How To Keep A Charcoal Grill Going For Hours
Cooking meat over a charcoal grill involves cooking slow and low. In other words: the heat is supposed to be held stable at a low temperature for a long time.
A pack of charcoal that is enough to load a home grill will typically be exhausted in less than two hours if it is not attended. However, two hours is not enough time to grill especially thick pieces of meat. Thats why knowing how to keep the grill going for hours is vital to being successful at grilling.
Tips For How To Grill Using Charcoal:
Chances are if you found yourself on this site, you want to elevate your outdoor cooking game and grill or smoke some delicious food. If you are about to start cooking with charcoal, here are some of the pro tips you should follow to help you get one step closer to cooking some food that is sure to impress:
Can You Cook On Black Charcoal
Yes, you can cook on black charcoal because it is beneficial for your health. It is also known as activated charcoal, and it is good for improving kidney function. Apart from that, it is also used in correcting Fish Odor Syndrome and can reduce cholesterol levels.
There are various other benefits of this charcoal, and it is being used in a range of different skin, teeth, and other products and medicines. There are some rare side effects, and dosage instructions must be carefully followed.
Also Check: Best Way To Clean A Grill Pan
Can You Reuse The Coal For Grilling
The answer in simple words is yes. You can reuse the coal for grilling. Coal is the hard leftover material when wood burns in the absence of oxygen. It is very hard in shape and hence does not burn completely. When done with grilling, take out all the coal and choose only solid coals for reusing purposes.
In maximum cases, it has been noted that if you damp the used charcoal, it will give you better results next time. Therefore either store it in a metal container or dump it. Next time take the same coal and reuse it.
You need to remember some facts while using the old coal. Since the old coal is quite small in size, the air trapped inside them is less than the new coal. As a result, the heat released after burning will be slightly less. It will not make the griller as hot as new coal does. But old coal can produce a temperature of nearly 250 degrees F. Also do not forget to choose and store only big pieces. Coal powder will not help you anyways.
How To Cook Your Food Over Charcoals:
Cover the grill with a paper towel that is soaked in vegetable oil or cooking oil and spread it over the grill if needed. This is the best trick to keep your food from sticking to the grill. Dont open the towel often and let the heat come out if you want to cook something in lower heat. But if you want your food to cook fast, then open it and let the coal burn quickly with oxygen. You can use a temperature read thermometer to check the food if it is rightly cooked from inside or not. How to measure that? Let me tell you about the right temperature.
If your food temperature is 160f , then its right for porch, 165F is for chicken pieces, and 170f is for beef.
Don’t Miss: What Temperature Should I Grill Pork Chops At
How To Grill Steak On Charcoal Grill
Learn how to grill steak on a charcoal grill! We will tell you tips and tricks to getting the perfectly juicy, tender and delicious steak using your charcoal grill. Plus, we will share our secret for getting that ultimate, smokey flavor your steak deserves. These are the BEST charcoal grilled steaks ever!
Preparing The Cooking Grate
While the coals are lighting, you can clean and oil the cooking grate. Cleaning is mainly a matter of scraping and brushing off any cooked-on debris. To oil the grate, brush it with a paper towel moistened with cooking oil. This helps prevent your food from sticking.
The next step is preheating the grate. Once you add your charcoal and arrange it , install the grate, cover with the lid and wait three to four minutes.
Also Check: How Long Does A Full Traeger Hopper Last
Prepping Your Grill Grates
Once youve cleaned your grates, coat them with an oil that has a high smoke point. This step is also known as seasoning your grill grates. Covering your grates with oil will prevent food from sticking to them. Oil plays the same role here as it does in a pan.
Dont know which oils have a high smoke point? Employ vegetable or canola oil for seasoning your grates.
How Much Charcoal Should You Need
Consider what youre cooking and utilize your charcoal chimney to determine how much charcoal you need in your hot zone.Lets have a look at the following steps.
- A quarter of the chimney should be filled with charcoal for delicate foods like white fish.
Amount of Charcoal used for Fish
- Half to three-quarters of a chimney is ideal for medium-heat burgers and sausages.
Grilling Sausages and Burgers
- Use three-quarters or a full chimney to sear meat or cook anything quickly and hot.
English Cut of Short Ribs
- There is little doubt that these are just generalizations, and you will have to do your tests to determine the ideal ratios for your grill.
How To Properly Clean a Charcoal Grill
Also Check: Is Macaroni Grill Still Open
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal Vs Briquettes
In the world of charcoal grilling, there’s no more fundamental and fiercely debated topic than lump charcoal vs. briquettes. Being the building block for everything you grill, it’s no wonder that grill masters around the world will defend their choice with extreme passion. So, you might ask, “Which is the reigning champ?” Well, there really is no easy answer, but there are some charcoal essentials you should know that will help you make the right choice.
Can We Use Ceramic Briquettes In The Charcoal Grill
Yes, you can, and the reason is that the two make the best combination because they have better heat retention, temperature control, and they are perfect for searing, direct heat, and slow cooking. Even food does not become cold quickly in it. It is the popular decision in many pit master forums and the reason you got it.
Also Check: How To Clean Stainless Steel Grill Grates
You Can Master Cooking With Charcoal
Charcoal is still a favorite of many champion grillmasters. By following the tips above, you too can master cooking with charcoal and have the ammunition to do it easily and successfully.
What is the first thing you are going to grill with charcoal now? Do you have another tip we forgot? Let us know by commenting below. We want to hear from you!
These kinds of insider tips from some of the barbecue worlds champion grillmasters are just a glimpse of the kinds of things youll learn in the online grilling classes here at BBQ Champs Academy. Packed with everything you need to know, our step-by-step classes will get you cooking like the pros. Check out the All-Access pass now for the full inside look!
Hot And Fast Grilling For A Crowd
This example is the biggest user of fuel and will consume about 4.5 pounds of charcoal.
Lets say you want to grill up a platter of hamburgers and a few chicken drumsticks. This is a case where you are going to want some high heat for about an hour.
I am figuring an hour because you might be doing the burgers in batches or maybe you want to cook the chicken separate from the burgers.
In this case I would fill a Weber charcoal chimney completely full of charcoal. This will take about 90 briquettes of Kingsford Blue which is about 4.5 pounds worth of fuel.
Use the chimney to light the charcoal and, once the coals are ashed over, spread them evenly across the charcoal grate. Keep the bottom and top air vents completely open.
You May Like: Napoleon Rogue Vs Weber Genesis
The Minion Method Isn’t For Me
I know many people swear by another charcoal burn strategy, called the minion method. This slow-and-low technique calls for you to add lit coals over a larger amount of unlit briquettes. I’ve tried it, and haven’t had much success, personally.
Perhaps I need more practice or should tweak my fuel amounts. Whatever the reason, my minion charcoal fires tend to run away from me. Either they grow too hot, or falter and burn out. Regardless, I find the snake method more reliable, even if it takes more work up front.
Light one end of the snake so it’ll burn like a fuse, low and slow.
How Do You Bbq Burgers
IF USING A GRILL: Heat a gas grill to high or heat coals in a charcoal grill until they glow bright orange and ash over. Brush the burgers with the oil. Grill the burgers until golden brown and slightly charred on the first side, about 3 minutes for beef and 5 minutes for turkey. Flip over the burgers.
Read Also: How To Clean Char Broil Infrared Grill
How To Store The Old Charcoal
There is a fixed method to store it, which we have discussed earlier. But now the question comes, what if we throw water in the coal? If you are someone who throws water into the coal for cooling it down, make sure you left the coal under hot sunlight to make it completely moisture-free.
If you use the most coal, it will damage your griller by causing rust. Along with this, moist coal will not burn more effectively. You can also use some steel material to take all the coal out from the grill. Leave it overnight and damp it carefully.
How To Light A Charcoal Grill
Taste of Home
Just like there are different charcoals to choose from, there are plenty of methods for lighting a grill to choose from, too, including many different charcoal starters.
Color is a great indication of how hot the coals are. Aim for white to glowing red for cooking .
You can also tell if the grill is ready by hovering your hand about four inches over the coals. If you can comfortably hold it there for more than five seconds, your coals still need to heat up. If you can keep your hand hovering for about two or three seconds, thats the sweet spot for grilling.
Also when youre lighting your grilland cooking and cooling it downbe sure to follow these grill safety tips.
Read Also: How To Clean Out A Traeger Grill
How To Keep Charcoal Hot
Use your tongs to keep the coals together. You dont want them so well packed that they can’t get air, but you also don’t want them separated.
HOT TIP: Cooking temperatures on a charcoal grill are controlled by opening and closing the vents. Opening the vents feeds the fire, raising the temperature. Closing the vents deprives the fire of oxygen, lowering the temperature.
Keep the top and bottom vents open to get the hottest temperature. The more air you get to the fire, the hotter it will cook.
Empty the ash frequently. Ash takes up space for air and will smother the coals as it builds up.
How To Prep The Grill
Just like you spend time preparing your meat with marinades and rubs, take the time to get the grill ready. If your grates are dirty from the last cookout, it’s more likely that your food will stick and have “off” flavors. The best way to prep your grill before cooking is to clean it really well after cooking or just before cooking, when the grates are hot. If you grill regularly, give it a good scrub with those long handled brushes and some elbow grease before it has a chance to cool down. Not grilling that often? Give it a good scrub once the grill has fully preheated and remnants from the last grill session should scrape right off.
Related:Essential Grilling Tools You’ll Need to Tame the Flame
Also Check: Do Traeger Grills Need Electricity
Low And Slow Grilling/smoking
Not everything benefits from Hot and Fast grilling and there are times when Low and Slow is the better option.
Think about things like Country Style Ribs or maybe a stuffed pork chop.
In these cases I like to use around 30 briquettes, about 1.5 pounds worth, and bank them on the left side of the grill. I like to light one side of the charcoal bed with either a paraffin wax cube or even a propane torch. Let the fire slowly burn across the charcoal bed while your meat cooks on the opposite side of the grill.
If the fire gets low before the food is finished you can always add 5-10 more unlit briquettes on top of the lit charcoal to extend the cooking session.
How Do You Light Charcoal Fast
The key to lighting charcoal fast is arranging the charcoal close enough together to spread the fire to adjacent coals and leave enough space between coals for air flow to feed the fire with oxygen. Another factor that affects fast lighting is using old charcoal or charcoal thats been exposed to wet weather always use fresh charcoal.
You May Like: Grilling Pork Tenderloin Temp
How Do I Know If My Charcoal Grill Is Ready
Wait until your charcoal has burned to an even temperature before placing any meat on the grill grates. When the charcoal firsts turns white, it is hot on the outside, but still cool on the inside. You want to wait until at least 2/3rds of the charcoal have turned white and the charcoal has stopped smoking.
How Much Charcoal To Use In A Grill
Taking charcoal for grilling is no doubt a good idea. But before taking charcoal, you should choose the flavor. As you know what! Two things affect the flavor of the food grilled over a charcoal grill. The first and the foremost is the type of charcoal, the second being the knowledge on how much charcoal to use in a grill.
Other than that, what quantity of charcoal you need depends on the food. To clear your confusion, keep reading the article.
Read Also: Is Macaroni Grill Closing
Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes
Why youll love it:
Good and cheap is the name of the game. Sometimes going with the old standby is best, and as regular, no frills charcoal goes, few match Kingsfords quality.
The charcoal itself is nothing special, but all of the component parts of this standard briquette are pretty good. Its a composite of wood charcoal, anthracite charcoal, mineral charcoal, starch , sodium nitrate, sawdust, borax, and limestone. The chemical components are undesirable but a necessary evil to drive the price down in this case, and dont provide too much of an unhealthy quality to the charcoal itself.
It burns for a decent period of time as well, but lets be real: the main reason youre buying this is you want to buy decent, cheap charcoal in bulk to keep around the house because you grill a lot, and this provides that use for you.
You can buy this 4 pack for the price of 5 of those Muxi bags above pricing doesnt get much better than that
- Available pretty much anywhere in the US from gas stations to department stores.
What we didnt like
- Not the greatest charcoal around in terms of flavoring.
Coconut Shell Charcoal Briquettes
Coconut shell charcoal briquettes are on the rise with serious grillers, and for some good reasons. As their name implies, coconut charcoal briquettes utilize compressed coconut shells. This means that they dont require any felled trees for their production, making them an eco-friendly option.
Coconut briquettes are smokeless, odorless, and sparkless. These are elements that regular grillers find super convenient. This type of charcoal burns roughly three times longer than the other options, yet it produces much less ash and carbon dioxide.
If the advantages of this charcoal type appeal to you, you can buy coconut shell charcoal with Zenfiyah, where sustainability meets grilling efficiency.
Don’t Miss: Is Veggie Grill 100 Vegan
How Does A Charcoal Grill Work
If you are fond of grilling foods, then you might know about the grill machines available out there in the market. These grillers can be bought from the market or you can also make one yourself. If you have creativity and time, you can make a charcoal grill yourself at home. However, in this article, I am not going to cover you with how to make a charcoal grill at home.
Instead, let me tell you how a charcoal grill really works. From my experience, a charcoal grill is the best option to make grill naturally, which left grill marks on the foods after making them. However, the basis of a charcoal grill consists of a thick layer on which foods will remain for cooking, and underneath the plate, hot coal will continue to provide heat evenly to make the grilling foods.
Light Your Charcoal Grill With A Charcoal Chimney
At first, fill the chimney with enough charcoal, keep holes between them too light up. Now take a long stick or newspaper, light it with fire and leave it in several chimney spots filled with charcoal. Gradually the newspaper or stick will burn, and the charcoal will also burn with them. Check if the charcoals are burning with the stick or not. If not, then burns another one with some cooking oil and leaves it in the chimney like before. When the coals will turn ashy, pour them onto the bottom grill, and spread it.
You May Like: How Long To Grill Chicken Thighs With Bone
