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yetanotherBob yetanotherBob is offline
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Default Waiting until charcoals turn white before cooking

In article . com>,
says...
> Someone told me that when cooking with charcoal, I should wait for them
> to turn white before cooking (they told me to wait about 45 minutes),
> and the reason was because black charcoal leaches something toxic. Any
> comments or suggestions?
>
>

If you are talking about the charcoal briquettes sold everywhere (e.g.,
Kingsford brand), that's pretty accurate advice. Even more so if you're
talking about the light-with-a-match kind like "Match Light" from
Kingsford.

These common briquettes are made with coal dust and the match light ones
have something else added that will burn at a fairly low temperature to
allow them to start with just a match (probably some sort of paraffin).

Until these briquettes get up to temperature and are "fully involved"
(covered with white, thanks to yet another additive), they will give off
volatile fumes that can condense on your food and make it taste bad.
The match light ones seem to give off fumes constantly, until they burn
up.

If you're talking about hardwood "lump" charcoal, there really is no
need to wait until its all covered in white. As long as you've got the
level of heat you need for cooking (without hot or cool spots if you're
grilling), you can start. The lump doesn't (or shouldn't) have any
additives like the briquettes.

I've heard of briquettes that don't have coal or oil products added, but
never used them and can't give you any brand names to look for.

Bob