Every South African loves to braai. Some of us use charcoal, others use coal. Both works equally well, but what's a charcoal briquette produced from?
A charcoal briquette is created from a combination of coal and wood. The wood is first charred, or burned slowly until it is all black and crumbling. The wood that is employed is typically scraps from other processes for instance furniture making. Most types of charcoal briquette use hickory or some other kind of hardwood. Different charcoal briquette manufacturers will use various ratios of wood to coal to make their charcoal briquettes.
In order to get the charcoal briquette to preserve its shape, some manufacturers will include a starch within the mix. Some manufacturers will also coat the briquettes in a nitrate that is extremely flammable and helps the briquettes catch fire when it is lit. The ingredients for the briquettes are placed into moulds and treated with high temperatures and pressure to make them the shape they are supposed to be.
It can be incredibly difficult to get a charcoal briquette lit. Some people resort to using accelerants, but this can affect the taste of the meat. It is far better to begin your fire using some paper and scraps of wood and then add the briquettes once the fire is going well. One more option is to use firelighters. They're normally white in colour and highly flammable. Just place a few pieces among your charcoal briquettes and light them. The heat created will normally trigger the briquettes to light too.
When you're utilizing charcoal briquettes to light your braai, ensure that you only put the meat on the fire to cook as soon as the briquettes have turned white. While they are still red the fire will be too hot and your meat will char on the outside but stay raw on the inside.
The charcoal briquette is really a good invention for the lighting of braais. It just makes cooking your meat so significantly simpler and you do not have to burn other materials like wood or pure anthracite coal to get a very good braai.