Over the years, many barbecue chefs have been arguing about whether to use a charcoal grill or a gas grill?

Many professional grills prefer charcoal grills, believing that charcoal burns at a higher temperature than gas, so charcoal grills can make food more pure. Compared to gas grills, charcoal grills have more functions: it is more convenient to put sawdust or herbs on charcoal, and the grilled food has a stronger smoky flavor. It’s worth mentioning that using a talking grill will give you something to do at a picnic party (constantly observe the charcoal burning in the charcoal grill), but you feel that you are a real grill master, not just a Cook with stove outdoors. The price of a charcoal grill is much lower than that of a gas grill. Charcoal or wood can be used as fuel. In some grand barbecue festivals, almost no one uses the gas grill.

So, why don't people use the toaster oven? First of all, the use of the oven is not environmentally friendly. Secondly, it is difficult to control many situations when making a carbon oven. For example, after the first 30 to 60 minutes of grilling, the burning degree of charcoal is different, and the grilling temperature is not easy to control. If the barbecue time exceeds one hour, charcoal should be added to the grill. Therefore, you need to invest more time and energy when using a charcoal grill than a gas grill. Of course, it is for this reason that makes the charcoal grill more interesting to use.

You can use a charcoal grill to bake any kind of food, which is another important reason why charcoal grills are popular. Every grill master should have a charcoal grill in his yard.

Light the charcoal grill:

An electronic igniter, also called an electronic igniter, can burn charcoal after being plugged in and placed in a charcoal pile for 15 minutes. Using an electronic igniter is very simple and environmentally friendly, but the charcoal ignited in this way is not burned evenly by other methods such as wood chips and waste newspapers. The disadvantage of the electronic igniter is that there must be a power source nearby and there must be a socket.

Grill directly with charcoal grill

Generally, after the charcoal is ignited, it burns until the surface of the charcoal starts to turn white and you can start grilling. For a simple daily barbecue, you only need a simple two-zone fire. When laying a two-zone fire, you can use an igniter or any other method to ignite the charcoal. When the charcoal is bright orange, pour the charcoal into the bottom of the oven and spread it in a single layer. Then leave a charcoal-free low temperature zone at the bottom of the oven to keep fast-burning food away from burning charcoal. When the charcoal burns to the appearance of white ashes, you can start grilling.

The above is in view of the rookie, but the real barbecue masters will use the three-zone fire method. Part of the charcoal is spread in double layers and placed on the side of the oven as a high temperature zone, and then the remaining charcoal is spread into a single Layers are placed in the middle of the oven as a medium temperature zone, and finally a charcoal-free area is used as a low temperature zone. Charcoal clamps and barbecue tongs can be prepared around.

Test charcoal temperature:

When testing the temperature of the charcoal fire, place your hand about 10 cm above the grilling net and start counting "Yangtze River 1, Yangtze River 2, Yangtze River and Yellow River 3...". The high temperature will make your hand leave quickly.

High temperature: count two to three times, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River

Moderate temperature: count 4~5 times, Yangtze River and Yellow River

Low temperature: 11~14 times, Yangtze River and Yellow River

Grill directly with a charcoal grill

1. Ignite the wooden spot with an electronic igniter. You can also use an alcohol ball and lighter to ignite. At the same time, wear thick barbecue gloves to protect your hands.

2. Use barbecue tongs or charcoal clamps and other barbecue tools to spread the charcoal into a two-zone fire or a three-zone fire.

3. Three-zone fire: double-layer charcoal on the left side of the oven (high temperature zone), single-layer charcoal in the middle (medium temperature zone), and no charcoal on the right side (low temperature zone)

4. When roasting chicken legs with three-zone fire, if you want to heat the chicken legs, put it in the high temperature area; if you want to cool down or prevent the chicken legs from burning, move it to the low temperature area.

Use charcoal as fuel

When the charcoal burns to the appearance of white ash, you can start grilling, and the fire will begin to weaken after the charcoal burns for 1 hour. In order to extend the burning time, you need to add charcoal to the oven. The simplest method is to pour the charcoal directly into the oven, but the disadvantage of this method is that it takes about 10-15 minutes to burn the wood, and dense smoke will be produced in the process.

Another method is to ignite the new charcoal in another place 15-20 minutes before adding charcoal, and then put it into the high temperature area at the bottom of the grill when it reaches the grilling temperature. This method requires a spare grill, which may be inconvenient outdoors.

The above methods are very simple to operate. After only a few operations, you will know how to preheat the oven and when to add charcoal. After you have mastered these skills, controlling the temperature is as simple as moving food on the grill.

When will charcoal burn to reach the barbecue temperature, please see below:

After you pour the charcoal into the oven, it will take some time for them to reach a certain temperature. Please refer to the following data for the specific temperature and time required. Please note that charcoal burns differently in different ovens. When grilling indirectly, you can control the temperature by opening or closing the vent.

temperature:

High temperature (232~343℃), time: 5~10 minutes, phenomenon: bright orange

Medium high temperature (204℃), time: 10~15 minutes Phenomenon: bright orange with floating dust

Medium temperature (163~177), time: 15~25 minutes Phenomenon: orange with floating dust

Medium and low temperature (149℃), time: 25~30 minutes Phenomenon: egg orange, thick ash

Low temperature (107~121℃), time: 30~40 minutes Phenomenon: the orange color is getting lighter and lighter, and the ashes are thick

Charcoal ignition summary:

1. When most of the charcoal surface has ashes, you can start grilling. Please add new charcoal after 1 hour.

2. If you directly add ignited charcoal, please pile the remaining charcoal in the oven into a pile, and then pour the new charcoal on top. Open the stove cover until the new charcoal ignites.

3. You can also use an igniter (specially used to burn new charcoal) to ignite the charcoal, and then pour the ignited charcoal into the oven.

The next thing I’m talking about is using wood as fuel

When we are grilling alone, we may sometimes not necessarily buy charcoal, but will use local materials and use wood blocks for fuel barbecue. However, the real barbecue chefs will prepare some wood blocks for their barbecue. Although the burning temperature of charcoal is high, it cannot add flavor to the food. The ingredients that can add flavor to the food are burned out during the process of making charcoal. , And wooden blocks can make food produce a strong smoky flavor. Here we are talking about wooden barbecue instead of smoked roasting.

When choosing wood as fuel, people usually use hardwoods, such as oak, mountain black mahogany, apple wood, cherry wood, and mesquite. Burning with cork (such as pine or fir) will produce pungent smoke, which is not good for human health.

When you want to use charcoal, add wood blocks, you can use one or two of the prepared wood blocks into the charcoal fire of the oven.