How long to let a braai fire burn before cooking
Rough times from lighting to cooking for lump charcoal, briquettes and wood, what a ready fire looks like, and the mistakes that spoil the meat.
The most common braai mistake is putting meat on too early. The second most common is waiting so long that the heat is gone. These are the times to plan around for each fuel, and the signs that tell you the fire is ready.
Times by fuel
| Fuel | Lighting to ready | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lump charcoal in a chimney starter | About 15 minutes | Quickest and hottest, but fades sooner |
| Briquettes in a chimney starter | 20 to 25 minutes | Steady, even heat for an hour or more |
| Briquettes lit with firelighters in the bowl | 25 to 30 minutes | Spread them out once they are grey |
| Hardwood (kameeldoring, rooikrans, sekelbos; oak or hickory abroad) | 45 to 90 minutes | Depends on log size. Big logs take the full 90 |
Wood cooks on embers, never on flames. If there is still a flame on the wood, it is not ready. See wood, charcoal or briquettes for how the fuels compare.
What a ready fire looks like
- Briquettes are grey all over, with no black patches showing.
- Lump charcoal is grey on the outside with a red glow underneath.
- Wood has collapsed into a bed of glowing embers with a dusting of ash.
- The smoke is thin and almost invisible.
- There are no flames.
Check the heat before the meat goes on
Hold your palm about 15 cm (6 inches) above the coals, at grid height, and count the seconds until you have to pull it away.
- 2 to 3 seconds: hot. Steak, thin chops, prego rolls.
- 4 to 5 seconds: medium. Chicken pieces, boerewors, vegetables.
- 6 to 7 seconds: low-medium. Thick chicken portions, sosaties with sugar in the marinade.
- 8 to 10 seconds: low. Chicken over a long cook, roosterkoek, garlic bread.
Many South African cooks shorten this to a rule of thumb: 10 seconds for chicken, 7 for boerewors, 5 for steak. The full table is in reading your coals.
Mistakes that cost you the meat
- Cooking over flames or black briquettes. The heat is uneven and the smoke is acrid. The meat tastes bitter.
- Waiting too long. Lump charcoal in particular peaks and then drops. If the fire is ready and the meat is not, you lose heat you cannot get back.
- Lighter fluid. It tastes of petrol and it flares. Use firelighters or a chimney starter.
- Piling all the fuel on at once. A smothered fire gets no air and takes twice as long.
- Closing a kettle lid too early. The temperature drops sharply before the coals are properly lit. Leave the lid off until they are grey.
Give the fire air
Fire draws oxygen from below. Before you light, tip out the old ash and open every vent fully. A chimney starter works because the air comes up through the column of coals. If you are lighting in the bowl, stack the briquettes in a loose pyramid, not a flat layer.
Plan for a long cook
Coals give useful heat for 45 to 60 minutes. Anything that cooks longer than that, such as a whole chicken, a leg of lamb or a potjie, needs fresh coals partway through. Start a second small fire to one side, or light a chimney of briquettes 20 minutes before you expect the first lot to fade. Adding unlit briquettes to a cooking fire drops the heat and makes smoke.
A simple timeline
For briquettes, light the chimney 30 minutes before the meat goes on. For wood, light it an hour and a half before. Put the grid over the fire for the last 5 minutes so it heats up, brush it clean, and then start with the meat that takes longest. The order is in braai timing.