Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I detect
some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use of "petroleum
coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At any rate, what are the
economical alternatives to someone who loves good 'cue, but who isn't
fanatical.

Thanks,

Dave
Vacaville, Kalifornia

On Jul 8, 9:23 am, "DBear" > wrote:
> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I detect
> some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use of "petroleum
> coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At any rate, what are the
> economical alternatives to someone who loves good 'cue, but who isn't
> fanatical.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
> Vacaville, Kalifornia

If, during the workweek you can get over towards Brisbane there's a
lump distributor named "Lazzari" http://lazzari.com/. They're only
open during business hours.

$14 for 40lbs. Not much more than K'Ford. They sell oak (hardwood) and
mesquite.

You'll taste an immediate difference. If you grill a fair amount, at
first the lump will seem tasteless since you've become accustomed to
the overwhelming petro flavors put out by K'Ford. But after a bit
you'll be able to taste the oak.

On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:31:24 -0700, Tutall > wrote:

>They're only open during business hours.

What chutzpah!

Hello Neighbor,

> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I
> detect some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use of
> "petroleum coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon?

Kingsford briquettes are made primarily of soft coal, with wood
char and lime added. The use of petroleum coke is something I
haven't heard Kingsford confess to - it's possible that the
coke that I heard about was destined for another brand.

But, to answer your question, you're not technically wrong,
carbon is just carbon - if that's all that briquettes contained.

If you get a bag of lump charcoal and fire-up a chimney-load
of it, think of the smell of the smoke - it's a natural wood-smoke.
Then compare that to the smell of a chimney-load of Kingsford,
and you should be able to immediately detect the difference.

Another difference is the ash produced by briquettes; Kingsford
is about 30% limestone, which doesn't burn. Lump burns down
to actual ash, which is much lighter. It also means that an
equivalent weight of lump generates more total heat than
briquettes, something worth considering when comparing prices
of lump to briquettes.

You can get Royal Oak lump charcoal at Wal-Mart, or a lot of
places carry mesquite lump, which isn't as sweet. Lazzari's
hardwood lump is better than Royal Oak, IMHO.

Something that Home Depot was recently carrying - I don't know if
our local Solano County HDs still have it - is Original Charcoal
Company's Rancher Briquettes. These are made from hardwood lump
and a starch binder, and are 100% vegetable. They smell like
tropical hardwood when they burn and leave ash just like hardwood
lump. In other words, outstanding stuff, and at $5/20lbs, cheaper
than Kingsford.

> At any rate,
> what are the economical alternatives to someone who loves good 'cue, but
> who isn't fanatical.

If you love good barbecue, you need to cooking with lump (or wood
burned to coals, there's nothing fanatical about that. Lazzari's
40lbs bags of hardwood lump are outstanding but you might need to
drive down to SFO to get it. Original Charcoal Co's Rancher
briquettes are also *very* good. Royal Oak lump burns a little
fast for me, but it gets the job done.

I'd suggest that mesquite is best used for grilling, not
barbecue, but you might try it as well.

Dana

Steve Wertz wrote:
> On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:08:53 -0700, Dana Myers wrote:
>
>> You can get Royal Oak lump charcoal at Wal-Mart
>
> The Walmarts I've checked only carry Kingsford regular,
> MatchLight, and the Sam's "60% Bigger" briquettes.

The local Wal-Mart here has Royal Oak lump and usually
has some mesquite or hickory wood chunks, in addition to
the briquettes you mention.

> Our Home Depots only carry Kingsford and Matchlight. That is
> until they had that batch of Orginal Ranchers Lump briquette - now
> gone.

I'm glad a bought 12 or so bags of the Ranchers briquettes;
that was a deal.

> And this is supposed to be Texas? The best place to get a
> selection of charcoals here in Austin is from the Mexican
> carnicerias.

Yikes, you have trouble finding lump in *Austin*. That's
just sad.

Dana

Steve Wertz wrote:

> On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:08:53 -0700, Dana Myers wrote:
>
> > You can get Royal Oak lump charcoal at Wal-Mart
>
> The Walmarts I've checked only carry Kingsford regular,
> MatchLight, and the Sam's "60% Bigger" briquettes.

I didn't find RO at the WalMart near me either. Interestingly, I did
suddenly find it at the supermarket (see separate thread).



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

DBear wrote:
> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I
> detect some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use
> of "petroleum coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At any
> rate, what are the economical alternatives to someone who loves good
> 'cue, but who isn't fanatical.


Stick ya nose in a bag of lump and take a good sniff. Now, do the same with
a bag of Kingsford.

One question - Do you want the chemical smell of the Kingsford on your food
or the smell of the lump?

-frohe

frohe wrote:
> DBear wrote:
>> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I
>> detect some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use
>> of "petroleum coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At any
>> rate, what are the economical alternatives to someone who loves good
>> 'cue, but who isn't fanatical.
>
>
> Stick ya nose in a bag of lump and take a good sniff. Now, do the same with
> a bag of Kingsford.
>
> One question - Do you want the chemical smell of the Kingsford on your food
> or the smell of the lump?
>
> -frohe
>
>
See, I get smarter every day! Thanks to all, and I will certainly try
out the suggestions I received from you.
Not a fanatic, but I've been using a 22" Weber for a few years, and
recently bought a performer and am feeling like it would be fun to get a
little more serious about what I'm doing. I love what a Weber can do,
but perhaps I should think about a barbecue.

Dave

Dave Turner wrote:
> frohe wrote:
>> DBear wrote:
>>> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads,
>>> I detect some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their
>>> use of "petroleum coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At
>>> any rate, what are the economical alternatives to someone who loves
>>> good 'cue, but who isn't fanatical.
>>
>>
>> Stick ya nose in a bag of lump and take a good sniff. Now, do the
>> same with a bag of Kingsford.
>>
>> One question - Do you want the chemical smell of the Kingsford on
>> your food or the smell of the lump?
>>
>> -frohe
>>
>>
> See, I get smarter every day! Thanks to all, and I will certainly try
> out the suggestions I received from you.
> Not a fanatic, but I've been using a 22" Weber for a few years, and
> recently bought a performer and am feeling like it would be fun to
> get a little more serious about what I'm doing. I love what a Weber
> can do, but perhaps I should think about a barbecue.

You might think about getting the Weber Smokey Mountain. It is specifically
designed to do bbq, and that makes a HUUUUGE difference, Dave.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

In article <XlAki.4262$bz7.2959
@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net>,
says...
>
<snip>

> See, I get smarter every day! Thanks to all, and I will certainly try
> out the suggestions I received from you.
> Not a fanatic, but I've been using a 22" Weber for a few years, and
> recently bought a performer and am feeling like it would be fun to get a
> little more serious about what I'm doing. I love what a Weber can do,
> but perhaps I should think about a barbecue.
>
> Dave
>


http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2...coal/SmokeyMou
ntainCooker.aspx

http://tinyurl.com/2sukph

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

IMHO, there is nothing easier to learn how to do good
barbecue on than a Weber Smokey Mountain.

Bill
--
Gmail and Google Groups. This century's answer to AOL and
WebTV.

"Kevin S. Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:31:24 -0700, Tutall > wrote:
>
>>They're only open during business hours.
>
> What chutzpah!
>
>
AND!!! The ultimate troller descends upon us again! Kevie, honey, we've
missed you so much. Thy testicles must be bulging, frantically trying to
release sperm. Give us more, and more, and more.
Love,
Kennie

Dave Turner wrote:
> Not a fanatic, but I've been using a 22" Weber for a few years, and
> recently bought a performer and am feeling like it would be fun to
> get a little more serious about what I'm doing.

Dave - the key to making good Q the way you like it is practice, practice,
practice. Start off with learning how to cook your meats properly (temp,
tenderness, juicy, etc.) on your cooker. Once you have that down, then it's
time to experiment with rubs, marinades/brines, and sauces.

Keep yaself a diary of your various cooks so you know what went good and
what wasn't what ya wanted. This keeps ya from repeating your failures and
helps ya remember what went well and why. Before ya know it, you'll have it
locked.

-frohe

Kent wrote:
> "Kevin S. Wilson" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:31:24 -0700, Tutall > wrote:
>>
>>> They're only open during business hours.
>> What chutzpah!
>>
>>
> AND!!! The ultimate troller descends upon us again! Kevie, honey, we've
> missed you so much. Thy testicles must be bulging, frantically trying to
> release sperm. Give us more, and more, and more.
> Love,
> Kennie
>
>
HEY! Spare me the thought- rent a chatroom you two. Sheesh.

On Jul 9, 5:25 pm, Dave Turner >
wrote:
> frohe wrote:
> > DBear wrote:
> >> Please give a noob some info about briquettes. Reading the threads, I
> >> detect some dislike of Kingsford, and one of the reasons is their use
> >> of "petroleum coke". Am I wrong, or isn't coke just carbon? At any
> >> rate, what are the economical alternatives to someone who loves good
> >> 'cue, but who isn't fanatical.
>
> > Stick ya nose in a bag of lump and take a good sniff. Now, do the same with
> > a bag of Kingsford.
>
> > One question - Do you want the chemical smell of the Kingsford on your food
> > or the smell of the lump?
>
> > -frohe
>
> See, I get smarter every day! Thanks to all, and I will certainly try
> out the suggestions I received from you.
> Not a fanatic, but I've been using a 22" Weber for a few years, and
> recently bought a performer and am feeling like it would be fun to get a
> little more serious about what I'm doing. I love what a Weber can do,
> but perhaps I should think about a barbecue.
>

Even your grilling will taste better with lump.

"Denny Wheeler" > wrote in
message ...
> On Mon, 9 Jul 2007 12:42:15 -0500, Steve Wertz
> > wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:08:53 -0700, Dana Myers wrote:
>>
>>> You can get Royal Oak lump charcoal at Wal-Mart
>>
>>The Walmarts I've checked only carry Kingsford regular,
>>MatchLight, and the Sam's "60% Bigger" briquettes.
>
> Wal-Marts in Western Washington carry Royal Oak lump. And RO's
> briquettes, ISTR. Along with a lot of the ubiquitous Kingsford
> stuff.
> But then, it's made in Oregon, so I'd expect it to be all over the
> NW.
>
>>Our Home Depots only carry Kingsford and Matchlight. That is
>>until they had that batch of Orginal Ranchers Lump briquette - now
>>gone.
>
Frankly, most all briquets are not worth using, especially those
soaked in kerosine called matchlight. Briquets are mostly sawdust,
glue, petrolium products, and other wonderful things. Yummy Yummy.

Try using wood or real charcoal. In my opinion, it's more than
worth the effort.

Bob-tx