My wood / charcoal fired mangal grill has been my most versatile cooking appliance. A traditional Georgian grill, I was taught by my father the art of grilling over an open flame.
To give you an idea of the kinds of things you can make (from bread to kebabs to stews to egg breakfasts), I've decided to upload a few of the things I've made. Hopefully to inspire you, dear reader, to go out and grill something!
I prefer slow-cooked meat, as it offers far better control over the final doneness, and amount of smoke flavor imparted by the heat source. Still, there are times when one isn't cooking a restaurant meal, but rather just grilling up a quick snack.
To get a quick start with charcoal, I like to use blown air (from a compressor, or a hand-fan, or a blower, or even a hand-fan) forced down into a tall pile of medium-sized coals, rather than cut wood. After roughly twenty minutes, I get a decent portion of the coals to ignite, and then quickly spread the pile out to offer a more even heat.
While this is all common knowledge to most that have cooked on coal or wood, I just want to emphasize how effective blown air is at getting a fire going. Even the best charcoal starter will take longer to get a pile of coals going than a blower and a bit of tinder.