Pour the charcoal into a mound in the middle of your charcoal barbeque. Poke one or two firelighters (available from your local hardware or DIY store) around the charcoal and light.
Leave until the flames have gone out and the charcoal has turned to a light grey.This should take around 20 minutes. The charcoal BBQ is now ready to use. Spread the hot charcoal to the sides of the BBQ and place the grill rack on top.
Bar-B-Q
Paint your chosen food with oil and place on the grill rack. Cover with a lid and cook for the required time as stated in your recipe. Some BBQ's have a vent in the lid to allow some heat to escape, if your barbeque has one of these, make sure to leave the vent open.
If your BBQ doesn't have a thermometer; (some BBQ's at the cheaper end of the market don't) a good indicator of the correct cooking temperature is to hold your hand over the top of the grill and count 5 seconds (I use the 1 elephant, 2 elephant way to count). If you can keep your hand there for that long then the heat is ready for cooking the food, too hot and the food will burn on the outside and be raw on the inside, a sure fire way to end up really sick! Just leave the coals to cool for 10 - 15 mins and test again.
Should your BBQ have a thermometer you're looking for an ideal temperature of 160C. Keep the heat on the grill constant by adding a few coals every half hour remembering to keep the lid on.
Try not to keep peeping under the lid as this lets all the heat out and the food will take longer to cook, you should be able to produce perfectly edible barbequed food if you follow the simple tips outlined above.
How To Cook On A Charcoal Barbeque
Find more ways to cook on Charcoal Grills and Barbeques
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