4th of July grilling tips from Ecuador: Cheetos, charcoal, and local ingredients … and don’t forget the fire extinguisher

Guayaquil-based CuencaHighLife correspondent Fernando Pagés Ruiz shares his 4th of July grilling secrets. In this video, he shows how to use Cheetos as a charcoal starter (although Doritos will work too), how to coax the flame into a healthy conflagration using a traditional fire-enhancing method from the Amazon jungle, and finally, how to arrange the grill for the refined Ecuadorian palate.

He recommends keeping a fire extinguisher handy and reveals his favorite dousing fluid.

If Cheetos aren’t your thing, Fernando says you can go native by using the favorite indigenous fire starter: cow shit. If you do, he suggests you make sure the embers are burned down to a rosy glow before you begin grilling.

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