Categories
Featured The Eater

Greening up the grill

by Kirk Ross

Summer grilling season is here, and we can begin the annual debate between gas and charcoal. For The Eater it’s no comparison. One is a fuel for grilling food; the other an easy way to put the appropriate stripes on your steak.

Yes, you can do amazing things with a gas grill, but you can’t get the smoky flavor into a meal without actual smoke. (Well, you can, but Liquid Smoke is just flat out cheating.)
Setting that aside, let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that you live in a small town that’s obsessed – in a good way – with greenhouse gas emissions. Nothing says “I am emitting copious amounts of hydrocarbons and earth-warming gases” like starting a charcoal grill. I’ve seen a dozen articles and studies that come down on both sides of the debate on which is greener, but none say that charcoal tops propane in terms of air quality.

Smoking pork is much easier with actual smoke. Photo by Kirk Ross

In terms of overall impact on the environment, it’s a closer call, made even closer recently by the development of greener charcoal briquettes. There are brands emerging that are made from wood grown in Forestry Stewardship Council-certified forests and with a less energy-intensive process for producing the charcoal.

Another way to get greener and still get the flavor of charcoal is not to burn so much of it. Pre-cook your meats in the oven and finish them on the grill, or sear on the grill and finish in the oven. And remember to use a metal chimney for starting and not an electric starter (one of the most inefficient devices of the 20th century) or lighter fluid, which is about as green-burning as jet fuel.

Other than that, if you really want to grill green, you may just want to buy some carbon credits.

Market events
Summer is a big season for farmers’ market events. In Carrboro, this month Neal’s Deli is serving samples featuring local ingredients on June 13, and the Tar Heel Foodie will be cooking up some treats on June 27. All summer long, the market will host a series of canning workshops, thanks to another grant from the Ball Canning Company. Last year, the market hosted 12 canning events, focusing on the basics of jams, pickles, kimchi and preserves. This year, the idea is to delve a little deeper with workshops on home-pressed juices, fermentation, syrups and spreads. If you’re interested in being added to the market’s canning list, email assistant manager Erin Heiderman at erinheiderman@gmail.com

White shrimp season
Readers of The Eater may recall some concern last year during what turned out to be a lousy white shrimp season in North Carolina. The cause was a colder-than-normal winter with an extended cold snap. This year’s mild winter has made a world of difference.

The season along the southern coast is starting to pick up and the Pamlico Sound opened up early. White shrimp are not as large as the summer brown shrimp, which at times can get to shrimp-on-the-barbee size. They’re also not as succulent as their warmer-weather cousins, but they still pack a lot more flavor than a frozen hunk of foreign farm-raised shrimp and are sized right for stir-frys and pasta dishes.

Other fresh seafood on the coast to look for this month are bluefish, mahi mahi, tilefish and Spanish mackerel.