What Is Charcoal?

A burning question.

I’ve been using wood charcoal for a long time, sometimes flavored with mesquite, apple. or hickory chips depending on what I’m cooking. I imagine that a lot of us in the baby boom demographic grew up with the briquet...

—a big deal while camping. Here’s the formula I used: 9 briquets on the bottom, 14-16 briquets on the lid. Some tips: Place the briquets along the rim of the lid in a circle; I found that if I put briquets on the center...

An out-of-town friend asked and I don’t know: What fuel do sidewalk food vendors use? In his words "it looked like charcoal briquets but smelled awful".

gas grill with a rotisserie attachment? It makes a big difference whether you use real wood lump charcoal, or charcoal briquets. Real wood charcoal burns hotter, but faster and may need replenishment (although 4 lb is pretty small...

I’m no expert, but it seems to me your basic problem is your fire’s too fast. Lump charcoal has its uses, but long cooking isn’t one of them, and wood chunks (as opposed to logs) also will burn too hot and too...

My son said he saw “chunk charcoal” mentioned on a recent Food Network show. He said it was supposedly healthier and better than charcoal briquets. Has anyone seen this episode or have more information about the Brand...

Energized from yesterday’s change of heart, I kicked into high gear. Today was quite a ride. I can’t believe I did all the following in one day ... but I did. It’s a testament to the chowconnaissance strategy of...

briquets ..... when they were well ignited (but before ash white) I emptied the coals into two banks opposite of each other. In the middle under the bird I have a 12 X10 inch aluminum pan with water. I put some of the drained...

Both the Weber and Ducane grills use ‘flavorizer’ bars. I would love opinions as to the pros or cons of these ‘bars’ vs. ceramic or lava type briquets. I know the briquets can get nasty, have a tendency to...

with a visible flame and smoke, leaving behind almost pure carbon that burns cleanly without producing much smoke or flame. Charcoal briquets are a manufactured product that involves pressing charcoal and other materials into the...

and briquets create way too much ash) but use briquets and hardwood lumps when smoking fish. Most places that sell lump, only sell mesquite lump; I prefer to use oak lump. I usually buy the house brand at BBQ Galore (it’s...

the coals in one pile ( instead of split on either side of the drip pan ) they lasted longer – I didn’t have to add any new briquets during the process. Here’s my list of times and temperatures - * starting temp...

/grate. That said, those street pits are probably the best consistent bbq you can get in the area, even though it has been my experience that most of them use briquets, and not lump charcoal. And cheap, Western Beef type briquets...

an inch thick. I added nothing, no seasonings or rubs, cooked each over natural wood charcoal (not briquets) for 3&1/2 to 4 minutes per side about two inches above red-hot coals for a medium rare result. We both agree: this is...