BBQ Lump coal choices!

[Ford850]

I thought I could go to Habitat or thrift stores and find a replacement charcoal BBQ to do my whole chicken. You used to be able buy them new for 29.95 and used for five bucks at a garage sale! Or FREE like my last one. Not any more with this trend!

We once had this Hibachi fad a long time ago. EVERYONE had to have a hibachi! There was even a movie, "The Hibachi Papers" lol

That was back in the early 1970's wasn't it?

 

[alexebdra453]

Emson Indoor Electric Smoker Pit Boss Grills 77221 Indoor Digital Smoker Oster Indoor Electric Smoker Royal Gourmet Indoor Electric Smoker Masterbuilt 20071117 Digital Electric Smoker Presto 06013 Electric Indoor Smoker Masterbuilt MES 430S Bluetooth Electric Smoker Smoke Hollow 26142E Electric Smoker.
Which one you are now using?

 

[Dftodd]

I think I am referring to those uniform, cast, egg sized things.

Some place around here, apparently doing a great business of selling various species of wood for BBQ. What's the diference between simply cooking over wood and cooking over charcoal? Doesn't the meat dripping and burning on the heat source contribute most of the flavour? AND, whatever you put on the meat? Seems to me, what you cook it over is quite down on the list of what matters for flavour. Obviously, smoking meat would be a different story.

My unit is a combo. I can use it as a grill or smoker. Just depends on where I put the fire. I was doing some burgers with lumped charcoal. They come out really good that way. This last time, I through in a small chunk of hickory wood as well.

They came out so much better

 

[Dftodd]

Find me a NASCAR crew that uses Harbour Freight Tools. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. I guess, you have to use a hundred dollar brush, fifty dollar tongues and wear a thirty dollar chefs hat. All adds to the flavour! Much is in the mind. lol

I BBQed over fire for years. I wish I had not gotten rid of my Ball-B-Que that I had rigged up with a rotiserie (sp?) to do whole chicken. I miss that lengthy process, but it seemed imparactical for the work involved.

Reminds me of a (otherwise) very smart person I know, that once suggested that I do chicken on the BBQ, by wrapping in foil! Need I say more?

I used to soak little strips of hickory or mesquite. Wrap in tinfoil, poke some holes in the tinfoil, and throw on the grill grate on my propane grill while it was warming up. And left it there while I cooked my meat.

You get the smoke flavor added to the meat, with the convenience of the propane grill.

 

[Molalla1]

I love beef heart, but haven't seen any in the stores for 40 years.

Stuffed beef heart . . . :licking:.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I use a Big Green Egg and before that had a Weber Kettle, I learned what really good food is supposed to taste like when I got the Egg. I use the Royal Oak mostly because that's what's available around here and it varies from one bag to another. The best I've used was some I made myself with a kiln I made using a 55 gal. drum with a 30 gal. drum inside it. I used both well cured oak, which was great, then after reading a post on the Naked Whiz site,I tried some Eucalyptus,which was even better. Then a nosy neighbor saw the steam room the cooking wood and little bit of smoke and called the fire dept. This was at 5:00 am Thanksgiving morning when I thought I'd be safe. They looked over my operation and saw that I was doing everything safely with my kiln on bare ground with plenty of space and a water hose right next to my operation. After explaining to them what I was doing they said to go ahead and finish what I was doing but please not do it anymore because of causing nosy neighbors to get alarmed. Living here in fire country I agreed.

As to smoking woods I prefer a mix of hickory and apple or either one straight and chunks rather than chips.

I believe that sparking lump is caused by moisture in the charcoal and once it gets cooked out the fire will be fine.

The argument about lump over briquettes is easy to prove, there is way more ash with briquettes caused by impurities. I proved it to myself once when Ace Hardware had a sale on Royal Oak and I didn't read the small print so bought 10 bags, what a mess.

If you want to find a good, un biased evaluation on different brands go to the Naked Whiz web site. He has tested many brands and gives great reviews on all of them.

 

[dragoneggs]

Good post Jim. Interesting to try make the lump charcoal yourself. Try getting the B&B at Ace. You might have to order it... took about a week and I picked it up. As I mentioned in my first post, about the same price as Royal Oak but I think much better chunks. Maybe it was just that bag wasn't abused as much during transportation?

I will indeed check out Naked Whiz now that I have tried multiple brands myself and formed an opinion. Will be interesting to see what they have to say.

Edit: just saw the review (old) on B&B. They weren't high on it at all. Surprised but it appears not to be exactly what I have but probably close enough.

 

[5030]

Then a nosy neighbor saw the steam room the cooking wood and little bit of smoke and called the fire dept. This was at 5:00 am Thanksgiving morning when I thought I'd be safe.


Wow, must be a Kalifornia thing, minding other people's business. Sure glad that don't play well out here where I live.

Manufactured 'charcoal briquettes have a ton of not good to eat or cook with stuff in them anyway, but having said that, they are still better than ruining a good cut of meat on a propane grill. Propane grills to me are vulgar contraptions. Just the smell of the odorant in it makes me gag. Popular with the upwardly mobile crowd who want it now and cannot wait to light lump charcoal and let it get ashy.

Me, I can wait the 15 minutes it takes to get my chimney starter cooking with charcoal. 2 sheets of newspaper and a match and I'm good to go

Been kicking around trying a pellet grill but they are kind of pricey.

 

[dragoneggs]

I've completely ditched my propane BBQ... and now it is either lump charcoal or my Traeger Pellet grill. Lately my Traeger is getting lonely. I do plan to do a couple of pork rib racks, in a side by side slow cook off for a true comparison of pellets vs. lump.

 

[5030]

I've completely ditched my propane BBQ... and now it is either lump charcoal or my Traeger Pellet grill. Lately my Traeger is getting lonely. I do plan to do a couple of pork rib racks, in a side by side slow cook off for a true comparison of pellets vs. lump.

What is the 'uptime' (time when you can cook) on the Trager and does it do a good job on say thick Elk steaks? Finally, what is the fuel consumption? Wood pellets for them are quite expensive. Reason I ask is, my wife is adverse to lighting chunk charcoal (even with a chimney starter so the Pellet grill is a viable option.

Don't know if I'd get a Trager, they are the most expensive and there are other makers out there now.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I light my lump with a MAPP torch, it takes about 20 seconds and you're good to go. Trouble is my wife doesn't like it either. You do have to be careful if you get some lump that sparks as you can get a shower from it.

 

[Molalla1]

What is the 'uptime' (time when you can cook) on the Trager and does it do a good job on say thick Elk steaks? Finally, what is the fuel consumption? Wood pellets for them are quite expensive. Reason I ask is, my wife is adverse to lighting chunk charcoal (even with a chimney starter so the Pellet grill is a viable option.

Don't know if I'd get a Trager, they are the most expensive and there are other makers out there now.

My Lord do I love Elk . . . more soon for us . . .

 

[dragoneggs]

What is the 'uptime' (time when you can cook) on the Trager and does it do a good job on say thick Elk steaks? Finally, what is the fuel consumption? Wood pellets for them are quite expensive. Reason I ask is, my wife is adverse to lighting chunk charcoal (even with a chimney starter so the Pellet grill is a viable option.

Don't know if I'd get a Trager, they are the most expensive and there are other makers out there now.

Ya know, I have never really timed it to get my Traeger to max temp (450degF). Maybe a little faster than the lump char and a chimney but not like turning on propane. I only use my Traeger for slow cooking chicken, ribs, etc.

Yes there are cheaper pellet grills and thinner walls. My Traeger doesn't hold heat all that well and on cold days it struggles. I have seen blankets to help smokers hold their temps.

The problem with my pellet bbq is that 450deg isn't hot enough to cook steaks the way that I like so I was still using propane until the elements finally were burnt beyond recognition. Once I got my PK Grill, it was retired.

I do understand someone not wanting to use a chimney and dump a bunch of red hot charcoal. Hi temp BBQ gloves and being careful not to lose any hot coals overboard is important.

 

[Molalla1]

Ya know, I have never really timed it to get my Traeger to max temp (450degF). Maybe a little faster than the lump char and a chimney but not like turning on propane. I only use my Traeger for slow cooking chicken, ribs, etc.

Yes there are cheaper pellet grills and thinner walls. My Traeger doesn't hold heat all that well and on cold days it struggles. I have seen blankets to help smokers hold their temps.

The problem with my pellet bbq is that 450deg isn't hot enough to cook steaks the way that I like so I was still using propane until the elements finally were burnt beyond recognition. Once I got my PK Grill, it was retired.

I do understand someone not wanting to use a chimney and dump a bunch of red hot charcoal. Hi temp BBQ gloves and being careful not to lose any hot coals overboard is important.

Sooo you can get a great steak off of it?

Good info Dragon really good . . . wife said next month I'm good to go . . . :cool2:

 

[dragoneggs]

I light my lump with a MAPP torch, it takes about 20 seconds and you're good to go. Trouble is my wife doesn't like it either. You do have to be careful if you get some lump that sparks as you can get a shower from it.

Wow Jim! I don't know to get a pile of lump red hot in 20sec? I like them completely on fire before spreading them. I use a 'tumbleweed' and and a chimney. That takes 15 to 20 min. I might have to experiment with a torch but still can't believe I will be good to go anywhere near what you are advertising.

 

[Jim Nelson]

I'm not saying it is ready to cook but enough lump is lit to get things going and in another 20 min. or so It will be up to temp and ready to go. I first heard about this on the old Greeneggers site and there are a lot of people who use it. I've tried the chimney and starter cubes etc. but find this works best for me.

 

[dragoneggs]

I'm not saying it is ready to cook but enough lump is lit to get things going and in another 20 min. or so It will be up to temp and ready to go. I first heard about this on the old Greeneggers site and there are a lot of people who use it. I've tried the chimney and starter cubes etc. but find this works best for me.

I gotcha... I thought you were ready to cook. I think my wife would much prefer your method. She is paranoid about the chimney.

 

[Dftodd]

Ya know, I have never really timed it to get my Traeger to max temp (450degF). Maybe a little faster than the lump char and a chimney but not like turning on propane. I only use my Traeger for slow cooking chicken, ribs, etc.

Yes there are cheaper pellet grills and thinner walls. My Traeger doesn't hold heat all that well and on cold days it struggles. I have seen blankets to help smokers hold their temps.

The problem with my pellet bbq is that 450deg isn't hot enough to cook steaks the way that I like so I was still using propane until the elements finally were burnt beyond recognition. Once I got my PK Grill, it was retired.

I do understand someone not wanting to use a chimney and dump a bunch of red hot charcoal. Hi temp BBQ gloves and being careful not to lose any hot coals overboard is important.

I have three sets of welding gloves at the house with 3 seperate uses 1 set stays with my lump charcoal for use with the smoker. 1 set lives on the utensil stand for the wood stove. And finally the last set is used for welding

 

[dragoneggs]

I have three sets of welding gloves at the house with 3 seperate uses 1 set stays with my lump charcoal for use with the smoker. 1 set lives on the utensil stand for the wood stove. And finally the last set is used for welding

There you go... I used to use an abandoned (lost) lineman's glove I found along the property line long ago. I then started using a pair of uncomfortable welding gloves when I upgraded. Recently, I was treated to some fancy tight fitting dedicated BBQ gloves but I think I like my looser fitting old welding gloves better.

 

[5030]

Maybe I need to get my gas axe out next time I fire up the grill and light my charcoal with oxygen acetylene ????