How to use a charcoal grill
Mar 30th, 2007 by Bethany
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As I mentioned, we BBQed last night, even in the snow and wind. We have one of those globe-shaped cheap grills you buy at Wal-Mart. Last night Colin had me light it and it was fun. He cleaned out all the stuff from last time we used the grill (last summer) and piled the charcoal up in a pyramid shape so that it was taller and thinner on top. He'd had me buy the kind of charcoal that is easy to light and some charcoal lighting liquid. He poured about half the liquid on top of the charcoal (make sure you read the back of the bottle to find out how much you should use). We let it sit there for a minute, then he closed the top and opened all the vents and had me try to light the charcoal with a long lighter (the kind you use for candles) through the vents. It lit, but then the fire died (ostensibly because it didn't have enough air to burn), so I opened the lid and lit the charcoal in several places and it started burning well. Colin turned the grill so the flames were blowing toward the open lid, that way the flames wouldn't catch anything else on fire. We waited till the flames had almost died out before we put the burgers on the grill. We pulled out the pre-shaped patties and they were frozen together, so I put the stack on the grill and closed the lid to thaw them a bit. A few minutes later I came back and we tried to unstick them again, which didn't work too well and Colin said it would be better to put them in the microwave than to try to thaw them in the grill, but we got them apart and put them on the rack above the coals. About 10 minutes later I flipped the burgers and Colin put salt and pepper on them and then we put a slice of cheddar cheese on top of each patty. We left them there another 10 minutes or so, then they were ready to eat. We took the burgers off and put the buns on to toast for about a minute, then started eating. While we were eating our burgers, I took the label off a can of baked beans, opened the can, and put it on the grill and closed the lid while it heated up. By the time we were done with the burgers, the can of beans was simmering and ready to eat. We left the grill lid open (while we watched it) until we were about ready to go to bed, then Colin closed the lid and all the vents and locked the lid with the handle so it wouldn't open if it got tipped over. This morning I'll go out and throw the cold coals away and clean up a bit and it'll be ready for next time!
