When people get their first set of charcoal baskets they are often unsure about how to use them in their Weber kettle grills. It turns out that there are five common ways to use the baskets depending upon what and how you want to cook.
The video below does a great job of showing some of the basic configurations for charcoal baskets. Give the video a quick watch (don’t worry, it is short!) and then we can talk about the configurations in more detail.
Two Baskets: High Direct Heat
This is the first configuration shown in the video and has both baskets together in the middle of the grill. With this method you will have an area of intense heat in the middle of the grill that is perfect for searing steaks.
You want to use this technique with items that cook quickly (fish, vegetables, etc) as the flames will burn anything that is left on the grill very long. You wouldn’t want to use this technique for chicken as it would make the meat burnt on the outside while still remaining raw on the inside.
Two Baskets: High Indirect Heat
This is the second configuration shown in the video and has the charcoal baskets on opposite sides of the grill from each other. You can place a large piece of meat in the center of the grill and roast it without having to worry about the meat burning. This is a great way to cook a whole chicken or a pork loin.
Secret Grill Tip: You can place an aluminum foil pan between the charcoal baskets and underneath the meat. This will act as a drip pan that will keep your grill clean! If you want to use the drippings for gravy make sure you put a little water in the pan to keep the drippings from scorching.
One Basket: Low Heat Indirect
This is the third configuration in the video and only uses one of the charcoal baskets set on the side of the grill. This configuration has two very different uses depending upon what you are trying to do.
The first technique is great for smoking meat at low temperatures. You would light three or four pieces of charcoal on one end of the basket and let the fire slowly spread across the charcoal bed. This technique is perfect for smoking pork chops. You will get about two hours of burn time from a single load of charcoal so if you want to smoke ribs in your kettle you will need to replenish the charcoal two or three times.
One Basket: High Indirect Heat
This is the same configuration as above but in this technique you light all of the charcoal in the basket. This will create a two zone system that is very hot on one side of the grill and moderately hot on the other.
I like to use this configuration when grilling chicken wings. I can let the wings roast on the cooler side of the grill without worrying about the dripping grease causing flares. When I want to crisp up the skin I move the wings directly over the hot side of the grill for about a minute per side.
This configuration is perfect for Reverse Searing a steak and is also my preferred configuration for rotisserie grilling!
Two Baskets: Low Indirect Heat
This is an advanced technique that I don’t see many people use but it is still worth mentioning. Basically you put the baskets “end to end” on one side of the grill and slowly let the fire burn across both baskets. This is essentially the same as the One Basket Low Indirect method discussed above but utilizes two baskets to increase the burn time.
Here is an example of this technique in action.