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Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
Amen to you aperrylang. What he said. I bought a new chimney and some Kingsford for the holiday, and my mind is at peace. I will cook monkfish, chicken thighs, NY strip steaks, potatoe wedges, eggplant slices, peppers, bratwurst, onions, burgers, mushrooms, and little foil boats of beets, and not worry about a thing.
In my experience, the lump mesquite from Australia is more uniform in its size, but it too tends to explode. And I always flavor my smoke with moist fruit woods. Grill smoke that is.
Foodie Movies?
I accept The Cook, The Thief, etc. My Dinner With André deserves a mention. Cool Hand Luke strays even further from the post, but who can forget the 40 eggs? Beans for dinner in Blazing Saddles?
Movie Theater Food
Last year I saw 45 movies at the cinema. Love that 40 foot screen. Twice I bought pretty good coffee in the lobby. A few more times I snuck in some M&Ms. That's why I can afford to go 45 times. That and no kids.
How do you keep the tall boys cold? And doesn't a Cuba Libré get a twist of lemon? There are two cinemas in Madison that sell beer in the lobby. They probably cost too much for me.
Thanks PerkyMac for a great post!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
My favorite grilled food is ____
I have to pick just one? That's like picking my favorite sister, or my favorite puppy picture.
Okay. My favorite grilled food would be a boneless lamb shoulder, flavored with garlic slivers and fresh rosemary inserted in small slits throughout. I would cry out with my arms uplifted, "Take me now Lord. I'll never be closer to Heaven."
But I wouldn't say no to a good hot dog either.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
Amen to you aperrylang. What he said. I bought a new chimney and some Kingsford for the holiday, and my mind is at peace. I will cook monkfish, chicken thighs, NY strip steaks, potatoe wedges, eggplant slices, peppers, bratwurst, onions, burgers, mushrooms, and little foil boats of beets, and not worry about a thing.
In my experience, the lump mesquite from Australia is more uniform in its size, but it too tends to explode. And I always flavor my smoke with moist fruit woods. Grill smoke that is.
Foodie Movies?
I accept The Cook, The Thief, etc. My Dinner With André deserves a mention. Cool Hand Luke strays even further from the post, but who can forget the 40 eggs? Beans for dinner in Blazing Saddles?
Movie Theater Food
Last year I saw 45 movies at the cinema. Love that 40 foot screen. Twice I bought pretty good coffee in the lobby. A few more times I snuck in some M&Ms. That's why I can afford to go 45 times. That and no kids.
How do you keep the tall boys cold? And doesn't a Cuba Libré get a twist of lemon? There are two cinemas in Madison that sell beer in the lobby. They probably cost too much for me.
Thanks PerkyMac for a great post!
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Food aversions are deeply ingrained psycho-social phenomena that are impervious to ration or logic. One man's meat is another man's poison. That being said, here is my list:
1. Canned Vegetables (Except tomatoes)
2. Chef Boy-R-D
3. Chemo-cream
4. Crisco
5. Lemon juice that isn't fresh squeezed. C'mon, how hard is it?
6. Lucky Charms
7. Margarine
8. Vegemite
9. Instant coffee
10. Too numerous to mention
Neo Soul Food
Go with the greens. You can't get any more soulful that that. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and a pinch of sugar to tame any bitterness. Smoked turkey tails are good with the greens, if you can get 'em. Goes good with cornbread.
Top Ten, On-Hand, Not Embarrassed
1. EVOO
2. Dried Italian pasta
3. Tomatoes - fresh in season, otherwise canned
4. Cheeses - What a friend we have.
5. Potatoes
6. Sausages - Mostly pork, but many kinds
7. Whole grain breads
8. Onions and garlic
9. Rices
10. Coffee - Elbowing everything else out of the way to land the last spot.
Luswim06 has to be a sorority sister.
How many stores do you shop at for your food?
Here in Madison the cheapest place for pantry items and staples is Woodman's - I go at least twice a week, usually more.
Now that the Farmer's Markets are getting cranked up, I'll get some produce there, especially later in the season. Otherwise I'm always crusin' the discount bins for exceptional produce at the co-op just a few blocks away, or the Asian market.
A couple times a month I go to a combined Hmong-Indian-Mexican market for specialty items.(It's a little weird I know, but the neighborhood has changed.)
For a lark I'll stop about once a month at a regional or national chain to look at the beautiful but tasteless imports. I plan to go to an Italian deli to get some special treats if that stimulus check ever gets here..
Thresher shark
For me thresher is the best shark for the table - fine grained and mildly flavored. Because the flesh is firm and durable it can be used in kabobs or chowders. Like rabbit it will take on the flavor of whatever you chose, while adding its own gentle character. Sauté it with good olives, adding lots of lemon zest at the end, or bake it with a pesto bread crumb crust. As with all finned fare, 10 minutes to the inch is a reliable estimate of the time needed. Shark can be microwaved perfectly in less time, and needs only a compund butter to satisfy any palate.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
Briquettes or lump? I think it boils down to what you are cooking and for whom? If I want to grill up some hots dogs and burger meat, a few briquettes are fine. Briqs are cheaper, for me, cleaner and easier. If I am smoking brisket, sausages, tri-tip, or anything else that requires lots of love and perfection, I will use quality wood. I have found cheaper off-brand or store brand briqus require a lot of lighter fluid and don't give good flavor.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
i've found with the lump that density of the chunck has a real effect on the speed at which the coals burn and being a natural product its impractical for them to produce a consistancy that the briquette has when it comes to density/burn time, i really love the flavor of the lump [ as long as its not cabinet shop scrap ( real trash ) ] but i really like the control i get useing briquettes, but the chemical flavor is terrible on the finished meat or whatever, a sure way to ruin a great ribeye or any other meat, veggie, fruit etc. so i'll look into the kroger, nature glo, wildfie,holland brands or any other natural briquettes, anyone know of sources for retail hands-on purchases. royal oak claims to be natural but i read a breakdown of ingredents and they included coal, anthricite, and the other usual suspects and to top it off royal oak claims it is necessary to put these ingredents in to manufacture a briquette and all mgf's use the additives. who do you believe NOT a salesman thats for sure do we have to analyse all brands or what
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
There was a legendary post on the Big Green Egg forum years ago by Elder Ward (archived at http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm) in which Ward brilliantly explains how to achieve a long burning, low temperature fire using lump charcoal for a long, low smoke. He opens an entire bag of lump and sorts the coal by size. Clean all of the ash out of the bottom of your grill (especially important for the Big Green Egg where airflow can be controlled precisely if ash isn't clogging the airway). Place the largest pieces evenly in the bottom like a jigsaw puzzle. Use smaller pieces to fill in the gaps. Light with a little square of wax/sawdust firestarter. Following Ward's method in my Egg, I can keep a steady 200 degree fire going for twelve straight hours or longer. Because the fire can't be set off center, I use a ceramic deflector to create an indirect kind of heat.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
I use lump in my WSM using the Minion method, and never have to refill, even on long, 8+ hour pork butt cooks. One other benefit to using lump is, you can throw the ash right in the compost pile. You can't do that with briquette ash.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
1. Okra
2. Miracle Whip
3. Whole milk
4. Spam
5. Olive loaf
6. any ketchup but Heinz
7. Plain yellow mustard
8. mango
9. hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat)
10. kale
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Oh, this is fun!
1. Canned entrees (ie. spaghetti-oh's)
2. Cool Whip
3. Miracle Whip
4. Durian fruit
5. Spam (or any canned meat for that matter)
6. Any deli "meat" that you can stick your finger in, and it will congeal back to its original state---I've seen it; it's disgusting.
7. Any creme filled cookies (Oreos or those nasty oatmeal cakes)
8. Bitter melon
9. Sweetened applesauce, and most other canned fruits (I do like the applesauce with no sugar added)
10. Fake caviar...I have to have to real thing.
Top Ten, On-Hand, Not Embarrassed
olive oils/ vinegars
butter
homemade vanilla extract
tea
fresh fruit
spices and herbs
lemons
avocados (you never know when a guacamole craving will strike)
half and half, whipping cream, buttermilk
jams and jelly
+ really good chocolate
that was tough so many to choose from
Top Ten, On-Hand, Not Embarrassed
only ten??? in no particular order, the first ten things that jump to mind:
olive oil
eggs
butter
limes
vinegar {a zillion kinds}
vanilla sugar {homemade}
yogurt {goat, fage, or siggi's skyr}
dijon mustard
sea salt
penzey's four peppercorns mix
Top Ten, On-Hand, Not Embarrassed
1. Selection of Olive Oils
2. Selection of Mustards
3. Selection of dried fruits (apricots, cherries, craisins, blueberries)
4. Butter (for baking)
5. Selection of Flours (WW Pastry, Bread, A/P, Cake)
6. Chocolate in many shapes, sizes and forms (chips, block of bittersweet, block of white)
7. Eggs
8. Selection of macaroni in as many shapes and, sizes as I can accommodate on my shelves (penne, ziti, rigatoni, angel hair) and they come in WW, Spinach, etc.
9. Canned tomato products (whole peeled, crushed, paste, stewed).
10. Nutella. (It somehow just jumps into my cart at Sam's Club. It's a phenomenon.)
Top Ten, On-Hand, Not Embarrassed
This is a little scary...
1. Community Coffee
2. Garlic - bulbs, refrigerated minced, dried minced, granulated
3. The "Magic Drawer" - my spices
4. Wide variety of tomato products
5. Oils - EVOO, canola, sesame, grapeseed
6. Balsamic Vinegar
7. Mayo - always backstock in the cupboard
8. Flours - AP, bread, whole wheat, rye, soy
9. Rice - Jasmine, Basmati, Brown, Medium Grain
10. BUTTER!!!!!!!!!
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
1. margarine
2. fat free anything
3. eggs from any grocery store in the 5 boroughs ( only place to get eggs is at greenmarket. flying pigs, millport dairy or knoll krest)
4. processed cheese
5. canned fruit
6. pickles (i'm a chef who hates pickles i can't help it, i will never change)
7. oreos, just hate them always have.
8. jelly. my pb&j sandwiches have always just been pbS
9. anything containing aspartame.
10. white bread. it tastes like nothing. give me a good whole wheat sourdough or whole grain anyday.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
As a Korean-American I can never say anything bad about Spam. If you're a fan of Korean food and you don't appreciate the magic that a can of Spam can bring to a Kimchi Jjigae, you don't know Korean food.
My favorite grilled food is ____
Portabellos, Corn, asparagus, red peppers
Also: my fave veggie burgers and terriyaki marinated tofu.
My father makes an awesome grilled dessert...strawberries, blueberries and raspoberries cooked (on the side burner) in blueberry wine and served over one of those little yellow shortcakes (grilled) and topped with whipped cream or ice cream. It is INSANE.
Grilled peaches are also incredible.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
@bbqchef53: I have smoked a brisket using briquettes on more than one occasion. Turned out perfectly every time.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
I don't care what you say. I like Miracle Whip!
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
First time on Serious Eats and this was so good I had to join so I could post - so here goes:
Spam. No explanation necessary.
Marmite. I ahve no idea what this is but it sounds like insect paste.
Tofu
Organ meats
ditto on the cold cuts that end in 'loaf'
Scrapple
Converted rice. Even my kids called it 'fake.'
Livermush - Hey "Sbelle" I'm from NC too!
Bologna, and I probably should put in hotdogs. I took a graduate nutrition class and as a part we toured a meat processing factory. Ewww.
Bait. Sorry but as a kid it was often in the fridge, not as food of course. It's that NC upbringing again.
There are lots of convenience foods that have saved the day for me or pacified my granddaughter, so I won't list them, but I agree that it's just not that hard to do something quick from scratch.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
1. cilantro
2. margarine
3. Jell-o
4. artificial vanilla "flavoring"
5. that cheese from Sardinia with the live maggots in it
6. instant rice
7. ranch dressing
8. canned pumpkin
9. cheap soy sauce
10. cole slaw that's been in my fridge longer than 1 day
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
1. hamburger helper- definitely including any sauce mix from a powder.
2. off brand cereal. give me frosted flakes or give me death.
3. jars of glop labelled alfredo. they fool no one.
4. processed deli meats such as homogenized bologna and "weiners."
5. popsicles in a sleeve
6. lowfat dairy products are for quitters
7. precooked shrimp. just say no.
8. marshmallow fluff because itss not food.
9. country ham because i don't live in the country and no one believes that is ham.
10. Fat free cooking oil, or whatever that is supposed to be.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
1. Most supermarket fruit or even most any market fruit. Fruit is raised and harvested mainly for appearance and resistance to bruising and blemishing during shipping, never for taste and flavor. Has anyone ever bought a cantaloupe that smelled and tasted aromatically fruity, was soft and succulent, juicy and truly edible only with a spoon and not a chainsaw? No. Except in some private small sellers in Japan. All melons in the States are suitable only for bowling.
2. Any tomato in the States. Tough perfectly shiny plastic skins requiring a spit-out; tasteless woody/fibrous flesh, no aroma.
3. Meat in supermarkets that swims in transparent red to pink fluid in the styrofoam container, that when opened the underside revealing something that resembles a used woman's sanitary napkin.
4. Ground beef that has a brown surface and a pink interior, usually marketed as 75% off with an expiration date of tomorrow, sometimes today.
5. King Crab, always frozen, that usually possesses spotty repulsive off-flavors, musty sometimes almost rotten aromas near the cut ends. Has anyone ever eaten a fresh one?
6. Tofu. But I do use it as patching material.
7. Bing Cherries. I am eating through a box right now and every one lacks a distinctive taste. I suspect they are raised for appearance only. [I wonder who dreamed up the "cherry" flavor found in candies and lollipops?]
8. One vote FOR monosodium glutamate. This is just a harmless tangy/salty amino acid. About 40 years ago a letter was published in the New England Journal of Medicine claiming it caused flushing, sweating and other symptoms, subsequently dubbed the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." This was never confirmed, and to my knowledge it causes no harm. I specify it be added to my meals in asian restaurants.
9. Frozen Crab cakes. No matter what the box says, these are inedible hockey pucks composed of shredded leg meat and bread filler.
10. Instant Chocolate Pudding. Pasty to granular off-putting milky flavor with not the slightest resemblance to any true cocoa product ever marketed.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
Let me clear up one myth- lump does not burn hotter. Cooks Illustrated Magazine investigated this a few years ago and found that the temps of both were about the same. I think the idea that lump burns hotter comes from the fact that lump burns faster. I think it was a guesstimate that if it burns faster it must burn hotter. But, per Cooks Illustrated, this was not proven true.
All of that said, I prefer lump because it has a cleaner flavor. If you are cooking steaks or burgers it probably does not make a flavor difference. However, when I crank up my Weber for an overnight smoke of a pork butt, the difference is readily noticable. If I smoke for say 12 hours using Kingsford, the coal taste from the charcoal is easy to taste. The lump is a pure BBQ smoke flavor which I prefer.
Maybe Kroger brand charcoal contains no coal but I know that Kingsford does (see www.virtualweberbullet.com). To each his own. Some may like the coal flavoring. I know of a pizza restuarant in Florida that bakes its pizzas using a coal fired oven and the pizza crust does pick up the coal flavor. Hower for pork BBQ I don't want the coal flavor.
I think that the issue of lump burning faster can be an issue if you are open top grilling because the lump can burn out faster. That said, for smoking, I have never had a issue with lump or charcoal running for say 12 hours with only one reload.
Grilling Smackdown: Lump Charcoal vs. Briquettes
I dislike briquettes, but wonder, if you guys are serious, why don't you just make your own charcoal or simply use wood?
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Yeah I was surprised about jello having such properties, but my husband swears by it. Then again, maybe he's making it up so that I don't throw it out in disgust...
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Jello for nosebleeds????????
Ha! Too Funny. I thought the same thing when I first read that and then promptly went on about my business thinking, "well, what better use for the stuff?"
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Mmmm Banana Twinkies.
Top 10 ingredients I will never have in my kitchen
Jello for nosebleeds????????
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About alljack
Location: Madison
About: Late middle aged. Cook for a sorority. Movie buff and angler.
Favorite foods: Fresh vegetables and fruits, dairy products, freshest fish and seafood. Meditteranean flavors and techniques
Last bite on earth: Sweetbreads and fresh porcini mushrooms, with some fava beans and a nice Chianti
I have to pick just one? That's like picking my favorite sister, or my favorite puppy picture.
Okay. My favorite grilled food would be a boneless lamb shoulder, flavored with garlic slivers and fresh rosemary inserted in small slits throughout. I would cry out with my arms uplifted, "Take me now Lord. I'll never be closer to Heaven."
But I wouldn't say no to a good hot dog either.