Barbecue – Lighting
To set up a barbecue, begin by pouring a layer of charcoal onto the bottom grid. The amount you use depends on how much food there is to cook, and how long you expect the fire to burn. You do not have to fill the entire area with charcoal. It is often more effective to use a small side area of the barbecue to make the fire, leaving half the cooking grid or more away from the direct heat for cooking fish or warming up buns for burgers. Try to ensure there is a good air space underneath the fuel, as this allows a path for air to get into the burning coals meaning they heat more evenly and burn down faster to give the intense regular heat you need to cook meat.
The next step is to make a hole among the coals, and place a firelighter cube at the base of the layer. This is important because, as we all know, heat rises, and if you place your starter flames on top of the coals, the lower ones will never catch light. In a small barbecue for say, four or five people, a single firelighter is enough. For larger gatherings, you may need two, three, or even more.
Once lit, the cube will quickly generate large flames - at which point you should use your fire tongs, which should be different to the tongs you use to turn the meat, and start building a tower of charcoal around the firelighter. Wherever the flames emerge from the firelighter, place a piece of charcoal near, but not touching the firelighter.
Now leave your construction alone for about twenty minutes. The tower of charcoal should be glowing red in the middle, and starting to burn around the outside. Using tongs, push the towers down, keeping the coals as close together as possible to create a carpet of even heat. Replace the cooking grid, oiled if you wish and allow another five or ten minutes for the coals to get good and hot in their new position.
Now you can begin closing air vents to slow the rate of burn, and make the coals a bit cooler, so they burn with a steady heat throughout the cooking process.
Barbecue lighting photograph by dustpuppy, used under a creative commons attribution licence.