Charcoal Grilling Tips

Everyone loves a good barbecue and everyone wants the coveted title of best backyard chef on the block. With these charcoal grilling tips and a little bit of practice, you can proudly lay claim to this coveted title.

By incorporating these simple strategies into your backyard barbecue routine you will be well on your way to becoming the envy of the neighborhood. Even if you’re not the competitive type and are just barbecuing for your immediate family on the weekends, it should at least be good. Right?

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Charcoal Grilling Tips

In this post, I’m going to share a few tips that I hope will make your backyard barbecue taste that much better.

Note: Before using your charcoal grill please read and follow all safety instructions on your grill, charcoal, and lighter fluid. For more on charcoal, grilling safety click here.

Charcoal grilling tip #1 Clean Your Grill

The first thing you want to do before you start cooking is to make sure that you have a clean grill. Make sure that you clean the grates and empty all the old ash from your last cookout. Because too much ash in the bottom of the grill can block the air vents and make temperature control difficult. To clean the grates you will need a wire brush or brillo pads. Be sure to get off all the old cooked on gunk. Click here for more info on cleaning your charcoal grill.

#2 Light the grill

Now that the hard stuff is out of the way. Let’s get the grill started. Lighting the grill can be intimidating for some of us, especially if we are new to the charcoal grilling game. But fear not my friends this process is much easier than you think. All you need is a handy dandy charcoal chimney starter. An amazing gadget that makes lighting the coals a breeze. So trash the lighter fluid and the petrol taste that comes with it (unless that’s what you prefer ) and grab your chimney starter. Click here for complete instructions on how to use a charcoal chimney starter. Or Click here for instructions on using lighter fluid.

#3 Arrange the coals.

When arranging the coals I like to use the 2 zone method. To me, this is the easiest and most practical method for the backyard chef. To do this all you have to do is arrange the coals on one half of the grill. This allows for an area that has no coals to move food to in case of flare-ups. It is also the method I use for slow smoking. Yes, you can use your kettle-style charcoal grill for smoking. Learn more here.

#4 Preheat your grates.

Now that you have arranged your coals. Place the top grate on the grill and let it preheat for a few minutes before starting to cook. Using a clean paper towel and tongs you should oil your grill grates. I just fold the paper towel a few time and using the tongs dip it into some vegetable oil and coat the grates. This along with the preheating helps to prevent food from sticking to the grates.

Temperature Control

Controlling temperature can be a little tricky for the newcomer.

 It doesn’t have to be.

Most kettle style grills come with vents or dampers on the top and bottom of the grill for the very purpose of controlling temperature by controlling airflow to the charcoals. As you know fire needs oxygen to burn. So the more oxygen the hotter the flame and vise versa. What this means to us is if we want a higher temperature we should open the vents/dampers and for a cooler flame close the vents/dampers. However, you do not want to close the vents completely because this will cause the flame to smother and go out.

So just to clarify:

For a higher heat:

Open the vents/dampers wide to get more airflow to the charcoals this will make the coals burn hotter.

For lower heat:

Close the vents/dampers to restrict air flow to the coals resulting in a cooler temperature. Do NOT close the vents/dampers completely.

Some kettle style grills come with a built-in thermometer on the lid. USE IT! If your grill doesn’t have one I suggest you get one it will make your grilling life so much easier and your food will always be cooked to perfection.

One Final Tip:

Ok, guys One last tip and we are done for today.

I think this tip is very important and I think most of you will agree with me on this one.

“To get something good out… You have to put something good in”.

What I mean by this is that you can’t put a $2.00 select grade steak on the grill and expect it to come out tender and juicy like a $20.00 prime fillet it just doesn’t work that way.

A good friend of mine used to always say

“cheap food ain’t good and good food ain’t cheap”.

Of course, this was the guy that I bought my meat from but he was telling nothing but the truth.

I’m not saying to go and drop a bundle on wagyu beef or anything like that but just get at least a choice grade meat with sufficient marbling. See more on choosing the right steak here.

Well, that’s it. I hope you found this little bit of information helpful in some way.

Please feel free to comment below.

Until next time

Happy Grilling!!!

Andre