As a senior barbecue enthusiast and a practitioner in the barbecue leisure industry, I would like to share with you some practical barbecue charcoal selection skills, quick charcoal tips, control the fire power of barbecue charcoal, and tips for cleaning barbecue charcoal, and post some simple and easy-to-make charcoal grill delicious menus that the public loves, hoping to bring you some help.

Part 1 Barbecue charcoal sorting and selection

At present, the common barbecue charcoal fuel on the market can be divided into four categories: natural trees, log charcoal, machine-made charcoal, and natural granular charcoal, which are slightly different in terms of composition, production method, combustion time, combustion heat, and burning time:

1. Natural trees

Natural trees are the most original ecology, the longest inheritance of barbecue fuel, often a variety of fruit trees, such as apple wood, pear trees, jujube wood, lychee wood, etc., directly cut down trees, sawn into sections, and then split into a suitable size to dry, barbecue can be directly used. It is mostly seen in the secret roasting workshops handed down from the people, such as roast duck, roast suckling pig, roast whole sheep and other traditional food old workshops.

Characteristics of natural trees: original ecology, original flavor, suitable for barbecue food with special flavors; However, raw materials are scarce, the use environment is relatively limited and inflexible, and the open flame is smoky and easy to jump, and the burning fire is difficult to control during barbecue, which is not suitable for ordinary families.

2. Log charcoal

Log charcoal is a barbecue fuel that is processed from cutting logs, including various hardwoods, fruit trees, miscellaneous woods, etc. This fuel is currently the closest to the original ecological and practical barbecue charcoal, the shape retains the shape of the branches of the log itself, it is easy to ignite, and the barbecue emits a smell of firewood in childhood memories, and the barbecue family has an apple charcoal, which is distilled and extracted from harmful substances such as wood tar, which is safe and healthy, and is very suitable for barbecue charcoal for household barbecue.

Characteristics of log charcoal: second only to natural trees, original, original, smokeless, lack of resources, easy to ignite, but the burning time is slightly shorter than machine-made charcoal.

2. Machine-made charcoal

Now playing barbecue, the basic use is machine-made charcoal, the common two are long type and ball type, the ball type will be easier to ignite than the long type, but there is no long burn resistance, because the long charcoal will be denser in the process of pressing, which is why it is not easy to ignite.

Natural granular charcoal is a new type of barbecue fuel, European and American countries are now more enthusiastic, is a kind of barbecue fuel that mixes a variety of different natural wood chips according to the needs of a certain proportion, and then presses them into small particles; Different mixing methods can produce different aromas when burned; It is mostly used for smoking in the smoker, using intelligent feeding, the time is controllable, and the baked ingredients are particularly delicious.

Characteristics of granular charcoal: unique fragrance, large smoke is suitable for smoking and roasting, and needs to be used with professional smoking and grilling stoves.

Of course, there is also a thing called steel charcoal, you may have heard, the so-called steel charcoal is the hard coke smoldered out of large charcoal (harder than bituminous coal and yellow coal), and the sound of the finished product colliding together is similar to the sound of metal collision, so it is called steel charcoal. Due to its high combustion value and high combustion temperature, it is generally used for steelmaking or other industrial production, and has a sulfur smell when burning, and the carbon purchased from regular channels and normal prices will not be steel charcoal.

Part 2 Lighting tips for barbecue charcoal

Choosing the right barbecue charcoal for yourself is only the first step before grilling, and how to light the barbecue charcoal quickly and easily is also very convenient. At present, the commonly used barbecue charcoal lighting auxiliary equipment includes a flamethrower, a fire-burning wax/solid alcohol, and a fire-starting barrel.

1. The flamethrower is the most direct way to ignite charcoal, and the snap-on gas tank firethrower is very common in outdoor and daily life. When grilling, especially when choosing machine-made charcoal barbecue, you can directly put the charcoal in a pyramid, pay attention to the gap between each other and smooth ventilation, and then use the flamethrower to spray fire at a 45-degree angle to the gap of the charcoal, and pay attention to the flamethrower head of the flamethrower to keep a distance of about 15 cm from the charcoal, so as not to burn the flamethrower head at high temperature.

2. The commonly used ignition medium is ignition wax and solid alcohol, solid alcohol does not need to be explained, ignition wax is an ignition raw material made of artificial mineral oil, I personally prefer to use ignition wax, because I always feel that alcohol has a strange taste, and the ignition wax has a higher heat and long-lasting firepower, and it is easy to light charcoal without trouble.

Here are some of the steps I took to use the ignition wax charcoal:

a. Place the charcoal on the charcoal net in a pyramid shape, pay attention to keep ventilation, and then take an appropriate amount (generally 5-6 packs) to ignite the wax and plug it in the gap of the charcoal pile.

B. Ignition of the ignition wax, the flame after the ignition of the wax combustion can drive the combustion of the surrounding charcoal.

C. Add other charcoal around the burned charcoal to ignite it together.

D. After about 10 minutes, the charcoal is lit and you can start grilling.

3. The ignition barrel is a necessary charcoal equipment for foreigners, it is a cylindrical barrel with particularly good ventilation, and the bottom and surrounding are mostly hollow design, especially for igniting spherical charcoal, and it is a very wise choice to use the ignition barrel.

The ignition wax and ignition barrel are very good ignition combination equipment, and the following will share with you the specific steps of use:

A. Take an appropriate amount (generally 5-6 packs) to ignite the wax, pile it into a small pile, and then ignite it

B. Place the charcoal in the ignition bucket, taking care to keep it ventilated, and place the charcoal priming bucket on the small pile of burning ignition wax

C. The flame after the ignition wax combustion can drive the combustion of the charcoal in the ignition barrel

D. In about 10 minutes, the charcoal will be fully ignited. Pour in the charcoal net and start grilling.

PS: If it is a long strip of charcoal, you can directly stack the charcoal into a hollow trapezoidal shape without igniting the ignition barrel, and then stuff a few packets of ignition wax to ignite it.

In addition, in addition to being used as an auxiliary tool for igniting charcoal, in the outdoor environment, find some dry branches as energy, the ignition bucket can be directly used as a stove, boiling noodles and boiling water to boil tea, and even can be used with pots and pans to stir-fry, etc., which is a very practical outdoor equipment. You can have one in the trunk of your car in case you need it.

Part 3 Barbecue charcoal fire control

When using a charcoal grill for barbecue, the temperature of the charcoal fire is difficult to control, how to strike a balance between high temperature direct heating and medium temperature indirect heating directly affects the delicious taste of the barbecue, the following ways to control the charcoal fire may be able to help you!

1. Slope heating method

This heating method provides a large heating area. The specific method is to pile up charcoal on one side of the charcoal basin and leave it empty on the other side, and pile the charcoal out of a slope at the transition in the middle.

2. Semi-district heating method

This is great when you want to grill directly at high temperatures but need a safe area to avoid overheating. You can fill half of the bottom of the charcoal basin with charcoal and leave the other half empty.

3. Canyon heating method

This is one of the favorite barbecue methods of many barbecue masters abroad. Stack the charcoal on both sides of the charcoal basin for direct high-temperature grilling, and indirect barbecue in the middle low-temperature area to ensure that your barbecue can be evenly heated.

4. Island heating method

Place a small pile of charcoal in the corner of the stove to form a charcoal island, cover it and let it heat up. This method is ideal for slow-roasting large pieces of meat at low temperatures for long periods of time, and it is also great for smoking meat in a regular oven, but it is best not to grill it directly with this method.

The above method of controlling the temperature by placing barbecue charcoal, the content source refers to the book "Grilled Food Generation".

Part 4 Cleaning up barbecue charcoal

After the barbecue, you need to deal with the charcoal carefully, don't feel that the charcoal basin is dirty anyway, you have to use it every time, just leave the charcoal inside, the charcoal ash contains water, if you don't clean it up in time, the charcoal basin is easy to rust. If you have enough time, wait for the charcoal to cool naturally before cleaning. If you are short on time, you can wrap the charcoal in aluminum foil, put it in water to cool before throwing it in the trash. Remember not to pour water directly into the charcoal basin, which will not be used after a few uses.