Burning Questions: Using charcoal lighter fluid

I barbecue over charcoal a few times a week, and I've given up on chimney starters. They never seem to hold enough coals. So I'm back to using lighter fluid -- and my coals are ready to go within 20 minutes. I know it has a bad rap, but is there any reason I shouldn't use lighter fluid?

This lament came from a close friend. I, too, have struggled with the chimney starter, a metal cylinder into which you pile charcoal on top of a small amount of crumpled newspaper. It's true that within 15 minutes, your coals are ready to be dumped into and spread around the grill (where they may need a few more minutes before they are all ready to go). But it's also true that I always have to add more coals, which means more time and, often, by the time the new coals are ready, the old coals are fading.

I put this issue to Steven Raichlen, author of, among other cookbooks, the multimillion-selling "Barbecue Bible" (Workman, $22.95) and founder of Barbecue University, a three-day workshop at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Is there a reason not to use lighter fluid?

"If you take the time to tend your fire and make sure the coals are completely and uniformly lit -- glowing orange and lightly ashed over -- then, yes, theoretically you burn the lighter fluid off," he responded. "However, many people rush the process and wind up grilling over coals that still have a little lighter fluid left."

Raichlen also directed me to a device of his own devising, the Steven Raichlen Ultimate Chimney Starter, which is square, not round, and holds seven pounds of charcoal, 30 to 40 percent more than the standard chimney. I'll be checking that out in the next few weeks. In the meantime, fear not the lighter fluid.

Plate-clearing redux

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my belief, shared by most etiquette sources, that, in a restaurant, everyone at the table should be finished before plates are cleared. I thereafter received a very thoughtful email from someone who identified herself as a server in a "high-volume chain restaurant." She pointed out that such restaurants impose more rules on their servers "than our patrons could ever fathom. One of the rules almost every big name restaurant has is that dirty plates must be removed immediately upon the guest finishing his or her meal, regardless of how far along their co-diners are in their own meals. If we do not do this, we are reprimanded, and possibly written up or suspended."

Wow. Well, I meant no disrespect to the army of chain-restaurant servers out there. And, to be honest, I can even understand why a restaurant whose business model depends on quick turnover would instruct its servers to do everything in their power to hurry folks along.