Charcoal

An ingredient in the truest sense

Charcoal is having a renaissance at the moment, invigorated by the fire culture that has developed within the culinary world. There is a clear and deliberate move away from chemical infused toxic briquettes and instant light bags, towards smaller scale local production. With this comes a focused attention on sustainability and a considered environmental impact. It isn't a subject I ever thought I would be curious enough about to delve any deeper than setting it on fire. In fact that was generally my advice not too long ago — "it doesn't really matter, just burn it!" Well, I'll chalk that one up to experience.

I am in the fortunate position to be able to experiment and to be influenced by those around me, many of whom know far more than I do luckily. Being drawn into live fire events and that style of cooking has been a very unexpected journey, and one I feel quite passionate about now I am six years into it. The curiosity is always what gets me fired up — pun intended. Charcoal ignited a curiosity I wasn't expecting that has developed into a respect for those in its orbit. It was a gentle whisper, a lingering answer that needed time and listening to.

The curiosity arose from noticing subtleties in how the heat responded, but more prominently how the produce being cooked responded. While cooking with fire was new, cooking is not. The familiarity afforded to me by lived experience and seemingly endless repetition was a bit of a superpower. This gave rise to noticing nuances and subtleties in what unfolded in front of me in the BBQ.

As I sit here writing this the evolution continues. Is charcoal really an ingredient? No. What's become apparent is that the power of charcoal is in its quality as a seasoning. A seasoning is something that elevates the main ingredients without overpowering, subtly lifting certain characteristics to deliver an experience that would not be possible without it. Salt is the perfect seasoning — not because of its own flavour, more so because of how it shifts the characteristics of the ingredients it works with. Charcoal is this but with more. More effect, more power to transform and more subtle shifts in character.

Charcoal is both a physical seasoning, imparting flavour directly, but also a passive seasoning, altering the composition and flavour compounds within the produce being cooked. Its quite the remarkable product.

It all begins with the story of heat — the lifecycle that begins with the lighting of a match and finishes with soft enveloping warmth from the cinders. There truly is a lifecycle. The infancy is fragile, requiring nurturing, care and attention. Get this right and the teenage years come back to bite with flamboyant tantrums and epic swings in character, before calming down through early adulthood and on to the midlife period of predictable stability — the white coals we all wait for. The moment to slap a burger on the grill and exclaim at the flamboyant flare ups as dripping fat hits an ember. As this peters out the BBQ is left, but there is more to give. Warm embers give way to soft cinders, perfect for so much more than leaving to fade.

What's clear is that charcoal has so many more dimensions than any ingredient or seasoning. Charcoal is a heat source providing flavour that emanates from within, but where its magic truly lies is in how it delivers both at the same time — with varying degrees, altering ratios and shifting boundaries between heat and flavour.

While protein is the go-to main event for the grill, vegetables are where the nuanced beauty lies. Vegetables and fruit transform when cooked over charcoal, emerging with a new and unexpected character, with flavour and textures unachievable in the domestic kitchen.

This is truly a living world, an ever changing being of its own desire that needs directing rather than controlling — a gentle nudge of persuasion with a polite "if you don't mind, please" attached. Respect for the ingredient.

There is something I never thought I would discover. Charcoal really is an ingredient in the truest sense. It is not a one size fits all or singular entity — it is as diverse as any other ingredient. Quirky, full of surprises and highly influenced by its production, those who produce it, where it came from.

It is terroir that requires craft.

Heritage | Environment | Craft

Curated with Terroir

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