The Grilling Mistake That’s Killing Your Charcoal Flavor

Grilling season is upon us and many people love the flavor of charcoal on their burgers, steaks, and hotdogs. The problem is, many people make the mistake of introducing another flavor to the mix when they cook: charcoal-lighter fluid. While lighter fluid will certainly get your charcoal lit, it also releases fumes that can end up in your food, affecting taste. There are better options than lighter fluid to get your charcoal grill going. 

Related: Weber's New Charcoal Grill is a Game Changer

Why Lighter Fluid is A Bad Choice for Starting Charcoal

The problem with charcoal is that you need to get it started and allow it to heat up before you can cook with it, a process that can take upwards of 30 minutes. Many people use lighter fluid as a means of getting those charcoal briquetted to burn faster:

• It has a bad flavor: Perhaps the biggest reason not to use lighter fluid to light your grill is that it can instill chemical taste in food that just isn't very pleasant.
  
• Fire hazard. Lighter fluid brings with it the risk of flame jetting. While this won’t happen when you use lighter fluid as directed, many people get impatient when lighter fluid won’t light the coals and resort to squirting the bottle directly onto flames. The problem with this pesticide is that it can cause flames to travel up the stream, causing a violent flame thrower like explosion.
  
• Health hazard: Lighter fluid is a hydrocarb, which means it can be extremely dangerous if ingested, especially if the liquid is breathed into the lungs. While using it to light charcoal may not create this hazard, we tend to leave lighter fluid bottles sitting around while in the fog of grilling, making them accessible to little hands.

How You Should Start Charcoal

There are several good alternatives to lighter fluid for starting your charcoal grill. All of these options are safer and won’t leave a chemical taste in your good:  

Chimney Starter

A chimney started is far and away the best choice for starting a charcoal fire. A chimney starter consists of a metal cylinder that holds the charcoal with a compartment at the bottom. You laid the charcoal into the top and starter material, like starter cubes or newspapers in the bottom compartment. Once you light the starter material it quickly ignites the charcoal. Once lit, you simply dump the hot charcoal into the grill and you're ready to cook. 

Related: Skipping This Grill Step Ruins Your Next Cook

Newspaper or Starter Cubes

If you don’ t want to invest in a chimney starter, you can also start your charcoal without using lighter fluid by placing a wax starter or crumpled up newspaper under a pile of charcoal. Once the charcoal is lit, spread out the charcoal and start barbecuing. 

Electric Heating Element

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to start a charcoal grill is to use an electric heating element. These devices, which consist of a heating element attached to a heat resistant handle, plug into a standard GFCI outlet. You stick the heating element under the charcoal. The heating element heats up and lights the charcoal in about 10 minutes.