Meat: Beef & Pork Easy Recipes

Perhaps you have just moved into your first place, or you decided that you wanted to broaden your horizons and try new things. Maybe you went to a Fourth of July barbeque, tasted the smoked flavor and decided you wanted to cook like that at your [place. After doing some looking around you decided that a charcoal barbecue grill is the right grill for you.

Now that you’ve decided you want a charcoal grill, you have to decide what kind of charcoal grill will suit your needs. Do you plan on traveling and using a portable charcoal barbecue grill? If so, you will need a charcoal grill that’s small enough to travel with. Smaller charcoal grills are ideal for cookouts, camping, and tailgate parties but wouldn’t be useful if you were cooking for a larger crowd.

If you plan on feeding a larger amount of people, a larger charcoal grill is what you need. If you’re having trouble deciding on which you should get, consider getting both. Smaller charcoals grills can cost as little as $10 to $15 dollars and will give you the ability to travel.

Charcoal grills contain hot coals and fire when it’s in use. Safety should be a major concern when you’re picking out your first charcoal grill. Look for a grill with a sturdy structure and sturdy legs. If your grill doesn’t have sturdy legs it’s chances of falling over are much greater.

When a charcoal grill falls over it will send the hot coals flying. Many charcoal grills also have built in safety features such as a water reservoir. When you’re cooking with fire, accidents can happen. In case your grill gets out of control or become to hot, these safety features will prevent potentially dangerous fires. The fire department has much better things to do than to help you cook.

One of the most noticeable features when using charcoal is the flavor of the food. To cook with a charcoal grill, you must buy charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid. Charcoal is a one use item, and will need to be discarded after each use. Charcoal can be picked up at your local superstore, gas station, or grocery store, and is typically pretty inexpensive. Charcoal must be lit and allowed to burn until the charcoal is no longer on fire, but is red embers with a white coating of ash. The best way to get the pile to burn is by stacking it in a pyramid.

Most people think there’s no difference in brands of charcoal or in the charcoal lighter fluid. Those deluded people are wrong. Start out with some Kingsford or Royal Oak charcoal and some good premium charcoal lighter. After you’ve used a couple of bags of good charcoal go the your local dollar store and get some cheap charcoal and lighter fluid. Taste the difference? Good, now buy good stuff if you want your grilled food to taste the best it can.

No one likes to clean their grill but it’s necessary to maintain your grill if you want it to last. One problem you’ll face is charcoal grills stay hot for a long time. You can solve this problem 2 ways. First you can leave your grill open, allowing it to burn out. This method typically burns a lot of the grease off, but can potentially cause problems if you aren’t near the grill.You don’t want to start a fire. Another way is to completely close off your grill and deny the fire oxygen.

As soon as the grill is cold, or cold enough not to burn you, you’ll want to clean the grill. Leaving the grill dirty for any amount of time will cause the buildup to become hard, and may make it harder to remove. Use a wire brush to clean off the surface areas of your grill, and then spray cooking oil on the surface.

Take the racks off and clean them with dishwashing soap. Dawn or other brands that have degreasers work best. Rinse the racks off, and replace them in the grill when they are dry.

The most important thing to remember about griclling with a charcoal grill, portable or therwise, is the quality of the charcoal and the lighter make a huge difference. Oh, on last thing. Get yourself some mesquite chips and throw a handful on the next time you decide to use your charcoal grill.