The Charcoal Grilling Guide - Part 1

Choosing a Grill, Basic Equipment, and Charcoal Types

Hey, everyone!

This post is the first of a new series I’m working on for paid subscribers. It’s a guide to all things charcoal grilling.

I spent the majority of my professional cooking career at Hartwood, a restaurant where we cooked exclusively with wood fire. And that’s still my favorite way to cook. If you have the time and the patience to cook with real wood, do it. But most of us don’t, which is why I love charcoal so much.

Charcoal is essentially a short cut. It gets you to the hot, smoldering embers that are so useful in wood fire cooking in just a fraction of the time. And while you don’t get all of the benefits of cooking directly with wood, you still get a bunch of them. Charcoal grilling produces much tastier food than grilling with gas or wood pellets, it imparts a distinct flavor onto food, and it reaches much hotter temperatures than other grilling methods. So you’re able to do a lot more with it.

I’ve often heard people say they think charcoal grilling seems complicated, difficult, or overly time-consuming. I’m here to tell you that it’s not— it’s actually quite approachable.

My goal with this guide is to give you an overview of everything that you need to know to get started cooking over charcoal with confidence and ease.

Here are some of the things I’ll cover in this multi-part series:

• Selecting a grill

• Basic equipment

• The different types of charcoal— how and why to use them

• Lighting up and maintaining charcoal

• Different fire setups— how and when to use them

• Using charcoal grill vents

• How to cook with offset heat vs. direct heat

• Fire intensity vs. fire proximity and using it for heat management

• Putting out charcoal

• Cleaning and maintenance

• Safety tips

• Recipes

So let’s get into it!

Choosing a Grill

Ultimately, which grill you decide to get is up to you— there are a ton of factors to consider in terms of price, functionality, and aesthetics.

My favorite brand of charcoal grill, by far, is PK Grills. I don’t have an affiliate deal with them or anything— I just think they’re phenomenal products. A number of well-known chefs, including Aaron Franklin and Alton Brown, agree.

Here’s what I like about them:

• They’re made from cast aluminum, so they retain heat incredibly well. You’ll be able to build a lot more heat with these than you would with a simple Weber.

• They automatically come with 4 vents. Vents are how you control air flow and heat with a charcoal grill (which I’ll show you how to do), and having 4 makes it so that you can dial in that process even more.

• They’re super durable and built to last a lifetime.

• They look nice.

I’ve owned the PKTX and the PK Go. Both are great options if you want a grill with some mobility. If you plan to just keep it at home, I recommend the new PK300 or PK300AF to get the very best design and features.

That said, there are plenty of other good options. I’ve cooked on all of these and found them to be great.

• Big Green Egg

• Nomad Grills

• Weber

Basic Equipment

If you read this newsletter consistently, you’ll know that kitchen minimalism is a pretty big theme for me. I don’t like getting started guides that require you to purchase a bunch of stuff you don’t actually need.

I’ve made grilling work at campsites with nothing but a bag of charcoal, some matches, and a fork. You don’t actually need that much equipment. But if you want to make the process as easy as possible, I’ve listed the essentials below.