Unique Ways On How to Cook on a Charcoal Grill?

Grilling and summers sometimes sound the same, as many people enjoy camping and outdoor cooking in summer after spending many months with indoor activities, some while some became lethargic in those months.

Camping in summer sounds like forgetting everything and enjoying life for a specific time period. If that period is with loved ones then it will be a memory that many of our elders remembered when they become senior citizens of society.

I personally feel that enjoyment from my grandfather. He was a great hunter and a great cook of his time, if I used the word grill master it would not be wrong. He knows how to grill each of the cuts of meat. I will share his adventurous journey in one of my future blog posts.

How to cook on a charcoal grill is just like a hue and cry for some of the newbies as well as for those who always use other types of grills. In this article, I come up with many of the how questions that most people asked before starting to grill on a charcoal grill.

Does Charcoal Tastes Better?

Grilling is always the best choice whether you use a gas, pellet, electric, or charcoal grill. But the main question that arises here is “does charcoal taste better?”. Charcoal is a natural resource made from natural materials like wood, sawdust, and many more that imparts a great natural taste to beef, vegetables, chicken, and chicken products like sausages, hamburgers, and stuff crust pizzas cooked over it.

How Often Should I Season a Grill?

The process behind the great taste is simple and does not need any special procedure or way to get it. While grilling over a charcoal grill you must make the grill grates pretty clean and well-seasoned. When The food is placed over the grill grates the high heat from the burning coal makes the meat sear and releases water from it that flows from the food and dripped over the heated coal.

The dripped liquid immediately converts into flavored steam and smoke. This steam and smoke surround the food and give amazing flavor to the food containing flavor for the dripped water and the coal. In this way, it gives extra taste to the food cooked over it, which most die-hard barbecue lover wants from the charcoal grill.

Direct and Indirect Heat Cooking

In order to know about the arrangement of coals and pellets in a grill, one must know about the types of heat. There are two types of heat. The first one is direct heat and the second one is indirect heat.

Direct Heat:

Direct heat is a type of heat in which the food is directly in contact with the heat, which will either be radiant heat from the coals or pellets or the conductive heat that releases from the hot grill grates. Both types of heat are responsible for cooking and searing food.

The radiant heat from the direct heat sears the exposed side of the food and makes it well-cooked to its center. The conductive heat is responsible for making the representation of the food cooked over it. It makes perfect sear marks that most people loved to have on grilled food.

Indirect Heat:

Indirect heat is a type of heat that is given to the food for cooking but it is not directly placed on the heating substance (coal or anything). An oven is an example that uses indirect heat. In a grill dump the hot coals on one side and make the other side empty, place the food on the empty side of the grill and close the lid.

The food will be cooked through convection heat. Heat circulates the grill and cooked the food without being directly in touch with it. It takes a lot of time to cook the food and doesn’t create grill marks that make an aesthetic appearance, even though radiant and conductive heat also plays its role.

Direct Heating vs InDirect Heating

How to Arrange Charcoal for Grilling?

Coals are arranged in the grill according to the requirements of the cooking food. Searing meat needs direct heat for a long time that is placed directly over the hot burning coals. It not only cooked the food from the side facing the coals but also the boundaries as well. The intense heat of burning coal gives a smoky flavor to the searing food.

There are Different Types of Charcoal Arrangements.

Direct Fire Arrangement:

It is a simple spread of the burning charcoal evenly across the grilling area. This makes the entire grill a grilling space. In this type of arrangement, the heat is spread evenly across the entire grill, so one can grill a large number in a single go. Mostly this type of arrangement is needed for searing.

Two-zone fire arrangement:

It is division the grilling space is divided into two zones. The hot burning coal zone is also called the hot zone, and the other is called the cold zone or indirect cooking zone. Both zones are important in cooking and grilling meals.

While making a steak you need direct intense heat to sear the outer layer of the meat as soon as possible to enhance the flavor of the meal. This is done by adding the smoky flavor that comes from the fluid dripped from the food. When the food is well cooked from the outer side it is necessary to place it in the indirect heat zone for its proper cooking. The convection heat enters the food and makes it completely cooked and juicy from the inside.

Three-zone fire arrangement:

It is just like the two-zone arrangement, but it has an extra layer of heated charcoals at the opposite end, like a valley within two mountains. This type of arrangement is necessary for making the thing that needs indirect heat for a longer time without being directly in touch with it.

The heat from both sides cooks the food evenly without searing or burning and doesn’t need to rotate from time to time as the coal provides equal heat all the time.

How to Start a Charcoal Grill?

Before grilling over a charcoal grill, one makes the grill thoroughly clean, and seasons the grates if it’s cast iron grill grates as the food gets stuck with it when the grates are not properly cleaned and well-seasoned.

How to Clean Grill Grates with Aluminum Foil

Some of the steps for starting a charcoal grill are:

• Pile charcoals at the center of the grill.
• Add lighter fluid above the coals and wait for at least 30 seconds.
• Light the coals with a match or a lighter from a nice distance to avoid any uncertain conditions.
• When the coals are well burned then spread them according to the requirement.
• Place the grill grates and let it be for some time, so it will become pretty hot for cooking.
• Now it is a get-to-go situation and you are allowed to start grilling over it.

How Long Should Charcoal Burn Before Cooking?

Charcoal is a natural resource made under high pressure with a small amount of oxygen. If Charcoal is not properly burned it will cause suffocation problems to the person grilling over it and it also destroys the taste of the food.

After burning the coal with any of the lightning processes let the coals be cooked for a good period of time so most of the unwanted flavors are burned out with the flare-ups. When the intense flare-ups cool down and you see a white light coming out from the coals, this will be the point when one places the grill grates on the freshly baked coals.

How to Cook on a Charcoal Grill?

Step 1: Build the Fire:

Cover the base of the charcoal grill with coals and light it. Use enough coals required for grilling the food completely that also depends on the type of charcoal. When little ashes appear on the burning charcoal that will be the point one can distinguish between the completely light and incompletely burned charcoals.

Step 2: Clean and Oil the Grill Grates:

If the grates are not properly cleaned from the last grilling season or the grill grates are new then one must clean them thoroughly as it contains dust and will be polluted from the factory chemicals. Use a hot water bucket with some washing powder and a towel and give a complete wash. After washing dry it with a paper towel or any smooth cloth and then season the grates with suitable vegetable oil.

How Often Should I Season My Grill?

Step 3: Grill the Food:

Place the grill grates on the hot burning grill and wait for 10 minutes, so that the grill grates will be well seasoned. This is necessary as it makes the grates a smooth outer surface and the heat that is absorbed within the grates is needed for making perfect sear marks on the food. Different Food needs different temperature for perfect cooking, some need high temperature while some need low temperature.

How to Clean a Charcoal Grill?

Cleaning a charcoal grill is a must, without cleaning a grill and starting to cook over it sometimes proves to be hazardous. It will either make the food filthy or close the vents through which that air can flow. If the vents become closed it will be hard to light the charcoals within the grill. Charcoal needs a handsome amount of oxygen for its complete ignition. Therefore, cleaning a charcoal grill is necessary before using it.

How to Properly Clean a Charcoal Grill?

• For cleaning a charcoal grill you first need to empty the ashes if there are any in the bottom.
• Take a brush and clean it thoroughly.
• If needs washing go for that as it will extricate the grease fire conditions.
• Season the grill and grates and leave it for some time.
• Ignite the grill and close it for half an hour which makes the grill and grates well-seasoned.
• Make a proper fire and place the food you want to grill over it.

Final Thoughts

Grilling on a charcoal grill is tricky but the results are awesome as the temperature of the grill ranges from low to intense heat. The heat in the charcoal reaches above 700 degrees which is mostly used for searing meat.

The low temperature is used for grilling burgers, making pizzas, and smoking salmon and other marine food, while the intense high heat makes the meat juicy from the inside and draws grilled marks on the other side.

The charcoal adds an extra flavor to the grilling food because the wood that is used for making charcoal also has a specific flavor. Different types of charcoal give different flavors to the grilling food. Some give high heat while some give low heat that’s why maintaining temperature is difficult in charcoal grills.