How to Keep a Charcoal Grill Damn Hot
Adjusting the temperature is one of the hardest things to imagine as a children’s charcoal grill. There are no dials to turn, no knobs to adjust, and the only numbers you’ll find are probably an extremely inaccurate thermometer. (Depending on where you place your thermometer in relation to the coils, it can vary up to 200 degrees!)
Controlling the temperature of your charcoal grill is all you need to control the air flow. The more air passes through the grate, the more oxygen will be visible during the combustion reaction and the hotter the coals will burn. Opening the inlets (located under the coals) and outlets (over the coals, usually in the grill lid) is the easiest way to increase oxygen flow, but there are other factors that can prevent your grill from getting as hot as you need it to.
Check coal
If you’re making hot dogs or something just as quick and easy, mix in some partially used, leftover charcoal, but half-burnt briquettes are only half-burnt, so start with fresh, whole charcoal. if you need to cook a moderately long or hot meal, make sure it is dry and fresh enough. (It doesn’t have to be brand new, but the charcoal that has been stored in the garage since last summer may have absorbed moisture from the environment, causing it to catch fire and burn poorly.)
Start your coals straight
I think every kid’s grill should have three items: an external thermometer, a charcoal pipe, and lighter cubes. Using the latter two is the easiest and fastest way to make your coals very hot and ash, without resorting to using lighter fluid. The chimney increases the flow of air around the coals, and the cubes provide the quick ignition of the fuel needed to get started without leaving behind ash (as if you were using a newspaper or something). You can make your own lighter paraffin wax cubes and egg boxes, or buy 24 cubes for five dollars .
But don’t let them get too ashy
Once you see a flame coming out of the top layer of coals in the chimney, you can throw it onto the charcoal grate (the grate that holds the coals under the grate where you cook your food). Once the coals are mostly – but not completely – covered in ash, it’s time to cook. If you’re worried about letting them get too ash – too gray – don’t panic, just add more coals to the pile.
Are ash blocking your airflow?
When I smoked my first pork shoulder, I had problems with the temperature suddenly dropping by about 60% of the cooking time. I still had a lot of charcoal and didn’t touch the top or bottom vents for several hours and was stumped until I realized that I had not poured out any ash that had accumulated under the coals since I started cooking. A few quick back and forth strokes with the small cleaning blades — the same ones that control the airflow through the bottom vents — and I was back on track. Watch your ash, that’s what I say, and empty it as needed when cooking for a long time.
Buy an external thermometer
As mentioned earlier, an external thermometer is one of the three main things I recommend to my fellow barbecues. The small thermometer on the lid is not accurate. It is often placed over coals, which results in falsely high readings, but can also be affected by low outside temperatures, resulting in falsely low readings. You can get a multi-sensor thermometer for about $ 30 , which will allow you to monitor the temperature of your food as well as the ambient temperature inside the grill.
Arrange food correctly
The most commonly used charcoal is the classic two-zone arrangement, where the coals on one side of the grill and the other are empty. The side with the coals is your “straight zone” where heat radiates from the coals to your food. This is the side where you want to get burned. The other side is your “indirect” zone, which is essentially the oven. The heat comes from the coals and circulates around the inside of the closed grill, exiting through the outlet (which should be installed over the empty, oblique side). Trying to fry on the non-charcoal side will not work, and frying or slow cooking on the straight side will result in browning and undercooking, so choose zones wisely.