Every time someone on TV lights charcoal they dowse it with lighter fluid and set off a WMD in their backyard. For years, makers of gas grill, indoor barbecue simulators and other "better" that charcoal cooking devices have been telling us that charcoal is too hard to light. Lighter fluid is one of the most destructive explosives on earth, right? Anyway, those of us in the know, know that there are many different ways to light charcoal. So this weeks question is:
POLL: How do you light your charcoal?
1) Lighter Fluid
2) Charcoal Chimney
3) Electric Charcoal Starter
4) Self-Lighting Charcoal
5) Charcoal Lighting Cubes
6) Something Else (please specify in the comments)
Comments
1st let me say I do not use those nasty briquettes! I use whole natural charcoal ( real wood charcoal ).
My kids gave me an electric starter that worked real well for about 2 weeks then died!
I now use “fatwood” split down to pinky size to matchstick size. Lights real fast and easy.
Can be found at Cabelas, L.L. Bean, and Walmart, etc.
Can’t be beat!
newspaper and twigs i find around the yard, plus real hardwood charcoal
I found an easy way long ago, never seen anyone else doing this. You simple take one or two charcol or bricket and put it on the burner on your stove; let it get started. Take you tongs and carry it out to the BBQ, place the smodlering charcol on the grate and cover with the charcol your going to cook with. Open a few beers and in a while you have a nice blazing chemical free BBQ fire. It the gentlemans way to grill. Relaxed and clean.
I build a hardwood fire, and if I need charcoal add it. Otherwise I simply wait for the colas to burn down.
Charcoal chimney. Just have to find 2 pages of newspaper and a lighter. No muss, no fuss; it’s fast and easy. Is also a great way to add more charcoal if you need to stretch out your cooking time but don’t want the soot from just throwing cold charcoal on to an established fire.
I use two or three strips of untreated, unpainted cedar shakes underneath a bed of hardwood lump charcoal. I light the cedar with a creme brulee torch. The cedar makes no ash like newspaper or pine does and imparts a subtle cedar smoke finish.
I either use my chimney, or the propane burner mounted to the firebox.
Like so many others, do not use briquettes, only Hardwood Charcoal. Use a Charcoal Chimney. Drop them in with Dry Hardwood and off to the Cooler for the Adult Beverage as we wait for the perfect temp…
Charcoal chimney every time! But a couple of tips to share: place a few drops of cooking oil on the newspaper and wad the newspaper up in a loose donut shape to increase the initial air flow. Almost as good as a flame thrower!
Gary
Charcoal chimney starter which I light by placing it on top of the otherwise useless side-burner on my gas grill. I found that newspaper, while effective for lighting the chimney, produces way too much smoke.
Chimney started placed on the propane turkey burner. Get’s it started in a hurry. Do go thru chimney starters.
Just the let the fluid burn, it doesnt take long for the fumes to leave