charcoal grills guide

Charcoal Grills
The Standard of Barbecuing

Most everyone's first time exposure to a barbecue grill is a charcoal grill. At the low end, it is just a steel container to hold the briquets, a grate to cook food on and a ventilated hood to keep the heat in. There will not be very many special features. Basically, look for a very stabilized stand in the low end. You are better off with a small well constructed grill than a larger more flimsy model. Of course, the area available for cooking is very important and must enter into your decision.

I have personally used a very small table top portable Coleman charcoal grill. It is well constructed but only has a small cooking area. But it works great for its size. Especially when cooking hot dogs and hamburgers. Buy a higher quality model depending upon how often you plan to use the grill. If you plan only to use the charcoal grill few times a year for cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, you can get away with an inexpensive model. The more you plan to use, the more sophisticated meals you plan, the better quality model that you should purchase.

One of the problems with charcoal grills is the ability to control heat. As you spend more, the grill may have a cooking grate whose height above the charcoal can be adjusted. Another way to control the heat is to vary the height of the charcoal from one side of the grill to the other. Thus the charcoal will be near the grate at one end and hotter than at the other end. In this case, one would move the food being cooked to the appropriate location on the grate for the proper heat.

When cooking with charcoal, make sure the briquets are a dull gray covering before attempting to cook. It usually takes from 15 to 30 minutes for the briquets to get the grill to a sufficient temperature for cooking. Never use a charcoal grill in your house or tent. It must only be used outdoors.

For ease of cleanup, put down a liner of aluminum foil in the bottom of the grill. Make a tray by forming sides with the aluminum foil. Put the briquets on to the aluminum foil and then light them. After the briquets have totally burned and cooled after you are done cooking, you can fold the aluminum foil to remove the ashes. Make a new aluminum foil tray each time you cook.

More barbecue charcoal grill information.

For more information on the maintenance of your barbecue charcoal grill click here.