Lump charcoal can burn hotter and can be made with specific woods that impart desirable flavors on food.Photo: Andy Ciordia/Flickr
Post by Eliza Barclay, The Salt at NPR Food (5/24/13)
A lot of things about grilling can ignite a fight, i...
Lump charcoal can burn hotter and can be made with specific woods that impart desirable flavors on food.Photo: Andy Ciordia/Flickr
Post by Eliza Barclay, The Salt at NPR Food (5/24/13)
A lot of things about grilling can ignite a fight, including the meaning of “barbecue.” If you have a charcoal grill, the type of fuel you use is no exception, as many people are likely to discover this weekend.
To a newbie, the world of charcoal can be overwhelming, especially since the charcoal aisle of big box and hardware stores seems to be getting more crowded, with alluring chips and lumps of apple, cherry and even coconut wood. But the first hurdle is navigating the question: Do you use charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal, also known as “natural” hardwood charcoal?
Most polemicists on the matter can agree that there are advantages and disadvantages to each one: Briquettes burn more consistently, but they contain additives and generate more ash. Lump charcoal can burn hotter (handy if you’re searing meat) and can be made with specific woods that leave a trace of their scent on food. But the lumps come in a jumble of different sizes, some of which may not be evenly charred. And its bags can contain excess dust that may block the flow of oxygen in a grill.
If sales figures settle a debate, then briquettes and instant light charcoal are still the favorites by far (they made up 94 percent of the charcoal shipped in 2012, according to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association).
Still, lump charcoal is attracting fans, especially among backyard cooks easily sold on the word “natural,” which adorns nearly all of the dark brown bags filled with lump charcoal for sale. There are now more than 75 brands on the market. And there’s even a small community for DIY lump charcoal.
According to Craig Goldwyn (aka Meathead), who runs the authoritative Amazingribs.com: The Science of BBQ & Grilling, “I see lump charcoal as just an extension of the organic movement. It’s still a tiny sliver of the market, but it reflects on the public’s desire to have less stuff in their food and their cooking.”
All charcoal is essentially the same thing: wood burned with little oxygen so that all that’s left is essentially carbon. But makers of lump charcoal claim it’s superior because of its purity — it contains no additives like regular briquettes or lighter fluid like instant-light ones.
Indeed, while lump charcoal and briquettes both originate as scrap lumber, the uniform round shape of the briquette is a result of an industrial process that depends on other materials, too. (Kingsford, the biggest maker of charcoal in the U.S., is a little vague about what exactly is in its briquettes, but its website mentions coal, limestone, borax and cornstarch.)
While breathing in too much smoke may cause adverse health effects, there isn’t much evidence that the additives in the briquettes have any impact on food. What they do impact, says Meathead, is control over the cooking process.
“I’m trying to teach people how to cook, and so I preach temperature. That means controlling heat is really vital, and briquettes are just a rock-solid heat source,” he says.
And when it comes to flavor with smoke, Meathead writes, adding small amounts of hardwood in the form of chips, chunks, pellets, logs or sawdust on top of the charcoal matters more than the charcoal itself. In other words, mesquite or hickory wood will add much more smoke flavor than mesquite or hickory charcoal.
Some serious grillers actually prefer cooking with logs instead of charcoal, but it’s a far more challenging undertaking. That’s because raw, burning wood still gives off a lot of volatile gases (that are gone once it has been reduced to charcoal).
“You have a lot of die-hards who prefer the hardwood, and the thing about hardwood is that it can have a regional, cultural aspect,” Jeff
