Some Easy Steps Of Charcoal Grilling For Beginners | kitchengazette.com

For beginners, charcoal grilling seems to tough to handle. People often assume it is more complicated than it actually is! Charcoal grilling doesn’t have to be hard intimidating or expensive. If you consider yourself a beginner enthusiast, this place is for you. Here I’ll share some tips and tricks of charcoal grilling for beginners. I hope you guys will enjoy and get proper information going through the article.

Why is charcoal

The first question which comes to our mind why we’re using charcoal as a fuel –

• Flavor: Everyone loves a good old-fashioned cookout, and nothing makes it taste better than charcoal. When the smell of charcoal grill wafting through the neighborhood, it’s the best scenery. And charcoal adds a smoky flavor and wooden aroma in food, which makes for an unforgettable mouth-watering experience. 
• Fuel cost: Charcoal is much less expensive than propane.
• Grill cost: A charcoal grill is much cheaper than a gas grill. Most of the charcoal grills don’t have a lot of moving parts for that you won’t have to run the hardware store.

What we are going to need

In this whole procedure, we need the grilling accessories and other equipment-

Charcoal grill

Charcoal

Newspaper or paper towel

Cooking oil

Chimney starter 

Lighter

Grilling tongs 

Griller cleaning brush

Instant-read thermometer 

How to prepare your grill

At first, you should clean your grill and gates and make it ready for cooking. That will make a big difference in your food. Clean the grill grate by a wire brush if you have any ash in your griller of last time you cooked to get rid of it now. Dispose of your dust in the trash. Before putting the food, you have to pre-heat your grill grates, and it will save your food from stickiness. When your coals are lit, put the gates and heat for a few minutes. Use a paper towel and moist them into oil and brush your cooking grates. Now it’s ready for cooking.

Charcoal storage

Avoid contact with water and store them in a cool, dry place and avoid high humidity. In this way, you can store this over 1-2 years.

Heat your charcoal griller

Your cooking plan will ultimately determine what style of cooking zone you will require. In this process, there are two types of heat.

Direct heat:

when you are grilling your food directly, overtop of a bed of lit charcoal that’s called direct heat.

  Set up your charcoal for direct cooking: Spread the lit charcoal in a single layer across the charcoal grate. It will create a wide zone of heat to grill your food over.

  What kind of food we can cook through direct heat: Burger, steaks, pork chops, chicken breasts can be beautifully prepared by the direct heat method.

Indirect heat:

When a heat will be created in the middle of the griller, that’s called indirect heat.

Set up your charcoal for direct cooking: For indirect cooking, it is essential to spread the lit charcoal apart on the opposite side of the food. It’ll create an indirect heat in the middle

What kind of food we can cook through indirect heat: Foods like whole chicken, baked goods, roasts of beef, pork, lamb can be cooked by indirect heat.

Light the coals with a chimney starter

At first, fill the chimney with the appropriate amount of charcoal. Add some sheets of newspaper and light the newspaper. As newspaper burns in the chamber below and it’ll light the charcoal. Then the charcoal will turn into grey. You can also pour the newspaper in cooking oil, so it burns longer. After sometimes, you will see the coals start to glow and wait until the coals are mostly turned into grey color. This process to Light the coals with a chimney starter will take 15 minutes.

Controlling heat

High and low heat mainly depends on oxygen. When you want to increase your heat with vents, open the vents and get oxygen to in. Slow down your cooking time to reduce heat and close down the vents.

Create two-zone fire

It will help to control direct and indirect cooking. Light your coal and spread them on one side of the grill. Use tongs for moving off the coals and do it carefully. The coal-free side is the flaming zone. You can move your food on this side for indirect cooking and another in for direct cooking.

Add a Smokey wood flavor

Wood adds an extra flavor to BBQ. For this Smokey flavor, try to add some wood on it. You can use larger wood chunks. Different woods add different flavors to your food. Hickory, mesquite, and oak wood impart a bold taste in your meat. Smoking depends on temperature, and the ideal temperature is 225-250°F. After getting above 250°F, close your vents to reduce the amount of oxygen to reduce the temperature. If your temperature is above 225°F, open your vents, and fully allow more oxygen in it.

How much charcoal we should use

It depends on how hot you want the grill. And also it depends on the type of food and the quantity of your food. If you want high heat, then you have to fill the full chimney, and if you want low heat, then no need to fill up your chimney wait for the heating up of all the coals. The temperature is

• High heat: 400°F-450°F(1 full chimney)
• Medium heat: 350°F-400°F(1/2 to ¾ full chimney)
• Low heat: 250°F-300°F(1/4 full chimney)

This fully depends on your cooking time. If you spread the lit coals in a thin layer across the large area, it’ll produce higher heat. If your layer is deeper and coals are more concentrated, then it’ll produce lower heat. You check the temperature by a thermometer.

Timing meat

There is no exact time for this. The cut of meat and personal preference reign here. A one-inch steak will typically grill rate in 8 minutes and medium in 10-12. Your meat thermometer will help you in this case. If you find you still need to adjust the temperature when cooking with charcoal, spread your coals.

Practice patience with your fire

Never put your food until your grill isn’t ready. Be sure and take your time getting the fire going, make sure that the coals turn into ashy grey.

Organize your grill space

Set up a small table beside the grill with all of your ingredients, utensils, serving platters, and so on. It will help you to work properly and save your time.

Don’t skimp on fuel

Be sure to build a fire that won’t lose heat before you finish grilling. This is basically important with a charcoal grill. Even though you can always replenish your coals.

N.B: Please use cautions and wear gloves when handling hot charcoal and do not grill indoors.

Could we clear all your thoughts for grilling? We have tried to explain all the problems that you will have to face while working on it. I hope it will help charcoal grilling for beginners, and it won’t seem to tough for anyone.