A Charcoal Review

I consider myself a grilling expert. Maybe it's just because I'm a guy, whatever. The truth is, I fire up a mean grill. Therefore, I am well qualified to discuss the virtues of grilling with the best of them.

And I don't mean char-broiling on a gas grill. As convenient as those are, gas grilling is akin to baking a frozen pizza. Convenient, quick, easy, and so on. Sure, in a pinch or in a hurry, fire up the gas, throw on a slab of meat and chow down. But for serious charring of dead animal flesh, you just can't beat charcoal.
And the worst thing, is people using gas grills CLEAN THEM! You go and use a gas grill for a month and it gets to the point that it's well seasoned, and people think it's dirty. So they go and scrub all the hell out of it. Remove the ambiance, the character, the subtle flavorings of a well used grill.

Anyway, I experimented with a new batch of charcoal over the weekend. I usually use Kingsford, which for reliability, consistency and ease of use, you are hard pressed to do better than "The Kingsford Edge". I've tried other types, like some shit that was on sale once at a big box store. Fail. Big time.
I also used "Match Light" once when I was in a hurry and the quickie mart didn't have Kingsford. Bad mistake. I'll go without or cut up a piece of furniture before I ever use that shit again. It gave the meat that wonderful "Ford-Falcon-exhaust-pipe-with-bad-set-of-plugs" flavor. Never buy the shit.

So what was the new batch of charcoal you ask? I see "Cowboy Charcoal" at the store and thought I would give it a go. It's basically kiln baked hardwood scraps (chunks of wood flooring, cabinets, whatever), bagged up and sold. It's not compressed squares like Kingsford, just random pieces of charred wood.

It worked well. Good stuff. The thing about it though, is that it burns hot and fast. If you're going to grill some steaks or chops and need blistering heat for a short time, this stuff is the shit. With the help of charcoal lighter fluid, it was ready to use in about 10 minutes. But it only lasted about 15 minutes after that and it was done. Perfect for steaks.

But for the jerky meat I was smoking - which takes several hours, it was gone too quick. No biggie, Kingsford works great for the long, slow cooking and dehydration process required for roasting or smoking. But I won't hesitate to use the Cowboy Charcoal again fer sher.



Update: In the comments, Susan Her Damn Self asked a question:

"Have you ever tried those flavored wood chips?"

This in fact, pointed out to me that there was sorely lacking a review of an integral part of grilling and smoking: The wood chunks!

Gee whiz. What an oversight.

So to continue, the answer is most definitely, yes. I use wood chunks or chips almost every time I grill something. Sometimes chunks are preferable, and sometimes it's the chips.
The difference you ask? Chunks are bigger and bulkier than chips, and therefore burn slower and longer. So for smoking a larger cut of meat like a pork loin, leg o' lamb or brisket, or even a bunch of smaller pieces like jerky or several chicken breasts, you need the wood to sit there and smolder for quite a spell. You need to plan for several hours. Usually allow around 1 hour per pound of meat.
You want the smoke to get good permeation on the meat in order to really have a smoky flavor. This makes for some damn fine bee bee que.

On the other hand, using big wood chunks for steaks or chops, or even small chicken pieces is a waste. You only need to toss a handful or so of ships on the coals to get a decent outdoorsy flavor.

You can get a couple different 'flavors' at places like the grocery store in the picnic section, or the hardware store in the seasonal section. But to be really adventurous, go to BBQ's Galore and try one of their flavors. They have around 30 different 'flavors' of wood chunks including fruitwoods, nutwoods and plain old hardwoods.
Of course by fuitwood, I mean chunks of cherry wood, apple wood, pear wood and so on. So as to not mislead the novice, these aren't just pieces of wood with some sort of flavoring added. These are pieces of the trees chopped up into bagable pieces.
The nutwoods usually include flavors such as pecan or walnut, and a few others I can't think of right off hand, as I haven't tried them.
As for plain old hardwoods, mesquite and hickory seem to be the most common and easiest to come by.

Now I prefer cherry wood over any of the others. I think it imparts the mildest, yet most flavorful taste to the meat, and can be used successfully with every type of meat I've tried. It also adds a touch of 'sweet' to the product which is a desirable characteristic of stronger meats like lamb and wild game. I haven't tried it on fish yet though, so no comment there.

Apple wood and pecan are a close second to cherry wood. I have had good luck with those on every type of meat I have tried them on. Again, no fish, but very good on other types of meat.

Hickory is right up there in third place. It will add that outdoorsy flavor to meat without adding a carbon taste to it. As long as you don't overdo it. It's a good all-purpose wood for cooking.

I rarely use mesquite, and then only for chicken. It doesn't take much mesquite before you've used too much and ruined the meal. If you get a hankerin' to use mesquite, be sure and use it sparingly until you have the ratio perfected.



HTH,
Curmudgeon.



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