BBQin'

There is a very unique, special process to the art of grilling (no, not mushrooms). I have a pretty strict step by step way of BBQin'. Although, I must say now that my style of grilling is not the "correct" way of doing it, it is just the way that works for me. I believe everyone develops their own habits and styles the more you BBQ. I must also clear up that the only respectable way of grilling is on a charcoal grill. That is wonderful if you cook on gas, but I'm sorry, its not as toit. Like I say, people have very different and precise styles of grilling which would suggest that there is an art to grilling. You cannot achieve possessing a style of grilling if all you do is turn a knob and your done cooking in twelve minutes from lighting the fire. Doesn't make sense to me. Therefore, I would suggest the sphere style Weber grill that you can find in any department store in your area. If you have a few extra dollars to spend I HIGHLY recommend the chimney lighting device to light your coals. So, know that you have your grill and chimney (or not), now you need the coals.

You can go a few directions with charcoal. You can choose lump charcoal, which is not refined briquettes. Some of the pieces even look to be wood or pieces of burnt organic material. Another option is charcoal briquettes. I have done some reading, from the help of Demonhawk Bish, that have suggested to use both types of charcoal at the same time for your fire. This strategy will help with cooking something for an extended period of time (brisket, whole chicken, and ribs) as well as having a hotter fire. I would not suggest only having lump charcoal by itself. Now that you have your charcoal, here is a step by step list for lighting your fire:

With chimney:

1. Pour charcoal into top of chimney

2. put three pieces of newspaper on the underside of the chimney

3. VERY IMPORTANT: vents on the bottom of the grill must be open to allow air to light the fire

4. now you can light the paper, and make sure you check to see that the coals catch, somtimes the paper does not burn all the way

Without chimney:

1. create a mound of charcoal along one of the walls inside the grill and have the top of the pile reach a couple inches from the top edge of the grill

2. make sure vents are open on the bottom

3. drench coals in lighter fluid and light

You have your fire lit, so now you need to spread the coals. I personally prefer to have a cold side and a hot side (again, there is never a right way, it is the way I prefer and some people have their own way of doing it). I like to bunch up the coals and make a thin layer of coals to one side as evenly as possible.

I'm not going to go into cooking different foods, but I will make this one, extremely crucial suggestion, actually two. First, do not cook with the top open for the whole time that your cooking your food. Do you leave the oven door open while your cooking? Second, after you think your food is done, I like to move the meat over to the cold side of the grill and close all the vents to kill the fire. The meat is not being cooked, but its staying warm and getting that extra smokey flavor. My experience with this method has been that it really brings the juices out. Performing this method with vegetables is not required.

Go forth and conquer our hunger problem!