Green Super Bowl Eats: Grill like Hank
Super Bowl parties almost invariably include a backyard grilling session, because there's nothing that says party like drinking beer and playing with fire. This year, when you bust out the old grill, why not green your grilling experience. It's easy to do, if you've got the moxy to buck the sometimes deep-seeded charcoal prejudice. BBQ is an art form, and like any art form it has its own elitists. Serious BBQ purists out there might tell you: if you're not grilling with charcoal, you're merely "cooking." While charcoal does leave a delicious flavor on you meat or soysauge, it also leaves a not so desirable compound floating about in the atmosphere. The sad truth is, most BBQ enthusiasts work almost exclusively with the most polluting grilling materials available -- quick starting charcoal.
Conventional charcoal is full of additives and harmful petrochemicals produce VOCs (volatile organic compounds) when they burn. The instant-light variety are even worse -- they're soaked in petrochemicals that will later end up cooking into your meat. As for what to do about lighter fluid, there are ethanol-based starter fluids available that are more eco-friendly. Chimney starters are also a green alternative.
There are options for your charcoal grill that are more eco-friendly, such as all natural charcoal briquettes or even better environmentally certified wood pellets. Your best bet for grilling green, however, is to follow Hank Hill's advice to "taste the meat, not the heat" buy using clean burning propane.
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