Prepare “Binchotan charcoal” and “charcoal briquettes” to use as a fire starter. The point is to place the 2 different charcoals separately and not to touch each other in the grill. 

Charcoal briquettes

Charcoal briquettes made of wooden briquettes can easily catch fire and burn fast. It also functions to prevent the Binchotan charcoals from cracking and popping by drying out the moisture inside.  We handle charcoal briquettes made without any chemicals and there will be no odor while cooking.

Binchotan charcoal

A high carbon content white charcoal made of natural wood. It can hold high temperature for a longer time than other charcoal and is a perfect choice for enjoying BBQ. Real Binchotan charcoal can bring out the excellent flavor of ingredients.

Use a kitchen torch to ignite the charcoal briquettes until the ⅛ of the charcoal briquettes color changes. Make sure the window of the grill is fully open to let air flow. You can know if the charcoal briquettes are on fire when ⅔ of the charcoal briquette gets white.

Spread the ignited charcoal briquettes over the grill and cover it with Binchotan charcoal.  The point is to align them as much as possible to create an air flow. You are almost on your way to finish.

You can shorten the time if you occasionally fan and send air to charcoal. The charcoal will look like this after the charcoal is lit.

Another way to save time is to use a chimney type charcoal starter. Place it with a grid and you can easily make the air flow through the grill.

The charcoal is lit when you can see ash covering more than half of the Binchotan charcoal.  It took approximately 50minutes to start “Kishu Binchotan charcoal”. This type of charcoal will change into white-brownish color when it is lit. During this time, you can prepare the ingredients or enjoy appetizers and drinks with your guests.