What do you see when you look at your chimney starter? A single-use tool? A one-trick pony? If so, it’s time for you to think outside the grill.
Most of us have used a chimney starter only for lighting coals and getting them good and hot before we pour them into the grill. But the coals are actually at their hottest in the chimney—not in the grill, where airflow is far more restricted. With all of its openings and perforations, a chimney starter is designed to house ultrahot, radiant heat. So why not leave the coals in the chimney and cook over that?