Barbecue and Charcoal Grilling

I
have cooked on a variety of basic charcoal grills over the years and they all pretty much have the same things in common. Usually made of high grade steel, either circular or barrel shaped, these simple outdoor grills boast a fuel (charcoal) grate, a cooking grate, a lid and either 3 or 4 legs. The lid is usually vented and will have some sort of handle. If the grill is large enough you might find a set of wheels attached for easy portability.

An outdoor barbecue grill can come in many sizes, from the pint size (throw a few hamburgers on it) grill to the Texas monster barbecue smoker variety that usually requires a truck to pull it with.

Look for a grill that has an adequate cooking surface even while using the indirect cooking method (see below), one that is sturdy, has a baked-on enamel or fire proof paint coating and has a lid clearance high enough to cook a large chicken or small turkey.

My charcoal grill of choice is the Weber charcoal grill. Weber makes a charcoal grill that will last many years and will provide an excellent cooking environment. Check below for the Weber grills I have owned in the past, and still use today.

T
here are two ways to cook on your grill, directly over the charcoal or indirectly away from direct heat (the food is placed off to one side away from direct contact with the hot charcoal). Simple enough.

Direct heat cooking is what backyarders do every weekend. To achieve a good direct heat for cooking, always start your charcoal in a pile first and then spread them out over the fuel grate when they are ready. The food is then placed directly over the hot coals. Direct heat cooking works well for hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks. A word of caution though, unless you attend to your grill during direct heat cooking, you will likely end up with the chicken-fried meal you were not expecting.

Indirect heat cooking is a bit more of a challenge, but very easy to do once you have tried it a few times. This process involves stacking your charcoal along one edge of your fuel grate using the inside wall of the grill as support. Once the coals are ready, you simply place your food on the cooking grate, arranged away from the hot coals. You can move your food closer to or further away from the heat as desired to affect cooking times.

Meats that do well using the indirect method include pork and beef roasts, steaks, whole or cut up chicken, whole turkey or turkey breast, most fish and of course, the classic hamburger.

M
any of the popular brands of charcoal briquettes contain fillers that can lengthen burn time but can also effect the flavor of your food. Fillers can include wax, lighter fluid, clay and other products you probably didn't want to know could possibly be wafting around your food as you cook.

It is always better to try and use a natural charcoal or a natural hardwood charcoal. Check the ingredients label on the charcoal you use to determine what fillers there may be.

Natural hardwood charcoal is just that...charcoal pieces made from several types of hardwood (oak, hickory, maple, etc), burned to a charcoal state with no fillers added. It is sold in either lump form (loose pieces) or as briquettes.

Natural hardwood charcoal burns hotter and cleaner then processed charcoal and imparts a mild wood smoke flavor to your foods.

Brands of natural hardwood charcoal lump and briquettes include Royal Oak, Cowboy, Maple Leaf, Nature-Glo, Holland and Kroger and can usually be found at supermarkets, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and specialty stores.

An online source of natural charcoal can be found here Natural Barbecue Charcoal.

I
f you're looking around for a portable, yet versatile charcoal grill, the Weber Go Anywhere Grill is it. The rectangular design is perfect for indirect cooking and it doesn't require a lot of charcoal to cook a complete meal.

Great for tail-gate parties, picnics or camping, this lil' grill is built to cook it all.

Features 160 sq. inches of cooking space, a triple nickel-plated steel cooking grate, porcelain enameled bowl and lid, and glass-reinforced nylon handle. The Nickel-plated legs pivot to lock lid in place for carrying. Weber even throws in a Weber Cookbook.

I had an older model of the Go-Anywhere years ago and used it so much I finally wore it out! It is very easy to use, produces some great heat for even cooking and is built from high quality steel that only Weber is known for.

At less then $45, this portable grill will last you for years. Highly Recommended!

For more information Click Here.

B
elow a few tips to get you started towards a charcoal grilled masterpiece meal.

First, unless you are cooking steaks or hamburgers over direct heat for just a short period of time you will usually always want to use the indirect cooking method for most of your meals.

I plan for at least an hour and a half burn. To get this result without having to add additional charcoal during the cooking process, I stack up 4 to 5 pounds of charcoal on one side of my fuel grate. Stack them to a height just under the cooking grate in a pile 5 to 6 inches wide and 12 to 14 inches long. Use the inside wall of the grill as support.

Approximately 30 minutes before I am ready to start cooking I soak (and I mean SOAK) the charcoal all along the entire stack making sure to coat all the charcoal evenly with lighter fluid. The key to a good hot bed of coals is soaking the charcoal well. To give you an idea of how much lighter fluid I use, I would say it approaches a cup of fluid (or a bit more) for an average burn.

Place your lighter fluid container in a safe place and immediately light the charcoal while it is still wet. Attend to your flame because you WILL have a large flame for a few minutes as the charcoal ignites and settles in to a smooth burn. Leave the grill lid off to help with a quicker start.

Most brands of charcoal will be ready for cooking after about 30-40 minutes (depending on how much lighter fluid you use to start them).

Never begin cooking while any of the charcoal are still black. Charcoal must have burned to a uniform ash-gray color to ensure the lighter fluid has completely burned off and the coal is fully ignited as intended.

Once the coals are ready, arrange your food on the cooking grate away from direct contact with the coals. If your cooking grate is fairly large, experiment with different areas of the grate to hasten or lessen the cooking times.

Adjust your air vents to achieve a good air flow through the grill and to also control cooking temperatures.

Temperatures of 350 degrees and more are easily achieved on a well-built grill provided you got a good start on your charcoal, and you leave your lid in place without the temptation to peek at what's going on inside.

You are striving for a uniform heat for a long period of time similar to what you would get from your own oven.

T
he Buccaneer Barbecue Tote has it all.

This handy little tote contains the BBQ grill (with lid), a built in cooler and all the tools you will need to cook a great meal on the go. All tools are high quality and include a spatula with serrated edge for cutting and tenderizing meat, a pair of tongs, and a BBQ fork. The cooler is insulated and removable. Dimensions are 20 x 14 x 12.

For more information click here: Buccaneer Barbecue Tote

Y
ears ago I was fiddlin' around with different ideas on how better to start my bed of charcoal for indirect cooking, possibly without using any lighter fluid.

Call it divine intervention, call it blind luck but I kept seeing an image of a paint can in my mind.

BOOM, the idea hit.

How To Make:
Find an old metal paint can, preferably one that had latex paint in it. Clean out any remain paint inside and out (latex paint is water based and cleans up very easily with a brush)

Dispose of the lid and cut out the bottom of the can, dispose of that too...

Drill a bunch of air holes evenly spaced around the bottom of the can about an inch or so above the bottom. These holes should be at least 1/2 inch in diameter. Leave the handle attached.

Now you have a durable metal 'chimney' from which to stack and start your charcoal.

How To Use:
Place your charcoal chimney starter in one corner of your cooking grate.

Place crumpled up newspaper in the bottom of the starter, then pour in your charcoal and fill to the top. The starter should hold about 4 lbs of charcoal.

Light the newspaper with a match through one of the air vent holes and watch this marvel go to work.

Make sure you have any air vents open on the bottom of your charcoal grill because you want as much airflow up and through the starter as possible.

When all charcoal have turned an ash-gray lift the starter straight up allowing the hot charcoal to form a nice pile as they tumble out.

Voila! An easy, no cost, charcoal chimney starter that uses no lighter fluid.

I
f you don't have a lot of experience with the indirect cooking method, let me give you a simple recipe for a complete meal that is easy to make and will be a hit for the entire family.

Stuff to Cook: (adjust for number of people to feed)
1. Whole chicken
2. Baking potatoes
3. Corn on the cob
4. Fresh green beans
5. Package of cooked smoked sausage

How to Prepare:
1. Start your grill for indirect cooking according to my directions above.
2. Wash and season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. A rule of thumb here is the more seasoning, the better.
3. Wash the potatoes and lightly rub with cooking oil.
4. Shuck and wash the corn, wrap individually in aluminum foil with a pad of butter, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Wash and cut the green beans into 1 inch pieces. Create a cooking pouch out of aluminum foil, place cut up beans in the pouch and add butter, salt/pepper, onion and garlic powder to taste. Fold up and seal the pouch.
6. Open the package of cooked smoke sausage.

How to Cook:
1. When your charcoal has burned to an ash-gray (no black edges remaining) place the chicken, breast side up, on the cooking grate near (but not over) the coals. Start with the chicken breast facing the coals. The chicken will take approximately 1.5 hours to fully cook at 350 degrees.

2. Arrange the baking potatoes around the chicken but further away from the charcoal. Large bakers will take about an hour and a half as well.

3. Place the cooked smoked sausage on the cooking grate in any available space.

4. Close lid and find something to do for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes, remove the smoked sausage and add the foil wrapped corn, and beans away from the coals.

6. Cut up the sausage into bit size chunks and dig in! I call this a cooking reward for the chef. Share with others as appropriate ;)

7. After one hour, rotate the chicken, legs facing the coals. Rotate the potatoes, corn and bean pouch. At this point you can add BBQ sauce to the chicken if you wish. Check my sauce recipe below.

8. At about 1.5 hours into your burn all foods should be done. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the chicken is fully cooked. If it isn't, let it go awhile longer.

9. Remove the food and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes. Plate/serve your meal and enjoy!

A
s if cooking with charcoal isn't tasty enough, you can always add pieces of certain kinds of wood to enhance the flavor of your meal.

Several varieties of hard wood are excellent for cooking and these include hickory, mesquite, maple, and fruit woods such as apple, cherry, and peach.

I prefer hickory, but have tried all of the above mentioned woods at one time or another.

The cooking method is simple, finding the wood is another matter.

Many stores sell bags of wood "chips". These are ok in a pinch, but always try to find wood that is bagged in chunks verses chips. Wood chips need to be soaked in water before use (can affect charcoal temps) and generally don't provide the robust smoke flavor that chunk woods do.

To add a light smoky flavor to your meats, try a small chunk or two of hickory 2 to 3 inches square.

The wood is added to the hot charcoal just before placing the foods on the cooking grate. With the wood on the hot coals, replace the cooking grate, add the food to be smoked arranged away from the hot charcoal and close the lid. Open the air vents all the way to get the smoke process started and after a few minutes close the air vents down a bit so as to capture the smoke inside the cooker. A piece of hickory of the size mentioned will smoke for about 30 minutes...or enough to add a nice mahogany color to the meat all the while adding flavor and sealing in the juices.

When serving the cooked meat, cut away the outside "skin" and do not eat. The smoke flavor inside will be plenty.

T
his is a good sauce you can make from scratch. It takes about 45 minutes from start to finish and is great on hamburgers, pork roast, chicken, sausage and even pork chops.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons mustard
1 cup catsup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Saute the onion in butter in a pan. Add remaining ingredients and cook on a medium heat until the sauce begins to thicken (about 30 minutes). Yields about 3 cups.

HINT: Substitute 1/3 can of beer instead of water to add some zing.

L
earn the secrets to absolutely the BEST homemade barbecue sauce there is. You will never use another sauce again, it's that good!

"You were right, this Recipe is ABSOLUTELY the best recipe for barbecue sauce in existence! I know, cause I have tried them all! I just wanted to thank you for making it available, it has made me the King of the barbecue in my family and neighborhood". - Bobette Williams, Anchorage, Alaska
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"What a difference this Recipe has made with EVERYTHING. Not only the barbecue is ALWAYS perfect (no more wasted meat), my favorite is when it runs over into the potato salad. YUMMMM!" - Sherri Briggs, Dallas, TX,
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"I didn't believe it when I saw your claim so I bought it thinking I was going to give you hell for not living up to it, but instead, I am writing to tell you that you were right, it *is* the best." - Jill Warner, McClain, Virginia
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Click Here For The Barbecue Sauce Recipe!

If you like jalapeno peppers you will LOVE this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 to 1.5 lbs jalapeno peppers (larger is better)
Depending on their size, this should yield 14 to
18 peppers.
1 lb hamburger
1 lb cheap thin sliced bacon
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 package taco seasoning mix
1/3 can of beer

How to Prepare:
1. Wash the peppers and cut off the stem ends about 1/4 inch above the stem part leaving an exposed end.

2. With a pairing knife core each pepper, removing the seeds and core, being careful not to tear or damage the pepper.

3. Brown the hamburger, drain and add the onion, taco seasoning and beer. Continue cooking until the onions are soft and the seasoning is mixed well.

4. Stuff the hamburger mix into each pepper, taking care to fill up the entire pepper. A small butter knife makes the process a bit easier.

5. Cut the uncooked bacon slices in half and carefully wrap a half slice of bacon around each pepper (end over end) and secure with a toothpick through the middle of the pepper. Not only does the bacon add tremendous flavor, but it keeps the meat from falling out.

How to Cook:
1. Arrange the peppers on the charcoal grill (indirect heat) away from the hot coals. Let them cook for about an hour or until the bacon is cooked and crisp.

2. Serves as a delicious side dish to a variety of meals. Enjoy.

U
nlike barbecue sauces, a dry barbecue rub can not only be used on meats, but also in a variety of different ways to really add some unique flavor to a meal. Add a premium quality dry barbecue rub to your chicken, pork, turkey or brisket plus eggs, salads, casseroles, dressings and potato dishes.

Below is a good online source for a variety of premium dry barbecue rubs at very reasonable prices. Branch out a bit and try a quality barbecue rub on your meats and side dishes the next time you cookout or have a barbecue party!

Premium Quality Barbecue Dry Rubs

M
y wife use to work at a resort years back that served a huge amount of barbecued ribs every week. Without giving away ALL of their secrets, I will share the one thing they did to their ribs that kept customers coming back for more!

Ingredients:
1. Beef or pork ribs, either bone in or country style (no bone). Adjust the number of ribs to the number of people you will be cooking for. I use country style pork ribs for this recipe, but any cut will do well.
2. Barbecue sauce
3. Salt and pepper
4. A few hickory chunks

How to Prepare: (Okay, here's the secret)
1. Place the uncooked ribs in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Add a bit of salt and pepper and let the ribs boil until tender (but not falling apart). For country style pork ribs, this process should take about 45 minutes.

2. Remove the ribs when tender and allow them to cool to room temperature - or about 30 minutes.

3. Start the charcoal grill for indirect cooking as described above.

4. When the ribs have cooled and the charcoal is ash-gray, add the hickory chunks to the fire and arrange the ribs on the cooking grate away from the direct heat.

5. Spread a heavy layer of barbecue sauce over the ribs using a good barbecue brush, close the lid let them smoke/finish for about 30 minutes, but no more.

The boiling process actually cooked the ribs, so what you are doing with the charcoal grill is simply adding that wonderful barbecue and smoked flavor!

I
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In the mean time, fire up the BBQ and enjoy a bit of the good life :-)