, depending on what flavors you want. Garlic powder as the only addition to S&P is the simplest and will get you great results on steaks.
Brining is nice to do. Dry brine just means salt well ahead of time and leave uncovered in the fridge. Pat dry when you remove. This pulls out moisture and usually leaves better crust and browning on the outside, while transmitting some of the salt into the meat. Wet brine is basically a marinade with only salt and aromatics, no fat or acid. If you're marinating, you're usually brining by default. Wet brines can help keep moisture in the meat, so for chicken especially it's useful, since dry chicken is the common failure. There's a reason your Thanksgiving turkey comes packed in brine.
I've experimented a little with marinades before when trying to perfect my fajitas, but there are some things I am unsure about with them still. For instance, do you always throw your marinade out once you're done with the meat? It seems a bit of a waste to me. Glazing it on is an option I've seen floated, but that seems like it adds extra considerations. And let's say that my marinade is 100% acid. How long is it safe to leave the meat marinating in it? How about 50%? I know that meat gets mealy if you marinate too long, but I don't know how long it needs to get an effect at all.
Since fajitas are just about my favorite meal, maybe I can give grilled pork or chicken fajitas a shot. Also, I can see clearly that I'll need to order a couple thermometers to do grilling correctly. Thankfully, chicken thighs are forgiving. I will take your leg quarter advice under consideration. They do really well in the oven anyway. I tried a soy honey marinade once with leg quarters, and then baked it in with the marinade, but it just turned out really watery and the soy honey flavor didn't come through very well.
If you have a really fantastic marinade that you want to use as a sauce, put it in a small saucepan and cook it down to a thicker consistency.
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Yes, and honestly I don't feel bad about it because it was just there to flavor the meat. It did its job, no need to keep it around.
Marinating is something where you will generally want to spend hours to get any effect. When I do jerk chicken, I marinate overnight. It's perfectly safe as far as I'm aware and I've never had negative results.
You don't need to (lots of cooks have made great meals without thermometers), but they can be helpful for sure. I highly recommend Thermapens. They read temperature near instantly, and they hold up to use very well. They are on the pricy side but I find that worth it for a tool you'll have for a long time to come.
Also if you get into smoking, consider getting a remote probe setup. Ideally it would have at least two probes (one for the meat and one to clip to the grill surface), and the remote will let you monitor the temperature from anywhere in your house. That way you can kick back and relax with (insert beverage of choice here), which is really the best part of smoking meat.
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Yes, you typically toss the marinade, or use it as a glaze while cooking. Just glazing doesn't give you the time that you need. Cooking with the marinade means too much water, which means lower heat (212F), which means no browning.
Long exposure to acid will chemically 'cook' the meat. This is ceviche, for example. 100% acid I would do for no more than an hour, but I don't have a hard and fast rule. A typical marinade with equal parts oil and lemon juice is fine overnight, but I might hesitate doing multiple days.
Thermometers are not 100% necessary, but I would recommend them for chicken leg quarters. I like them in general, so an instant-read is a good tool to have in your kitchen.
For evenly cut steaks, you can use the muscle of your thumb as a guide. Thumb touching pinky, and the thumb muscle feels like well done. Ring finger, medium; middle finger, medium-rare; index finger, rare. I use this for beef and lamb, I'm sure it works for pork, and I don't grill fish at all.
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