a bit dearer than normal charcoal but well worth it .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I tried a gas bbq for a couple of years on the advice of a few people I know saying that they didn't taste any different than a proper bbq, and I suppose they don't really taste that different and they are certainly much easier and cleaner to set up and use. However about a year ago we decided to knock the kitchen and dining room together and this resulted in a huge pile of bricks. I had always fancied a brick bbq and decided to set about building one with the bricks that I had, this obviously then resulted in the gas bbq getting tipped and we were back to the mess of charcoal and fire lighters again - untill I discovered Homebase instant lighting charcoal.
Getting Dirty
I suppose the main problem with a traditional bbq is the fact that when you come to set it up ready to light, you have to start stacking charcoal up neatly with strategically placed fire lighters or you have to pour lighter fluid all over the place and I think this tastes on the food. So all this normally results in you getting covered in black charcoal dust and rebuilding your pile of charcoal many times this I have always found particularly annoying.
Instant Light Charcoal To The Rescue
Then one day I happened to be in Homebase and noticed their instant light charcoal. Loads of other people do it also but it seems to come in the same size packs and cost the same where ever you buy it. Basically it is a normal looking bag of charcoal but has four further bags inside all filled with charcoal.
How Does It Work Then?
All you have to do when you come to light your bbq is take one of the bags out and lay it in your bbq, you can use two if you have a large bbq . You then simply light the bag and sit back and wait. No mess as you don't have to touch the charcoal, no need for lighter fluid or blocks as this is all infused into the charcoal and the bag. The bag burns away nicely and then the charcoal takes alight and you simply wait about 15 minutes then spread the charcoal out and you are ready to cook.
Tips For Use
Having used instant light charcoal quite a lot now I have devised a few hints and tips to help you out when using it.
Buy instant light and ordinary charcoal, light one bag then wait till it is burning away nicely (about five minutes) then add some normal charcoal on top of the instant light stuff, this will then burn away nicely with the other saving you a few quid as the instant light stuff is dearer than ordinary.
If having a very large bbq you can put two bags together and pile some more charcoal on top then light the whole thing and the heat from the two bags will burn the normal charcoal also.
Make sure after you have removed one bag of charcoal from the outer bag you wrap the bag up well and store it somewhere cool and dry as otherwise the ones that are left will dry out and not light.
If you want to cook a few different courses over a longer period of time, light one bag and let it get ready for cooking then just keep adding a little more charcoal four or five lumps at a time and these will heat up off the stuff that is already hot and keep the bbq going for a while.
Availability And Cost
Homebase instant light charcoal is obvioulsy only available from Homebase, however most large stores do their own versions and to be quite honest they are all as good as each other. You tend to get four 1kg bags for £4.99 so it works out a little dearer than normal charcoal but then you don't need any lighter blocks or fluid. Also the time and mess they save make up for the price. A bag of four should be enough for four bbq's especially if you read my tips above and buy some normal charcoal also.
Performance
The instant light charcoal performs very well, it lights easily as I have already said and is ready to cook over after about ten to fifteen minutes. It contains lumpwood charcoal, as I think all makes do, which doesn't last as long as briquets, however I prefer to cook on lumpwood for some reason that escapes me. One bag will easily last long enough to cook a meal for four and I would say you get about thirty to forty minutes of decent cooking time, however this can easily be extended as I said earlier, simply by adding a little more charcoal and if you add briquets then you will get a longer cooking time obviously. I have done a bbq for thirty to forty people in the past and this went on for about three hours. I simply lit two bags of instant light and added more charcoal roughly every twenty minutes and the bbq was as good to cook on at the end as it was at the beginning.
Conclusion
All things considered Homebase instant light charcoal is a very good idea in my opinion and I would recomend it to anyone. It is not that much more expensive than normal charcoal by the time you have bought lighting aids and also is very much easier to light and set up. You can use instant light charcoal at home or even take it away with you if you have a portable bbq and go camping or whatever. I do not use anything else now as the alternative involves so much messing about.
For more info visit www.homebase.co.uk
Thanks for reading..........John June 2008
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