In the span of less than two weeks we turned our clocks ahead an hour, pretended to be Irish for a day, and celebrated the first day of spring. All good signs of longer, brighter, warmer days ahead.
All of those are signs that the outdoor grilling, smoker and flat top griddle season is here.
Remember the good old days when all you had for outdoor cooking was a round charcoal grill on a flimsy aluminum-legged tripod. If you were living on the right side of the tracks, you probably had a four-legged grill, two of which had wheels.
The real key to old-fashioned grilling was the charcoal briquets and lighter fluid.
Kingsford charcoal and lighter fluid was my dad’s choice. One of my most cherished memories is of my dad teaching me the proper way to light the charcoal for grilling.
What kid wouldn’t be interested in dirty charcoal, lighter fluid, matches and fire?
I suppose the way my dad started his charcoal isn’t much different than the way others did, but in my eyes, it was his way, so that became my way.
I don’t currently have a charcoal grill, but if I did, this is the way I would start my charcoal: First I’d pile the charcoal in a teepee in the center of the grill. Then I’d give it a good dousing of lighter fluid and let it soak in for 5 to 10 minutes. Finally, I’d give the pile of charcoal a little squirt of fluid and then stand back and throw a lit match on the pile.
After the charcoal burns for about 15 minutes, most of it should be turning gray and the center of the charcoal teepee should be red hot.
Now it’s time to spread the charcoal out, put the grill grate back on over the hot coals, let the grill grate heat up for a few minutes, and then throw those 39-cent Corn King hot dogs on the grill. We lived on the three-legged side of the tracks.