Time for a new grill

Well, we've had about 5 near misses with some really powerful storms.  Two storms ago, we had a dead limb fall out of the maple tree  over the patio  and it bashed the lid on my Weber  grill.  It was dented enough that I couldn't straighten it out so that it would properly seal.  Anyone who's serious about grilling knows that you can't properly cook without a lid that seats squarely on the bottom half of the kettle.  So, it was off to Southern States for a new one.  Southern States is a great place to buy grills because they pre-assemble them.  Since we were getting a new grill, we decided to get one with a little counter built in.  That way, we could stop using the hot tub lid for the same purpose.

The model that we picked also had a propane charcoal lighter built-in, which you can see down in there – it's a tube looking thing.  The propane seems convenient because it takes a little gas cylinder that you can get anywhere.  The idea is that you would be able to use the included charcoal bins, fill them up and put them over the flame.  The recommended time for start up is about 5 minutes.  Now, understand that I was very skeptical about this gadget.  I've always used a chimney.  It uses 2 full newpaper pages for fuel (balled up) and gets the coals ready in about 20 minutes.  Back in the day, my dad would always pile up the coals and use starter fluid.  Frankly, the chimney has always produced good results and is reasonably eco-friendly.  I was hard-pressed to try something new.  Grilling is one of my things and I don't like to introduce new variables into my cooking.  Is that a little manic?  Maybe.

In any event, I decided to go ahead and try out the lighter deal.  The first run through I tried using the charcoal baskets.  Predictably, the charcoal was rapidly ignited by the propane.  Took about 5 minutes.  The problem, in my view, is that the bakets don't cover enough of the bottom of the grill and they also keep the charcoal too close to the cooking grate.  I ended up having to put on 

gloves and dump the charcoal bins and spread out the coals.  That wasn't efficient either.  The next attempt was to simply pile the charcoals up like Dad did back when we used lighter fluid.  I piled the up right over top of the ligther element.  Honestly, that was a pain in the neck.  It took too long to pile the coals up in a small enough pile that the lighter would get enough of them lit to get an even bed of coals available. 

To be honest, I've jettisoned all of the gadgets and gone back to the chimney.  It's the only way to fly.  Even, predictable results and no fuss, no muss.  I've started using the propane system to light the newspaper…