You know there is always the science/technical side of any method - not just in cooking.
Strictly speaking: We should allow the charcoal to attain the "cherry red - with some white " stage for the
cleanest tasteSo, what does that tell us about putting food on the grill over charcoal
prior to that per - manufacturer state of readiness?
We know that charcoal is a form of wood that has already been burned down in a very controlled manner to the state of charcoal - yet still has a good amount of energy left to expend. SO, while it is cleaner than say... wood, with white smoke boiling out of our cooker...( We have all seen or maybe even done that...?
) there are still some compounds in the charcoal which will release chemical compounds that cause the meat to taste bitter, or even "creosotey".... Some of these are PAH's, phenols, skatols and the creosols. Yes....they are not good for us and you may have seen mention of the negatives of standing around the fire, sniffing up the smoke coming of of the fats, dripping on the coals....But, we *DO* love cooking outdoors don't we?
So, yes, poor flavor - and possibly more are reasons to consider "optimizing" when we were ready to put meat on the grill.