How to effectively Light Charcoal
Grilling is Great! But, if you really want to amplify your grilled foods then you probably want to forgo the gas grill and grab some charcoal. The flavor of charcoal-grilled food is unforgettable! If it is your first time using a charcoal grill I would imagine that you may have found that lighting a charcoal grill can be troublesome, unlike the easy gas grill. Let us dive into it.
First off let’s get this out of the way. Using lighter fluid is easy most definitely, but there is plenty of downsides to using it. Nobody wants to add any extra chemicals into their food. Believe me when I say you might possibly be doing this when you dose your charcoal in lighter fluid. This will almost always add a chemical taste the food you are grilling. Furthermore, I would suggest avoiding this and continue reading.
So you opted out of the chemical fire starter. Good for you! But now what? A chimney starter. That’s what anyone with a charcoal grill should be using. I use Webers chimney starter, but they almost all operate the same way. Stuff it full of your preferred charcoal on top then stuff the bottom full of crumpled up newspaper and lay it on top of the grill. Light the paper up and wait about 10-15 minutes while the coals become red hot. Plenty of oxygen gets to the coals which helps it light quickly.
There are other options out there such as Royal Oaks Tumbleweeds fire starter. You can get it here. Opposed to using newspaper or junk ads you get from the mailbox to light up under your charcoal these do not have any chemicals in them. According to Royal Oak, it is a natural way to light your charcoal and they contain no petroleum odors or aftertaste. They can be used under your Chimney fire starter as well or without. They work great!
Another handy option when you have nothing else to use and your already a 12 pack deep (so driving to the store isn’t an option at this point). You could always tear apart some paper egg cartons and throw a little cooking oil on top. This will help it burn longer so the charcoal catches. You can also enhance this by placing pieces of charcoal inside the egg carton. Do this in a pinch. Happy Grilling!
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