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Preparing food on a charcoal grill can give you the distinct flavor or freshly grilled food. However, if you don't know how to use it, the food can take long to look, taste strange and even be unsafe to eat. This page is an introduction to how to use a charcoal grill.
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Preparing food on a charcoal grill can give you the distinct flavor or freshly grilled food. However, if you don't know how to use it, the food can take long to look, taste strange and even be unsafe to eat. This page is an introduction to how to use a charcoal grill.
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Introduction
- Using a charcoal grill doesn't require any extraordinary cooking skills. In fact, it's an easy way to add flavor to food without much preparation. Most of the time involved will be in preparing the grill, not the food. However, once you learn how to use a charcoal grill, preparing it will be easy and most time will be spent waiting for the charcoal to get ready.
Step 1: What You Need
- Assuming you already have a good grill and food to cook on it, there are only a few more items that you'll need.
- Naturally, you will need charcoal, but the question is how much? The charcoal should cover an area of the grill pan a few inches larger than the area of the grill rack used to grill the food.
- A lighter. You can light a grill the old-fashioned way with matches (make sure they are long-handed) or a lighter. You can also use a chimney starter, which allows you to start a fire without any chemicals. You can also use an electrical lighter which doesn't require any chemicals either.
- A lighting agent. If you use matches or a lighter, you might need lighter fluid to cover the charcoal in order to start a fire. While old newspapers can sometimes work as a substitute, it can be difficult to get the fire started without lighter fluid, although by no means impossible.
Step 2: Starting a Fire
- If you want to use a chimney starter or electrical lighter, follow the instructions for it. To use a traditional way of lighting the fire, follow the following steps.
- Arrange the charcoal in a pyramid shape.
- Cover them with lighter fluid.
- Wait a few minutes and then light the fire.
- When the coal starts turning into ashes, re-arrange it into a flat shape. For safety purposes, do not add lighter fluid after the charcoal have heated up.
Step 3: Waiting
- It's time to wait until the charcoal is hot enough, but not too hot, for the food you are preparing. This is often the longest part of making food on a charcoal grill.
- Typical wait time is between 20-30 minutes. Most of the coal should be covered with gray ash before you start grilling, although you might still see a red glow.
- For a higher temperature, start grilling early, when some coal is still red. For a lower temperature, make sure most coal is covered with thick ashes.
Step 4: Grilling
- It's time to bring out the food.
- Raise the rack for a lower temperature, and lower it for a higher one.
- Cooking time will depend on the type of food, the thickness of it, the weather, the temperature of the food when placed on the grill, and a variety of other factors.
- Move around the food on the grill for a more even grilling.
- Don't stick forks in the food; it will release juices, making the end result dryer. Instead, use a grilling tong.
Step 5: Safety
- For safety purposes, follow these guidelines.
- Never leave the grill unattended.
- Follow food safety recommendations when considering if the food is ready. For best and safest results, use a food thermometer. Eating undercooked food can cause food borne illness.
- Never pour gasoline on charcoal.
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