Food - Drink
Wolfgang Puck's Essential Charcoal Grilling Tip
By ADAM ROTHBARTH
The way you heat up your charcoal grill can really impact your food. Using lighter fluid can impart an undesirable flavor, so a chimney starter — a large cylinder that you place your charcoal in to heat it up — or lighter cube are better alternatives. However, lauded Austrian chef Wolfgang Puck has even more tips.
Puck says that charcoal briquettes should be lit at least an hour before grilling — this way, you're only grilling over red-hot coals, and not over a direct flame. This can be crucial for not burning or overcooking your meat or vegetables, but timing and controlling your grill's temperature is also important.
Controlling your grill's temperature is essential, since different foods do best when cooked under different levels of heat. Grill company Weber says to create multiple heat zones by placing 75% of the coals on either side of the grill, and adds that the more open the vents on the grill are, the hotter the grill will be.