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.-- bungston, Jul 29 2003 (?) Related: Cookshack Wood Sample Kit http://www.cookshac...px?id=388&parentid=A variety of woods to try with different foods. These are for traditional slow-cooking (barbecue) rather than grilling. [bristolz, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] (??) Wood for grilling http://www.cbbqa.co...oodforgrilling.html [bungston, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] Wood for grilling & barbeque http://bbq.about.com/cs/supplieswood/Baked and/or grilled, it would seem [krelnik, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] Gucci Charcoal http://www.chopa.co...anese_Charcoal.htmlThe Japanese beat you to it. [benjaminsbox, Jun 06 2006] I like to throw some rosemary on the grill under my steak. Yum +-- snarfyguy, Jul 29 2003 If you get food poisoning, it's Rosemary's Baby's Revenge.-- thumbwax, Jul 30 2003 I usually just throw the stems into the grill. I wonder what the people who sell dried herbs do with the stems?-- Zimmy, Jun 06 2006 Nice. I was about to post a similar idea after reading about a new non petroleum-based charcoal starter.
Why don't people know that really dry hardwood will start charcoal?
The sticks can be arranged in a litle log-cabin style cage/basket with tiny sticks on the bottom and charcoal on top. One match lighting.
I love the idea of the rice paper.-- nomocrow, Jul 23 2007 Interesting.
This weekend I was discussing posting an idea regarding a kit and an algorhythm whereby based on the weight and thickness of the fish you use X amount of coals, Y amount of charcoal starter, and then Z layers of cedar plank to set your fish on, with perhaps some A, B, and C herb modifers.-- normzone, Jul 23 2007 Ten minutes per inch.-- nomocrow, Jul 26 2007 Of fish or cedar?-- normzone, Jul 26 2007 Give me the "Computer Controlled BBQ" I just posted, along with this gourmet wood/herbs pack, and [DesertFox]'s "Glass BBQ" and I'd be in BBQ heaven!
Almost no fuss, a pleasant scene to watch while it does its thing, and food flavored with the right wood coming out tasty and perfectly cooked at the end!-- paix120, Dec 01 2009 random, halfbakery