Charcoal grilling intimidates new cooks because the rules feel hidden. Once you understand four small moves the rest of it becomes intuition. Pick the right coal. Build a two zone fire. Read the heat without a thermometer. Rest the food off the heat before you cut it.

For most home grilling, lump hardwood charcoal beats briquettes. It lights faster, burns cleaner and gives that classic smoky flavor that gas cannot fake. Light a full chimney with two pieces of newspaper at the bottom, dump them onto one side of the grate when the top coals turn gray. The other half of the grill stays empty. That is your safe zone.

A two zone fire lets you sear hot then move to indirect heat to finish. It also gives you somewhere to send a flaming chicken thigh while the flare up dies. Hold your hand five inches above the coals and count. Two seconds is high heat, four seconds is medium, six seconds is low. That is all the gauge you need.

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