Nearly all my friends use gas to grill, so I thought I'd do a little explainer on charcoal and why it's preferable. My wife was (*Bane voice*) born in this culture, and molded by it, while I was merely adopted. Still, I've come a long way and think pretty highly of myself as a grill-master.
I regularly describe charcoal grilling as 'high-risk, high-reward.' It's extremely easy to either lose track of the heat and torch what you're cooking, or let the fire die down too much, requiring a frustrating amount of time to get it going again. However, the reward here is greater control over the grill temperature and a wider range if you know what you're doing. Plus, it just tastes so good.
The downsides are well known. Charcoal briquettes are dirty, come in big heavy bags and are more annoying to deal with compared to a propane tank. It really doesn't make sense to have one on a deck with the ash it creates. More than anything, charcoal takes more time. You can't just turn a few dials and push start a charcoal grill. Some people use lighter fluid, but even then you need to wait for the coals to be ready.
We, instead, use a chimney. First throw in any leftover briquettes and fill up with new ones, then stuff newspaper underneath and light. Like 30 minutes later, the coals are ready to be spilled and spread. The grate goes back on, scraped and brushed before you get cooking.
How the briquettes are positioned is key. Because charcoal gets so hot, for most items you want to set up two zones, direct heat and indirect heat. The way to do this for most items is to dump the hot coals entirely on one side. If something needs super high heat you cook it directly over them, otherwise stick to indirect. This is what I was talking about earlier with controlling the temperature. It makes a huge difference to be able to cook on very high and lower heat with the same grill. Dumping the coals on one side isn't the only arrangement that may make sense. When cooking pizzas, for example, we want it to cook evenly but all with indirect heat. So the coals go in a ring around the outside.
The location of the coals isn't the only temperature factor either, far from it. The more the lit coals are exposed to air, the more they increase in heat. So to control the temperature inside the grill, you control the airflow. There are holes at the bottom of the grill as well as on the lid which, yes, do serve a purpose. For the most part you want to spill the briquettes, open up the vents on the top and bottom and put the lid on. The temperature inside will normalize after a few minutes at a good level for cooking. The holes in the lid direct the hot air to one side of the grill. Exactly how you want it, with regard to the vents and lid, takes some experience. The lid needs to be on (at least mostly) to cook indirectly effectively and each time it's removed the heat trapped underneath will be lost. When nearing the end I often gradually close the vents causing the temp inside to dissipate. This keeps the food warm but prevents it from overcooking if the rest of the meal isn't ready.
I always have to laugh when watching something (even ads from Kingsford!) where someone is grilling. Whenever a charcoal grill is seen, it seems the lid is always off and the individual at work is just chilling and moving stuff around. Let me just say, you don't want to cook this way. The coals will get way too hot and you way too sweaty.
The past few weeks we've made some tasty food and I might as well share. This included homemade pizzas (the crust is the hardest part, especially initially getting it on the grill), salmon (a perk of having family in Alaska), and classic beer brats. Everything was great.
Also common is chicken, hamburgers and steak. Steaks are one example where you want to utilize the direct heat, if only for a few minutes. A good sear on an otherwise tender steak is amazing and you can accomplish this by putting it directly over the coals for a bit before removing to indirect heat until desired done-ness. Of course, you can probably most easily get this effect with the 'reverse-sear' but we'll discuss that another day.
A few general tips. There's always an urge to move food around as, well, it's fun. There are different temps at different places on the grill, so do what you need to for evenly cooked food, but most of the time it's best to leave everything alone and keep the lid on. In that same vein, don't repeatedly flip meats, like hamburgers, as each time you'll lose some of the juiciness. Grilling, especially with charcoal, takes practice. Some things are really challenging and might best be avoided if possible, like simultaneously grilling steaks of wildly different thickness or cut. I learned that one specifically the hard way.
Overall the level of control over a charcoal grill and the flavor it gains from the charred wood makes it completely worth the time and effort. While not for everybody, we'll always be a charcoal family.
UPDATE 8/22
Meathead tweeted this today, one day after my post, and I felt it needs to be included. He explains using the lid better than I can.
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