Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Homemade Charcoal For Grilling
Anyone who likes the flavor of wood chips when they grill will want to pay attention to this. I too love the flavor and learned how to make my own charcoal out of the wood I have around the yard. I did not realize that charcoal was just the remains of burnt wood when the impurities are burned away.I had always thought that it was impossible to burn wood without allot of oxygen but it turns out not to be true. In fact if you burn a log in a low oxygen environment you will be left with a clean burning form of charcoal. During this process the water contained in the wood will burn away. Then the tar and other volatile oils that disturb the taste of the food will disappear. There are so many impurities that will filter off during the burn that you will actually remove about 70% of wood's weight leaving behind a great burning fuel for your favorite grilled delights.Have you ever seen the burnt remains of a campfire? Those burnt black logs like very similar to charcoal don't they? If you imagine yourself breaking up the wood into chunks you will basically be making your own charcoal. However, unlike the the coals we buy in stores, these won't be loaded with lighter fluid and other fillers to get them to light. These will light quickly and burn much cleaner than most popular brands.The briquettes we buy in stores are not naturally occurring. In fact they are loaded with fillers like petroleum products designed to get them to ignite quickly and burn longer than the natural carbon in real wood. It was Henry Ford who is credited with the first use briquettes so it goes to figure that he would use petroleum inside. Even when natural wood burns we are still dealing with something organic and the initial burning serves to purify the remains we use to cook our foods. Lighting the coals in the grill can be a tricky proposition. I for one do not like to use lighter fluid. I prefer to use a chimney starter powered by a little bit of newspaper to get things started. I find that even though it is a little bit slower than flooding the coals with fire starter, the charcoal will heat up a little more evenly and do a better job cooking the food. Once they sit in the chimney starter for about 10 minutes, I dump them on the grill and if they are completely ashy I will add a fresh layer of unlit coals over them. I won't swear this is the best way but it is something that has been done in my family for years and I enjoy the process.Another little trick I've discovered to make getting the coals burning a lot easier. I bought the grill glove so I can get rid of all my accessories and handle the coals, and food directly. The grill glove is a 100% food grade silicone heat resistant grilling glove that allows you to pick up or turn your food right on the grill. If you reach onto the coals wearing the grilling glove you will not get burned and it doesn't get crusty and charred like regular oven mitts. It is definitely an accessory worth looking into.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Business Loans Stuck In A Clogged Pipeline
We all watch the news stories which indicate the economy is improving, but not so much for business loans. An interesting quandry is developing which leaves small banks and small businesses at an impass. Small Business is the key to creating new jobs, but the small banks are too poor to lend.
Make no mistake, even though there are signs of an improving economy, the FDIC list of troubled banks keeps growing and this puts the squeeze on lending. Most small businesses have some sort of relationship with a smaller bank just so their needs can be met based on that relationship. Big mega banks lose small business owners in the shuffle and give lousy service. But when a business owner turns to his bank for a business loan, the money to lend is simply not there. Small banks have been pinched by their losses in the credit crunch and have to devote more funds to reserve requirements. What does this mean? It simply means that if you have a small business with great business credit and great sales projections, your bank not be able to lend you money. That's right, the banks wrote bad loans and you are going to suffer for it.Here is the quandry. Because of economic conditions in general, most small businesses that would love to borrow money to expand are hesitant which lessons the amount banks take in and in turn lend out. It creates a kind of log jam where the whole systems gets clogged. Keep in mind that small banks cannot participate in large scale transactions compared to the big banks so most of their profits will come from lending on the local level. So it's just not there to lend.In general the only way to correct this is to wait until the timid borrowers want to borrow and the banks are strong enough to lend. But we as business owners don't need to wait for the economy to churn. If we want a business loan all we have to do is ask. Well, if you ask the right people. There are specialists out who deal with this issue and really all it takes to get an unsecured business loan is good credit. Being a principal of a company and having good personal credit can get you quick working capital and help establish your business credit. This is an option many small businesses are happily turning toward for their business loans.Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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