Gourmet Grill Wood

Grilling is very in. However it seems like most folks still do their grilling on plebian charcoal briquettes. You might find a bag of hickory chunks to add to the fire or "mesquite-flavor" briquettes, but that is about it. Grilling over wood could be the next big thing, and selling cheap wood at a big markup could make money - and make some good food too.

I propose a line of high end, gourmet grillpacks. Each would come wrapped in semitransparent rice paper. Included would be a mix of charcoal, wood and herbs. The wood would be a mix of things like peach and crabapple or sassafras and oak. There would be a lot of small twigs / shavings in the pack to preclude the need for (stinky) lighter fluid. Dried herbs would be included to throw along side after the fire was going. Packs would include varying ratios of wood, coals and herbs - for example, the "ribs" pack would have a fair amount of charcoal and big sticks of hickory and oak, for a long burning cool fire. The "vegetable" pack would contain fruit woods and herbs, for a fast, hot fire. Each pack would be suitable for one evenings barbecue and would contain a description of the sort of smoke it would produce as well as the heat and duration of the fire it would achieve.

Grilling with these things would be easy. Drop the pack into the grill and light with a match. They will then produce a predictable fire for your grilling pleasure. Folks who grill only rarely can speak authoritatively about the merits of ash vs apple wood, and produce food to back up their talk.