Tin Foil under the Charcoal in a BBQ: Safe or Sorry?

Using a charcoal BBQ, cooks often find that the heat produced by the bricks is not high enough, or consistent enough, to properly cook the food as they wish. It is tempting to add a tin foil intray below the charcoal to help reflect more heat from the bricks, but people are worried about using tin foil in a charcoal BBQ.

Tin foil and Charcoal

It is important to be worried about safety when using a barbecue, but in fact it is perfectly safe to use a tin foil reflector in the charcoal BBQ – disposable barbecues are actually made with the charcoal surrounded by a tin-foil tray.

When using tin foil with a charcoal BBQ, it is important to keep an eye on the food, as the extra heat reflected by the foil may well cause the food to char on the side nearest to the burner – turn regularly to ensure food is cooked through.

Tin Foil and Cooking

As well as being already available in disposable charcoal BBQs, tin foil is regularly used in the barbecuing of food – hams and chicken joints are seasoned and then wrapped in tin foil before being placed on the barbecue – it is therefore perfectly safe to include tin foil in any barbecuing kit.