When all else fails, try chucking the directgions entirely
We gave our barbecue the first run of the year yesterday, although we’d missed the quick peak in the weather that would have made it perfect. Naturally, I was a bit out of practice. I didn’t get the characteristic “smoke ring” just under the skin, and I had trouble getting the charcoal lit on the first go, despite the technique I learned last summer of tucking a few splints of wood into the pile as kindling.
The barbecue books Eileene got for me last year are quite specific in their requirements. They insist upon natural charcoal (which I haven’t found yet in the area), absolutely no lighter fluid (which is what makes the job of lighting it so damnably difficult), and a metal chimney to light the briquettes in. If you are so rank an amateur as to own no specialized charcoal chimney, the books reluctantly allow you to fashion a makeshift conical chimney out of aluminum foil. The idea is to create a shell to reflect the heat of the nascent fire back inward, and to create a draught to stoke the coals as the hot air funnels upward. Being a rank amateur, I use the aluminum cone.
I set the match to the newspaper, dropped the tin foil over the charcoal, and took the grills off for a hot scrub. By the time I returned, several minutes later, the fire showed no progress. The newspaper had nearly burned to black soot, and what was left was pouring out a choking smoke. I pulled off the cone, preparing to knock apart the charcoal pile and lay a fresh bed of newspaper. *Poof!* With the first breath of wind, the whole pile burst into flame. I tossed the tin foil cone aside, and within another few minutes, the charcoal was a cheery orange-and-gray.
I trust experts, but only so far.