How to Prepare Coals for a Barbecue
If you are using a charcoal grill, you will need to know how to properly prepare the coals in order to achieve the best flavor of your barbequed food. Preparing your charcoal for a barbeque is not hard, and requires only a few minutes of your time. Taking the time to ensure that your coals are prepared will help you to achieve the best barbecue results.
- Purchase a bag or charcoal briquettes and a bottle of lighter fluid from your local home improvement or discount store. You can also choose briquettes that are ready to light; this type of charcoal briquettes does not need lighter fluid to light and is already pretreated with chemicals that will allow them to light easily.
- Pour the charcoal briquettes into your charcoal grill.
- Stack the charcoal briquettes into a pyramid shape on the inside of your grill towards the center.
- Add your lighter fluid to the charcoal briquettes if you are using the variety that requires lighter fluid to be used. You will need to use about a quarter-of-a-cup of lighter fluid spread out evenly on your charcoal. If you purchased the ready to light variety you can skip this step.
- Allow the charcoal briquettes to soak in the lighter fluid for about five minutes. This will allow enough time for the lighter fluid to absorb into the charcoal making them easier to light. Once again, if you bought the ready-to-light variety, you can skip this step.
- Use a long match or a barbecue lighter to safely light the charcoal.
- Allow the charcoal to cook for about a half-hour or until the color of the charcoal briquettes has turned to a light ashy gray.
- Spread out the charcoal using a pair of barbecue tongs so that they are spread out evenly over the bottom of your grill.