Charcoal Kings

  Lump Charcoal The type and quality of charcoal that you use will play a role in not only the price you pay, but other factors like rate of burn, ash production, and even the food you cook. However, not everything you hear in regards to lump and briquette is true. Some people swear by one fuel source and have a bias. While others will buy whatever is natural and on-sale. Let's look closer at some of some of these concepts. Charcoal is Fueled by Air Regardless of shape, oxygen is what feeds fire. This is how Pitmasters regulate temperature, by opening and closing their vents. Open vents allow more airflow and result in a hotter pit. Closed vents allow less air and result in a cooler fire. This concept is completely independent of fuel type. Fire Arrangement The way you arrange your coals also matters and will affect how hot the pit can be. As we mentioned, pit temp can be regulated by airflow. This airflow can also be stifled by charcoal byproduct like ash, powder, and other resid...

Whenever Fine Cooking runs a story on outdoor grilling, it seems that our expert authors always recommend cooking over natural   hardwood charcoal   (sometimes called charwood) instead of the more easily found charcoal briquettes. Is this just barbecue snobbery? Hardly. There are some very real differences between hardwood charcoal and briquettes that do have an effect on grilling. Hardwood charcoal • Made from only  natural hardwood , such as maple, oak, mesquite or even hickory. • Once the wood is reduced to charcoal, it’s left in its original rough shape. In fact, the best way to determine the quality of the charcoal is to look at it—if you can recognize the shapes of real wood, you’ve got the real thing. • Lights more quickly. • Burns hotter (around 1,000°F), so you should make a smaller or more spread-out fire than you would with briquettes. • Creates less ash. • Imparts a purer, wood-fire flavor to foods. • Any hardwood charcoal not completely burned during grilling...