Adding Charcoal

[Guest]

I was reading last night HOW TO GRILL by Raichlen)that as the fire burns down that you do not want to add fresh charcoal to the fire because it puts out acrid smoke when first starting. Do you folks concur?

If this is so the MINION method of adding a few hot charcoals to the top of a pile of charcoal would allow for a steady stream of acrid smoke as the coals progressively caught fire.

I would like clarification of whether only hot coals need to be added or if the acrid smoke problem is unfounded

By the way the book mentioned above has great tips and recipes

 

[Chris Allingham]

There are two camps: one says never add unlit charcoal briquettes to the cooker, and the other says that it's OK. The Minion Method falls into this latter camp.

We've discussed it before (see http://tvwbb.101inc.com/tvwbubb/Forum4/HTML/000213.html ) and the concensus seems to be that meat cooked using the Minion Method does not have a detectable off taste or odor.

Regards,
Chris