Using Charcoal

USING CHARCOAL

WHERE TO SET UP THE GRILL

For safety's sake, the grill should be located away from brush, dry grass, trees, and bushes. And for your neighbors sake, locate the grill where smoke won't be a bother. Check the direction of the wind and place the wind screen, if there is one, to shield the coals.

Barbecuing indoors is tricky, as the carbon monoxide it produces is deadly. A small cooker like a hibachi, can be placed where there is GOOD ventilation, such as in a fireplace with the draft open.

CHIMNEY METHOD OF LIGHTING

A "chimney" made from a tall juice can or two-pound coffee can is an aid to getting the fire started. To make your chimney, remove the ends from the can, and make a row of holes around the bottle, using a punch-type beverage can opener.

Stand the chimney in the firebox of your grill. Put in crumpled paper, then add birquets. Light at the base of the chimney, through one of the punched holes. Allow the coals to burn fifteen or twenty minutes, remove the chimney with tongs, and rake the coals out into the firebox. Don't start to cook until the fire dies down to glowing coals.

FIRE EXPERTISE

Size of Fire
Beginners tend to use more briquets than necessary. Since charcoal is one of the costliest of fuels, this is wasteful. About twenty briquets will grill a few steaks or burgers; use even less is cooking for a twosome. A shallow fire is best for broiling. One that is a little deeper and placed to the rear of the spit works for rotisserie roasting with a hooded unit.

Judging Readiness of Coals
The fire is ready when the flames die down. In the daytime, the coals will look ash-gray. At night, they'll have a reddish glow.

Just as fingers were made before forks, hands were made before thermometers. To judge whether the fire is hot enough to cook the food, hold your hand at cooking level and count off how many seconds you can comfortably keep it there. This isn't an endurance contest; just a quick check of temporature. If you can keep your hand in place for four seconds, that's about right for food requiring slow cooking. At high heat, you will want to move away in one second. You can dismiss the stopwatch along with the thermometer; just count "one one-thousand, two one-thousand," and so on.

Arranging the Fire
The number of coals and their placement determines cooking heat. A few coals, widely spaced, provide low heat needed for small cooking job. A generous-sized roast, on the other hand, will take a solid bed of coals. Moving the coals out to form an oval around the food reduces heat; mofing the coals in closer increases it.
For Kabobs: Arrange buring coals around sides of the firebox, and in parallel rows through the center area, so that they are spaced between the rows of kabobs above. Use his arrangement for all foods cooked on skewers>

For Steaks: A polka-dot arrangement is recommended, with briquets placed about a half-inch apart in the area under the meat. This produces a more even heat than a haphazard arrangement and reduces flare-ups caused by fat dripping into the firebox.
For Rotisserie Roasting with a Hooded Unit: If spit-roasting on a grill with a reflecting hood, stack the coals slightly to the read of the spit, extending past the ends of the meat on the spit. A drip pan placed directly under the meat will catch drippings and reduce flaring. Check the position of the drip pan once the juices start to drip.

If the spit is turning properly, that is, away from you at the top and toward you at the bottom, the fat will drip at the front of the firebox and into the pan. For Rotisserie Roasting with Open-Top Unit: The "ring of fire" method, attributed to the gypsies, is recommended. Make an oval of glowing coals around and a little bigger than the roast or bird on the spit. The meat should not be directly over the coals. The drip pan should be placed directly unter the meat.

Adding More Charcoal
When cooking large cuts of meat or big birds, you may need to add more coals during cooking. Keep some extra briquets at the edge of the grill so you'll have a reserve of hot coals. These can be moved into position with the buring coals and will ignite more quickly than unheated coals.

Avoiding Flare-Ups
Flaring is caused by meat fat dripping onto the coals below. For this reason, it is recommended that you arrange coals around the edges of the meat or between rows of kebobs. Flames are undesireable because they blacken food and can even present a fire hazard.

To douse the flames that do pop up from time to time, keep a laundry sprinkler or water pistol handy. Aw whisk broom dipped in water will work, too.

Controlling the Heat
The number of coals and their distance from the food determine how quickly the food will cook. If the fire in the grill is too hot, simply raise the grid further up from the heat. IF it is not hot enough, lower it.

Placement of coals, as already mentioned, will affect heat, too. Moving coals closer to the food raises heat; moving them out reduces it.

If you find that you have started too many coals, remove some with tongs and douse with water. When dry, they can be used another day. If your food needs just a small increase in heat brush the ashes from the tops of the coals. Ash acts as an insulator to hold heat in.

The drafts in your grill are there to control heat, too. Opening them lets more are in, increasing heat. Closing them lowers the heat.

DUTCH OVENS

All dutch oven cooking is done by hot coals-- never in a flaming fire. The coals may be from hardwoods like oak and hickory or from charcoal. Hardwoods yield long-burning coals which are necessary for the lengthy cooking process in most dutch oven recipes. Soft woods like pine are unsatisfactory.

In some respects, charcoal is more convenient to use and is necessary in areas where there is no downed hardwood. Either lump charcoal or briquettes may be used, but the briquettes are preferred for long-lasting fires. They give an even heat for long periods.

The amount of charcoal needed varies somewhat, depending on wind conditions, air temperature, and the altitude. Obviously, a strong wind will cause the coals to burn faster and become hotter. At high altitude, more coals will be needed because of the thinness of the air. You'll also need more coals on a cold winter day than in the heat of summer.

The following chart will give beginning dutch oven cooks a fairly accurate starting point for the amount of charcoal birquettes needed for various temperatures.

This chart was developed to give the beginner a fairly accurate starting poing with charcoal fuel. Temperatures will vary some due to the charcoal quality, wind, and other weather elements.

Temperature Control:

Oven Size	8 Round		12 Round
OVEN TEMP	Under	Top	Under	Top
250-300	2	4	3	5
300-350	3	5	4	6
350-400	4	6	5	7
400-450	5	7	6	8

Preheating Oven
It's important to preheat both the oven and the lid before starting to cook. Put the oven on the coals separate from the lid. Put the lid directly on the coals, too, not on the oven part. When you think it's heated about right, check it out using the flour test.

How do you know if the preheated temperature of your Dutch oven conforms to recipe instructions such as "bake in a slow oven," or "Preheated to 375 degrees?"

Put a teaspoon of flour on a pan or plate that will fit in the oven. The color of the flour after baking with the lid in place will give you a pretty accurate measurement.

Light tan	in 5 minutes	Slow oven	About 250 degrees
Medium tan	in 5 minutes	Moderate	About 350 degrees
Dark brown	in 5 minutes	Hot	About 450 degrees
Dark brown	in 3 minutes	Very hot	About 550 degrees

You regulate the heat by adding or removing some hot coals. The tendency is usually to get the oven too hot, especially on the bottom. Remember, most cooking in a Dutch oven is from the heat gained from the coals on the lid. For short cooking times you probably won't even have to put coals under the preheated oven. Just put a few on the top. For longer cooking time, take a few live coals from your fire supply, put them in a small circle, and set the oven directly over them.

It's handy to have a small trench shovel to use in moving hot live coals around.

If your fire gets too hot, you can temper it by sprinkling a few drops of water on the coals. If you are using charcoal, douse the coals with water after you have finished cooking. Let the sun dry out the remaining charcoal to be used another time.

You can check cooking progress during cooking by sneaking a peak now and then. Lift the lid quickly with a hook or tongs, but don't look long or you'll loose valuable heat from the oven.

Back to Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws