How to Set Up Your Charcoal Grill (Patreon)

Grilling season has arrived and it's a good time for a refresher on the basics of setting up a charcoal grill. There are four basic steps you need to take before you can get started grilling.

Step one: Choose your fuel.

The most common options are charcoal briquettes or hardwood lump charcoal. Briquettes are made by compressing hardwood and sawdust into dense blocks. Because they're so dense, less oxygen can infiltrate them, leading to a longer, steadier, more reliable burn. Lump charcoal, on the other hand, is carbonized hardwood that moves fast and burns at a hotter temperature, better for high-heat cooking and searing.

Step two: Prepare your chimney.

With your fuel of choice, prepare a chimney charcoal starter. (I prefer this method to using lighter fluid or an electric starter.) These chimney starters are designed to circulate oxygen, moving heat up from the bottom to the top and slowly catching the coals on fire. After 20–30 minutes, the entire chimney of coals should be mostly lit and ready to go.

Step three: Arrange your coals.

I almost always establish some sort of two-zone fire. A standard two-zone fire would have all of your coals on one side of the grill with none on the other, allowing for a ripping hot heat zone for searing and an indirect heat zone for slower, lower-heat cooking. There's also a modified two-zone fire, which has most of the coals on one side and a few coals on the other for the same effect with a little less contrast. My write up on Serious Eats breaks down a few other coal arrangements you can try.

Step four: Clean and oil the grill grates.

Now that your coals are arranged, you can return your grill grates to their rightful home. I like to then preheat the grill for a few minutes, allowing any left-on bits to loosen, before cleaning the grates. No grill brush? No problem. These days, I actually prefer crumpling up a piece of aluminum foil into a rough ball and holding it with tongs to coarsely brush against the grates instead. (This also allows you to avoid the danger of wire grill brush bristles coming loose and ending up in your food.) Then, you're ready to oil the grates and start cooking. Do this a few times with 5–10 second intervals between, allowing the oil to polymerize on the metal.

Now, you're ready to grill! For even more tips on better barbecuing at home, check out my write up on Serious Eats.