Archive for May, 2008

Making Meals For Jewish Holidays

Friday, May 30th, 2008


Food is an important part of the Jewish tradition so knowing what to serve on each holiday is important.

When orthodox Jews came together on Rosh Hashana, they greeted each other with the Hebrew phrase “L’Shonah Tovoh Ticosevu,” meaning “May a good New Year be in store for you.”

For us children this was a very happy Holiday. This was the time when, in addition to the regular Sabbath feast, there were plenty of sweets - honey, nuts, ginger, spice, etc., harbingers of a sweet and zestful year. We would watch big-eyed, while Mama dished out the round-cut carrots with the tzimmes, signifying a well-rounded year. This was the Holiday of desserts. Not so for the grownups. To them Rosh Hashana was the time to review their deeds during the past year, repent their sins, beg forgiveness for transgressions, and pray to God to inscribe a good New Year. To Mama it was a time to work even harder, to gather her flock together and feed them even better than before.

Everyone knows that the Jewish people have suffered persecution, poverty and hardship throughout their history. We have been told that for every ill there is a compensating good. I like to think that one of the benefits of belonging to our people is that we have so many Holidays when we may foregather, eat, drink and be merry. Indeed this was and is a measure of our reverence. So let us celebrate by turning to the section headed cakes and desserts - and Esst gezuudt! Please remember that kreplach are a must on this Holiday.

Another good Jewish holiday is Succoth. All over the world, in various cultures and throughout known history, the fall of the year is a special time for celebrating and giving thanks. To the Jews, the feast of the Harvest is known as Succoth. There is another and deeper significance to this holiday, for the succah (tabernacle) is symbolic of the shelter in Jewish wanderings, the haven of refuge for a persecuted people.

Orthodox Jews observe this holiday in the following way. A succah (a wooden structure covered with vine leaves and branches) is put up outside the house. Here food is served throughout the holiday week.

I remember how excited we children would be when the succah was put up in our back yard. Because of its limited capacity, the adults naturally had priority, and we children became unexpectedly angelic at the promise of being permitted into the succah if we behaved like grownups - “Vest zein a mensh, vest du essen in succah!”

For an entire week, food was carried from the kitchen, sometimes two or three flights down, with the children gaily bringing out the edibles and the elders happily gathered around the wooden table under the leafy boughs. This is a holiday when kreplach of all kinds are served.

And how can we talk about Kosher cooking without mentioning Hanukkah? Hanukkah is the most delightful of the holidays for children. It is the Feast of Lights, the commemoration of the time when Maccabeus and a small band of followers fought the Syrian-Greek tyrant Antiochus and rededicated the temple. The story is told that when the Maccabees found enough oil to burn for a single day, miraculously it lasted eight days.

This is the holiday when potato pancakes, potato kugel and blines are served; when we distribute Hanukkah gelt (money) to children. There is a dradle (top), which the young ones spin for forfeits of nuts.
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What You Should Know Before Buying a Wine Rack

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008


For some people, the storage and acquisition of wine is more than just a hobby, it is an art.

Wine connoisseurs all know that the proper storage of wine is important to its final flavor. Once it is already bottled, wine will still mature and gain body and flavor. Proper care should be taken when handling wine, or else its potential for greatness will go to waste. To keep their wine well preserved, the discriminating connoisseur will choose a proper wine rack.

How to Buy a Wine Rack

The Build
Wine racks can be made of so many different materials and styles. You should consider which material and style fits your need and preference. You could have wood, glass, alloy, or metal racks. Some people try to choose materials that match their living rooms. There are a variety of styles of wine racks, find one that if convenient for you. The popular styles include counter top racks, diamond bins, cabinets and others.

The Essential Elements
A good wine rack will ensure that the following elements are strictly controlled. Light, humidity, temperature, stability. If you want to keep your wine well preserved and ready for ambush party, you need to make sure they are not exposed to light, moisture, extreme temperatures and shaking or vibration.

Cabinet wine racks are good at keeping wine bottles safe. They can emulate the conditions at a wine cellar best. These condition include moderate humidity, cool temperatures, and little light

We try to control the humidity so we can avoid getting the wine cork from accumulating moisture. This will lessen the chances that the wine will get contaminated or oxidized.
Keeping the correct humidity or appropriately moist environment will keep the wine cork damp, reducing the chances of contamination and/or oxidization. Warm conditions will accelerate wine aging. You have to keep this in mind when you consider which wine rack to choose.

Things to Remember
Don’t place wine cellars above or near refrigerators. Refrigerators generate heat and this heat could ruin you wine collection. Buying and installing a good wine rack would be useless if that happened.

Your rack has to be smooth enough that when the wine bottles are put and taken, they will not get scratched and damaged. Bottles and labels are also important parts of the overall value of wine.

A wine cellar is great but not necessary to store your wine in the correct environment. But since not everyone can afford a wine cellar or has space enough for one, you could opt for a wine rack instead. Wine racks function a lot like wine cellars, but they are smaller and are more accessible. They are also a lot cheaper and easier to install.

Believe it or not, ultraviolet light can affect and ruin wine. That’s the reason wine cellars are so dark and that’s why you have to keep your wine in a dark safe place. When you store your wine bottles, make sure they are stored sideways; this ensures that the wine is always in contact with the cork to keep it moist.

Once again we cannot express how important it is to maintain the right conditions for your wine to mature nicely. Your wine rack system has to maintain the right amount of humidity and temperature to keep your collection going. Bear in mind that wine is something you keep for a long time. Keep your wine racks pumping a temperature range of 55-60 F. Also make sure the humidity is in the 50% to 75% range. Adjust these settings according to the needs of your wine.

Start Planning for Your Wine Rack Now!
Well, now you have pretty much gotten everything in order. When a party comes crashing through, you can whip out the grade A wine and celebrate to your hearts content. Pour out the good times to the tune of the compliments and admiration your friends will throw your way all because of your fine wine rack.
For more great wine rack info and advice check out:

http://www.rack-hq.com

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How to Use Less Energy While Cooking

Sunday, May 25th, 2008


There are a lot of little ways to save energy around the house. Most people know the basics, such as turning the thermostat to a lower temperature in winter and wearing a sweater. But it’s easy to not think of your energy use when you’re cooking.

This can seem like a pretty small thing. After all, cooking is not a large part of most people’s day. But it is one of those things you can do to make a difference.

We’ll start with putting a lid on the pan when you’re cooking. If you don’t need direct access to the food, having a lid on the pan means it will cook faster. This is particularly evident when you’re boiling water before adding spaghetti. The water boils much sooner with a lid on.

Having the lid on the pan helps to keep your food at the right temperature for cooking, while you can have your stove on at a much lower level since less heat is lost out the top. If you don’t like to spend a ton of time in the kitchen, this also translates to a shorter cooking time.

Another factor to consider is how long you preheat your oven, or if you even really need to. I very rarely preheat mine, as it takes only a short time for it to reach the required temperature anyhow. I make an exception for anything that is more sensitive to temperature, such as when I bake bread. But meats and casseroles don’t need to start out at that perfect temperature.

A tool I’ve been learning to use is my pressure cooker. It takes a bit of practice, but it can cook many foods in under 10 minutes. It’s one of the few things that I’m considering finding a cookbook for since I have very few pressure cooker recipes.

My slow cooker, on the other hand, is used very regularly. Despite how long it spends cooking, it uses less energy than the oven. It’s also very easy to have just about the entire dinner in one pot. Throw in a roast and put the potatoes alongside it.

Another favorite way to make quick, just about one dish meals is to stir fry. The chopping takes extra time, but that means the meat cooks very quickly. As a bonus, it’s one of the few ways I can be sure that my husband will eat his vegetables. The fact that everything only needs a little cook time really helps. If you need a little more intense cooking time, throw a lid on for a little while and decrease the heat so things don’t burn.

And of course, there’s the microwave. Meats generally don’t cook up too well in them, but for reheating leftovers or giving vegetables a quick steam they’re very efficient.

As you build up your cooking habits to use energy more efficiently, you may come to appreciate how fast many of these methods are. There’s nothing like doing something that saves you both money and time.
Stephanie Foster blogs at http://www.greensahm.com/ about being a stay at home mom who thinks about the environment. Get more tips on going green at her site.

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Coffee Pod Machines and How to Choose Them

Friday, May 23rd, 2008


The tasting of coffee is such a maddening experience that the coffee lovers can be said to be the addicts of it. From time immemorial, coffee has been the favorite hot drink of the people the world over. No stone was unturned for extracting the coffee flavor to its fullest from the coffee beans. The forgotten pot with a snout, famously known as the kettle, brings down the memories of the past. The coffee was brewed in the kettle, and poured into separate mugs, the trapper at the bottom of the snout stopping the coarser coffee grains and a clothe percolator filtering the finer grounds. Evolution in the design of the coffee makers saw the later day inventions such as drip coffee makers where hot water drips down on the ground coffee placed in the filter and the coffee is made.

The problem with drip coffee makers is that the ground coffee has to be measured out and placed in the filter of the makers. Since the type of roast, grind size and the quantity matter in getting the best taste out of coffee, the users had to experience only one or two tastes. With the invention of coffee pods, the process of brewing coffee has taken a new turn in enjoying many flavors. Coffee pods are small pre-packed bags of measured quantity of ground coffee. The coffee pods are for instant brewing. They are available in different flavors such as roast, blends and quantities. They are clean to use. The new coffee pod machines are designed to take such coffee pods into them for brewing the finer coffee.

The working of coffee pod machines lies between that of drip machines and an espresso machine. Like the drip machine, water is heated in boiler compartment of the pod machine and passed through the coffee grounds. The hot water is passed on the ground coffee with certain pressure for quicker brewing like an espresso machine.

With so many choices, the selection of coffee pod machines is a difficult task. While choosing some points have to be looked at.

- The number of cups that can be brewed at a time.
- The types of coffee pods that can be used.
- The size of the water compartment for deciding the quantity of coffee.
- Warm up time of the machine.
- Bar pressure achieved so as not to get an espresso drink every time.
- Wattage and warranty period of the machine.
Jason Uvios writes about “Coffee Pod Machines and How to Choose Them” to visit:expresso pods,gourmet coffee and coffee pods imported.

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How To Find The Automatic Drip Coffee Maker Best Suited To Your Needs

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008


Shopping for coffee makers today must be like “wading in a sea” of unknowns. Why? There are so many products to choose from and confusion must reign in the minds of those simply looking for a coffee maker to do what it does best… produce a cup of coffee.

Coffee maker reviews are plentiful nowadays. From simple machines a child could operate to the now fashionable cafe style makers, the choice is endless. So what do you need? How about an automatic drip coffee maker?

Deciding On The Right Unit

First tip in finding the perfect machine is deciding what best suits your needs. Automatic drip coffee makers are always a great option from the light drinker to the “addict.” Automatic drip machines come in a variety of styles and sizes and in recent times, have improved to the extent that they are no longer considered the “poor man’s unit.”

The basic models consist of the usual power base, filter section and carafe yet innovations such as built in warming plates, timers, shut-off and pause functions have brought these machines under the close scrutiny of the most discerning drinker. Better still, they produce a great cup of the “black stuff” which is what you’re after, isn’t it?

Extra Features

Added features such as grinding mechanisms and flavor adjustment features plus advanced water filtration are becoming part and parcel of the automatic drip coffee maker systems. Being able to keep “the brew” warm was once a problem which has been overcome in recent times. The problem was brewing four cups or more at a time and for light drinkers, one or two cups was all that was needed. Now, with the ability to include features which keep the coffee warm, maintaining an acceptable temperature is now a breeze.

It all gets back to the level of drinker you are. If you are a light drinker then the larger machines won’t be economically suitable yet, while the larger makers can brew up to twelve cups, you still have the ability to set this at a lower level if you desire. Or, if you just need that one cup in the morning before you head off to work, then there are some great single cup makers on the market to choose from.

Automatic Drip Coffee Maker Pricing

How much will you expect to pay for an automatic drip coffee maker? Well, the good news is, unlike their more expensive espresso cousins, automatic drip machines are extremely affordable. In fact, basic models can be bought from under $20 while the larger, feature packed models will set you back $200 or more.

The decision is ultimately yours. Decide what level of drinker you are and then choose an automatic drip coffee maker suitable to your needs. It’s as simple as that!
Dean Caporella is a professional broadcaster who has a passion for all things coffee. Get the latest tips on buying an automatic drip coffee maker Plus, get all the latest coffee related news and information at:http://www.coffeemakerheaven.com

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Changing How You Eat In Texas

Saturday, May 17th, 2008


Changes can be difficult, especially changes in your diet and nutrition. If you’re a young healthy individual who lives in Dallas, Houston or anywhere in Texas, it’s easier to change your diet now and reap the benefits, than to change later on when you’re older, because of health problems.

One of the first and best ways to control what to eat is to cook for yourself. If you can’t cook, learn how. With the hundreds of thousands of recipes, both online and in libraries, you’re bound to find a cuisine you’ll love that’s both tasty and healthy. Cooking is one way to take advantage of important nutrients that occur in extremely small amounts, yet have incredible repercussions in your body.

Unlike with freshly prepared food, many commercial food preparers find it convenient and cheaper to substitute nutrients for a longer “shelf life.” In addition, some of the more nutritious foods aren’t very popular; they’re never marketed, and few people know how to prepare or enjoy them. It’s a good idea to stay away from commercially-prepared foods and stick with preparing and cooking fresh foods.

One of the more important changes you can make in your diet is to cut back on the amount of fat you consume. So, if you currently eat a lot of fat, try just one or two of the following changes:

- For meat — eat it baked, grilled and broiled rather than fried. Take the skin off before eating chicken. Eat fish at least once a week.
- Cut back on extra fat — butter or margarine on bread, sour cream on baked potatoes, and salad dressings.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables with your meals and as snacks.
- When eating in restaurants, watch out for “hidden” fats — salad dressing and desserts as well as larger portion sizes.
- Read the nutrition labels before you buy food. If you can’t decipher the labels, talk to your doctor or your nutritionist.
- Drink no- or low-calorie beverages — water, unsweetened tea and diet soda.

Balanced nutrition and regular exercise are still part of a good health regime even if your weight is consistent. So it’s important to set goals that you have a good chance of attaining, like making one of the small changes listed above or walking one additional day per week.

Yours and your family’s medical history may also be an important reason to change your diet. If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you may need to talk about nutrition with your doctor:
- Have you been diagnosed with a medical problem or risk factor, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol?
- Were you told that this condition could be improved by better nutrition?
- Does diabetes, cancer, heart disease or osteoporosis run in your family?
- Are you overweight, or have you gained weight over the years?
- Do you need to find out what kinds of foods you should eat or whether you should take vitamins?

- Do you think that you could benefit from seeing a nutritionist?

Sure, it’ll be hard make changes in your diet, but even very small changes can improve your health considerably. It’s important to keep trying to eat the right foods. Also, stay in touch with your doctor and nutritionist, to let them know how you’re doing. Take a look at the following suggestions to help you improve your eating habits:

- Evaluate the strong and weak points in your diet: Do you eat five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily? Do you get enough calcium? Do you eat whole-grain, high-fiber foods regularly? If so, you’re on the right track. If you’re not, learn the changes you need to make.
- Make these changes small and slowly, instead of making large, fast changes. Small changes are easier to make and to stick with.
- Keep track of your food intake. Keep a daily diary of what you eat and drink. Use this diary to help you see if you need to make beneficial changes to your diet.
- Ask for help from a nutritionist if you haven’t already done so — especially if you have a medical problem that requires a special diet.

Good nutrition is important to maintaining good health. And as you’ll discover, what you put into your body will affect your health. And your health, good or bad, will eventually affect your bank account.
Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com

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How Do Chef Schools Work

Thursday, May 15th, 2008


Culinary schools give aspiring chefs their best shot at making it to the big time, especially those accredited by the American Culinary Federation. Just like any other profession, many of the better hospitality establishments base their hiring practices not only upon the length of education the applicant provides, but also where that education was obtained.

Tuition runs the gamut from relatively inexpensive courses offered by local community colleges all the way to the Culinary Institute of America’s breathtaking $40,000 price tag. And what doesn’t tuition cover? Oh, just uniforms, textbooks, cutlery, and other necessary kitchen equipment.

Curricula differ somewhat from school to school, but most of the culinary student’s time is consumed in learning the ins and outs of cooking by actually doing it under close supervision. Participants not only prepare food, but also learn how to plan menus, minimize food costs, buy food and supplies in quantities, and how to appropriately choose and store food. Learning proper hygiene and local public health rules also play a large part in a culinary student’s education.

Classes are sometimes offered all day, taking a complete eight hours, while at some schools, classes are broken into morning and afternoon sessions.

There are usually lectures, and then demonstrations followed by hands-on practice time with students applying the techniques demonstrated earlier. Some schools even offer part-time professional classes to accommodate working cooks wanting to increase their formal education.

A number of educational scholarships are available, among them:
The American Academy of Chefs Chair’s Scholarship Ten $1,000 scholarships awarded each year
The American Academy of Chefs Chaine des Rotisseurs Scholarship Twenty $1,000 scholarships awarded annually
National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) Three yearly $2,000 scholarships for high school seniors and undergraduate students
Because years of training and experience are needed to reach the level of executive chef in most well-paying restaurants, many students serious about this profession begin their training in high school through vocational programs, then go on to a two- or four-year college or university.

Apprenticeship programs offer more training afterward, and these come from individual eating establishments and are given by a personal mentor or from professional institutions and associations such as the American Culinary Federation.
Apprenticeship lasts usually about three years and is most often known as the years of “grunt work” doing all the chopping, grating, peeling, slicing, and washing necessary to prepare the ingredients for the chefs. Even cleaning appliances, sweeping and mopping floors, and other seemingly unaffiliated “chef” work gets done by the apprentice as part of his or her learning experience. Often this “trial-by-fire” period separates the truly dedicated chefs-to-be from those who are merely good cooks.

It is not impossible to attain the status of executive chef without the benefit of formal education, but in today’s job market, most establishments (especially the finer hotels and restaurants) now require some type of certification to work in this capacity.

Like a degree of any sort, formal training in the culinary arts may not mean you are another Julia Child or Paul Prudhomme, but it does at least signify that you’ve got what it takes to get through the school. So stop trying to think of ways to take shortcuts, get your tuition together, and go learn what you need to attain your dream!
Keith Londrie II is a successful Webmaster and the owner and publisher of http://define-culinary-arts-program-schools-restaurant-management.info/ A website that specializes in providing tips on Culinary arts that you can research on the internet. Visit http://define-culinary-arts-program-schools-restaurant-management.info/ today!

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Remembering the Sun Tea Craze

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008


Nestled in the memories of many a child of the 1970’s is the memory of tea brewing in a glass container out in the open sunshine. This delightful brew was known far and wide as sun tea. Many of us delighted in being the ones who would prepare the tea jug and then search for the perfect spot in the back yard, where the tea would receive direct sunlight and slowly brew into a delightful concoction that we would enjoy with our lunch and dinner that day.

There was no grand secret to making sunshine tea. All one required were tea bags, a gallon sized clear glass container with a secure lid, a half cup to a cup of sugar, and water. Water and sugar went into the glass container first, with the tea bags added last. The strings on the tea bags were allowed to dangle over the lip of the container and were used to hold the bags in place after the lid was screwed into place. From that point, it was just a matter of finding the right spot for the tea to brew. You wanted direct sunlight for a couple of hours, so that meant making sure the container would be in the open for that length of time and remain upright during the brewing process.

For those of us who were into herbs and holistic health remedies, we would make our sun tea using specialized tea offerings such as cranberry and lemon blends, or sassafras tea bags. The fact that we were using natural sunlight to brew these natural elements just made the experience all the more life affirming.

Often the temptation to check on the sun tea during the brewing process was irresistible. We would watch as the color began to permeate the liquid, first just around the tea bags and then throughout the container. With awe we watched as the color became a beautiful shade of amber, deepening into what we knew would be the best looking tea ever made, as well as the best tasting. Often, we would run to our parents and let them know the tea was done, just so we could have that first sip. Somehow, knowing we had brewed the beverage in the sun made it superior in every way to other teas.

Some of us still have those old sun tea containers. Every once in a while, they appear in the spring and early summer, getting one more round of use before the novelty wears out and we pack them up again. But for a short time, we recapture a moment of our childhood and remember when something as simple as brewing tea in the sun would make our day.
Mayoor Patel is the writer for the website http://iced-tea.tea-universe.com. Please visit for information on all things concerned with Sun Tea

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A Closer Look At How Wine Is Made

Sunday, May 11th, 2008


Many of us love wine and enjoy the taste but many people really don’t know exactly how wine is created. While almost any fruit juice can be used to make wine, the vast majority of wine is made from grapes.

The ingredient that makes the difference between simple grape juice and wine is of course yeast. One interesting little tidbit that most people don’t know is that there is actually enough yeast in the air around us to turn juice into wine if an unopened bottle of grape juice is left out long enough, though it wouldn’t necessarily be something you would really want to drink!

The process of fermentation is a result of yeast consuming the sugar in grape juice. The wine industry chooses the yeast used in the fermentation process from numerous strains that are raised exclusively for winemaking. The particular strain of yeast used along with the temperature during the fermentation process also determines some of the taste of the wine.

The yeast spores reproduce continually until there in no longer any sugar left to consume during the fermentation process. It is during this event that the alcohol content and carbon dioxide is created. The yeast falls to the bottom of the container once all the consumable sugar is gone and the wine is then taken from the container and placed in a new container to mature.

Wine gets its color in much the same way it gets its taste, from the grapes that are used but it is by allowing the skins of the grapes soak in the juice that creates the color. In fact nearly all grape juice is nearly colorless. The longer the skins are allowed to soak in the juice, the darker the color of the wine. Believe it or not Champagne is which comes from black grapes is made white by not allowing the skins of the grapes to have any contact with the juice.

The taste of each individual variety of wine is determined predominately by the varying factors in each variety of grape. Every type of grape produces different aromas and flavors depending upon the soil, climate, and the type of grape.

Winemakers also influence the taste of the wine by altering the temperature and by the yeast that they choose during the fermentation process. The containers that the wine is stored in have a lot to do with the taste as well with oak barrels being the container of choice for many winemakers.

There are so many different varieties of wines available that one would be hard pressed to find and taste them all in a lifetime but it would be fun to try!
Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Find out about personalized wine bottles at http://www.winebottlespersonalized.com

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Barbeque SecretDon Use Gas To Start The Fire

Thursday, May 8th, 2008


I’ve rarely been accused of over thinking a situation. My “code of the west” mentality has been good to me through the years, rescuing me many times from the temptation of unnecessary thinking! Unnecessary thinking can ruin a perfectly good plan, but no thinking at all can be hazardous to your health! A good case in point is a situation I witnessed last year.

One brilliantly blue afternoon in late spring my neighbor Joe was preparing for one of his famous cookouts. He was about to put his brand new brick and mortar barbeque grill through its paces for the first time. A beautiful charcoal grill, he had personally, to the chagrin of the brick masons, supervised every detail of the project. It was a gorgeous fireplace style grill with the chimney almost head high, built of the same brick that adorned his house.

The barbeque pit featured a curved flat black steel hood for enclosed cooking, with a warming tray built into the side of the pit to keep foods from getting cold while others cooked longer. There was even a compartment built on the opposite side to house charcoal and lighter. He was understandably proud of the best barbeque grill in the neighborhood!

Festivities began early with the neighbors arriving around 2:00 pm. By late afternoon many in the crowd were already feeling the effects of the adult beverages supplied by the host, whom was especially enjoying himself. Everyone by now had grown tired of listening to an endless monolog by the host about the virtues of his new grill.

The time had come to fire up the grill! There was only one small problem. With all the preparations he had made for the cookout, Joe had forgotten charcoal lighter! Not to be detoured by such a small detail, he went into the tool shed at the back of his yard and brought back a large can of gasoline. After dumping a huge amount of charcoal into the bottom of the grill, he arranged it into a perfect pyramid. The fire was supposed to burn more consistently this way Joe informed the crowd.

By now the neighbors had begun realized what Joe was about to do and started yelling at him not to use the gasoline to start the fire. Offers were made to run next door to get charcoal lighter to no avail. Joe was determined to inaugurate his grill the proper way; with a large fire! He also assured everyone that he knew what he was doing!

Joy was enjoying himself, being the star of the show as it were. He upended the can of fuel over the charcoal and kept pouring even after the briquettes had been thoroughly soaked. Now came the moment of truth! He lit a match and with a dramatic flare, tossed it onto the charcoal! Whoooomp!


Mortar is very porous and does not always adhere perfectly to a surface without leaving a small crack in the mortar joint between bricks. When a liquid such as water or in this case gasoline fills that crack, it will flow into the base of the structure; in this case the barbeque grill. The vapors from the gasoline that had flowed into the grill did what gasoline vapors do when they come in contact with a flame. The grill exploded!

Bricks and mortar blown into pieces, rained from the sky onto all of us who had witnessed the explosion! No one was hurt because most of the crowd and moved safely away from Joe when they saw what he was about to do. Joe was slightly injured by a fragment of the grill grazing his forehead. Nothing serious!

His beautiful barbeque pit was destroyed! A few seconds before, it was a beautiful example of workmanship; something to be proud of and enjoy for years to come. Now it was just a pile of rocks! Joe had apparently never heard that in some cases, alcohol and gasoline don’t mix! Warning! Drinking and starting fires with gasoline can kill you! Whether you’re drinking adult beverages or not, do not use gasoline for a charcoal starter!

My neighbor Joe has recovered from the disaster of last year. He is now making plans to build and even bigger charcoal cooker than the last one. From the size of the storage area in the barbeque pit, I doubt that he will ever run out of charcoal lighter again!

Remember, friends don’t let friends barbeque drunk!
Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, holiday eating and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at: http://www.bluemarlinbob.com http://www.pompanobob.com

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