Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990 TAG: 9003280106
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAULA MONAREZ LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
In fact, while you're at it, why not grill a couple of steaks with it?
There is a new outdoor cooker on the market designed to use ordinary newspapers - instead of charcoal and lighter fluid - for cooking heat.
Called the Daisy Flex-Grill, the barbecuer uses 14 double sheets of newspaper for fuel.
Papers are crumpled and placed inside the square cooker, under a double grill. The food is placed between the grills, the newspaper is lighted and cooking begins.
"It cooks the food in about 20 minutes," said Wally Paddock, vice president of Flex Industries, the Wichita, Kan., manufacturer of the Daisy Flex-Grill. "Newspaper burns hotter than other fuels because it's pretty porous."
The grill also is environmentally safer than using lighter fluid to start charcoal, Paddock said.
California's South Coast Air Quality Management District agrees.
"You'd have to burn an awful lot of newspapers for it to have the same effect you get by lighting just one barbecue with lighter fluid," said David Rutherford, a spokesman for the AQMD. "As a matter of fact, we've conducted tests that prove lighting a barbecue in the traditional way significantly contributes smog to the basin. This new grill sounds like a wonderful plan to me."
The ink, which usually is made of mineral oil and soybean products, emits organic compounds when burned. It is not toxic, he said.
For more traditional chefs, the grill comes with a grate to hold the charcoal. But newspaper instead of lighter fluid is the fire starter.
The only warning the manufacturer gives is not to burn newsprint that contains color. The toxic dangers of color newsprint are unknown, a Flex Industries spokesman said.
The grill costs about $49.95 and should be arriving in stores sometime in April.
by CNB