Whole fishWhole Fish Grilled Over Charcoal
A whole fish over coals is the simplest good thing you can cook, and the skin sticking to the grate is the only real obstacle.
FilletsCharcoal Grilled Salmon Fillets
Salmon is fatty enough to survive a charcoal fire and delicate enough to be destroyed by it. The answer is skin-side down over moderate heat, and pulling it earlier than feels right.
VegetablesEmber Roasted Peppers with Romesco
No grate, no pan. Peppers go straight onto the burning coals, which sounds like vandalism and is actually the oldest cooking technique there is.
VegetablesCharcoal Grilled Corn, Elote Style
Corn over charcoal, then rolled in mayonnaise, cheese, chilli and lime. The char is not decoration, it is a flavour the vegetable cannot produce any other way.
VegetablesEmber Baked Aubergine Baba Ganoush
The smoke is the dish. Baba ganoush made in an oven is a different, lesser thing, because aubergine flesh absorbs smoke better than almost any other ingredient.
Whole fishCharcoal Grilled Sardines
The cheapest, most Mediterranean thing you can put over coals. Whole sardines, salt, fierce heat and lemon, eaten with your fingers.
Whole fishWhole Grilled Mackerel
Mackerel is oily, cheap and sustainable, and its richness stands up to fierce heat and sharp flavours better than almost any other fish. Score it, grill it, hit it with something acidic.
Portable charcoal cooking is limited by one thing: whether your grill has a lid and a working damper. Without them you can only do direct high heat, which rules out anything thicker than a sausage.
Everything in this section works on a small cooker with a shallow fire. Prep as much as possible at home, since chopping and marinating in a field is where the enjoyment goes.
Charcoal ash holds live embers for more than 24 hours. Carry a metal container with a lid, take it home, and never tip ash out onto the ground or into a plastic bin.
At a glance
| Recipe | Method | Grill temp | Cook time | Pull at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Fish Grilled Over Charcoal | Direct heat | 175 to 230°C (350 to 450°F) | 16 min | 55°C (130°F) |
| Charcoal Grilled Salmon Fillets | Two-zone cooking | 175 to 230°C (350 to 450°F) | 12 min | 50°C (125°F) |
| Ember Roasted Peppers with Romesco | Cooking in the embers | 290°C (550°F) and above | 20 min | Collapsed |
| Charcoal Grilled Corn, Elote Style | Direct heat | 230 to 290°C (450 to 550°F) | 12 min | Charred |
| Ember Baked Aubergine Baba Ganoush | Cooking in the embers | 290°C (550°F) and above | 25 min | 95°C (205°F) |
| Charcoal Grilled Sardines | Direct heat | 230 to 290°C (450 to 550°F) | 6 min | Opaque |
| Whole Grilled Mackerel | Direct heat | 230 to 290°C (450 to 550°F) | 10 min | Opaque |
Techniques used
Direct heat. Food straight over the coals. Fast, fierce, and finished before the inside overcooks. Cooking in the embers. Food laid directly on the coals. No grate, no barrier, maximum char. Two-zone cooking. Coals banked to one side: a searing zone and a gentle zone in one grill. The single most useful technique in charcoal cooking.
Cookers these suit
Drum smokers. Foukou rotisseries. Kamado grills. Kettle grills. Portable grills.