Using a chimney starter

Through the magic of a chimney starter, you can light charcoal easily and quickly without pouring on the lousy-tasting chemicals you find in lighter fluid. You can buy a chimney starter at most hardware or home-supply stores. You use it by stuffing newspaper into the bottom section and filling the top section with charcoal. Set it in a safe place and light the newspaper. In 15 to 20 minutes, your coals are ready to go. Just dump them into the smoker.

Understanding charcoal types

You can buy charcoal in two varieties, both of which have their enthusiasts:

• Charcoal briquettes: Made from charred hardwood and coal, charcoal briquettes are the most commonly used medium for backyard grilling. Briquettes are in many cases eschewed by serious barbecue cooks because of the additives that are compressed into them to keep the briquettes burning and hold them together.

• Lump charcoal: Made from charred hardwood and nothing else, lump charcoal doesn’t have the additives you find in charcoal briquettes (nor does it have the smooth shape —hence, the name). Lump charcoal burns hotter and faster than briquettes. You pay more for it, but depending on the sensitivity of the meat you’re cooking, lump charcoal may be worth the expense for the lack of chemical additives that may flavor the meat.

If you choose to use charcoal briquettes (and plenty of great barbecue cooks do), make sure you avoid the kind with the lighter fluid built right in. The chemicals that help you light it burn right off the briquettes and waft into your food, giving it an acrid taste that only a masochist is going to find delightful. Using lighter fluid straight from the squeeze bottle is a bad idea as well and for the same reason. Check out the next section, “Using a chimney starter,” to find out the best way to get charcoal burning without adding unwanted flavor.

Using an electric or gas smoker

Take charcoal out of the equation, and you lose a lot of the great smoke flavor that makes barbecue an obsession for eaters and cooks. You can use wood with an electric or gas smoker, but the effect is just not the same. (Although some barbecue cooks argue this point, as they do nearly every other point, most prefer to cook with charcoal to enhance the flavor of the smoke.)
What you gain from electric or gas smokers is easier-to-control heat. Instead of messing with adding charcoal, you just adjust a dial. Shazam!

Types of charcoal smoker

You most often run into two varieties of charcoal smokers for home cooks on the commercial market:

• Vertical smoker: A vertical smoker (sometimes called a bullet smoker because of its shape) is one of the alltime most popular smokers and not terribly hefty in size or cost. You use it by cooking a significant distance over the heat and with a water pan in between the heat source and the cooking grate to keep the meat moist.



• Offset horizontal smoker: An offset horizontal smoker keeps the fire in a compartment separate from the meat. You have a large cooking surface and vents to control the heat and keep it moving through the cooking chamber.

Rigging a charcoal grill

Using a charcoal grill as a smoker is a good way to test the barbecue waters. If you find you enjoy smoking, you’re likely to want to upgrade, but a large kettle grill with a lid is a reasonable starting point.
The main difference between grilling and barbecue is that when you grill, you cook directly over the heat source. Barbecue cooking uses indirect heat. To make that happen in a grill, do the following:

1. Prepare your heat source. Use a chimney starter to light your charcoal.
2. Place the charcoal. When it’s ready, heap the hot charcoal onto only one side of the kettle’s bottom grate, leaving the other side free for the meat.
3. Add wood. Put soaked wood chunks or an aluminum-foil packet of wood chips directly onto the coals
4. Get ready to cook. Place the top grate onto the kettle and give it a few minutes to heat up.
5. Throw your meat on the grate, carefully. Place your meat on the side of the grill opposite the charcoal.
6. Close the lid to smoke the meat. Leave the vents or intake partially open to keep oxygen moving over the charcoal and to encourage good circulation of the heat throughout the grill. Adjust the upper vent or exhaust above the meat and opposite the fire to draw heat and smoke toward the meat.

Check the temperature intermittently by inserting a candy thermometer into the vent on the grill’s lid. (Make sure the vent is positioned over the food that you’re cooking so you know you’re reading the temperature where you’re most concerned about it.) Open the vents farther to increase heat, and narrow them to decrease it. Add more charcoal if you need to increase the heat by several degrees. Because the heat is on only one side of the grill, you need to move your meat regularly so that each piece gets roughly the same amount of time next to the charcoal. Doing so helps you cook your food evenly.