Feel the Burn: Our Favorite Hardwood Charcoal Brands for Summer Grilling

[1buckie]

Thanks Eastex !!!

I may have found the goods....Safeway stores near here....store locator says they have it, we'll see

[Eastex]

Has Stubbs or B&B?

[Duke]

I like the Blue K over natural briquettes because of the price and find that the naturals usually crumble easily. I never add smoke wood when using them though because they already put out enough smoke for me. BK also seems to last linger and stay more consistent. I have been cooking over B&B oak lately and like it, but it's pricey at $16 for a #20. It also burns off way quicker than my blue k, but I still prefer it for grilling. I might just get some Lazzari mesquite at $40 for #40 next time. I can handle some fireworks.

[Bbqmiller]

Has anyone used the Trader Joe's brand of briquette charcoal?  They had it today at $8 for 18 pounds, which at .44/lb. is dang close to what I pay for KBlue at the sales (~.28/lb last year).  The label says it's made in Argentina, and uses only cornstarch as a binder. 

I bought a single bag today, and I'm not sure if that was a sale price or the regular price.  I'll have to give it a try to see how it works.

I have used it and it is ok. Easy to light, long burning, and is readily available during the summer from TJ's. it is claimed to be rancher briquettes that is rebranded TJ's. it works well both for grilling and smoking, but I tend to use more often for long cooks mixed up with lump.

The TJ's is underneath the big bag of El Gaucho.

[1buckie]

Has Stubbs or B&B?

B & B according to the B & B website store locator.....will find out later today maybe.......

[Duke]

Some Safeways have B&B. There is only one that I know of around me that does.

[1buckie]

They show two close & one farther away......

The big one downtown will probably pan out, but I got a thing about going there ~~~~>

They tore down the Alhambra Theatre, last art nouveau theatre in Calif. ( I believe) to construct it....Fabulous architechure / decoration........

Bunch of friends & accquaintences were a part of the battle to block the destruction....

They put on concerts & art shows, etc. to raise funds.....

Biggest was Van Morrison & Vince Guaraldi ( The "Peanuts / Charlie Brown" music guy )

Very fond early years memory !!!!

[Bbqmiller]

Humphrey's also has a nice natural briquette. It isn't to find. They also have some nice lump as well.

http://charcoalbq.com/index.php

For all the northern NJ and eastern Pa folks Fred's bbq also has a nice selection of lump.

http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com/mobile/default.aspx#Home

[1buckie]

No B & B at safeway.....got Trader's to test out.....pulled pork soon.....

[Heyjude]

i love that the blog post made a remark about discovering Parmigiano-Reggiano

I haven't bought regular parmesan since I've discovered Parm-Reg about 10 years ago.

Yeah, well your stinky cheese isn't gonna catch on, no matter how much you promote it!

[jacoblee]

Kingsford on Sale starting Tommorrow @ HD

Sent from Galaxy Note 2 using tapatalk 2

[Duke]

i love that the blog post made a remark about discovering Parmigiano-Reggiano

I haven't bought regular parmesan since I've discovered Parm-Reg about 10 years ago.

Yeah, well your stinky cheese isn't gonna catch on, no matter how much you promote it!

Can't be worse than you feet!

[mike.stavlund]

I bought some of the Trader Joe's house brand charcoal a few weeks ago.  It is natural, but briquettes (with only cornstarch as a binder, the label claims).  I've used it a little, and it works pretty comparably to regular Kblue-- not quite as hot as true lump.  The weird thing I noticed was that as it was lighting, the briquettes would kind of *expand* or get a little bloated.  Maybe because the binder was letting go.  The briquettes were a little crumbly, even before they were fully lit. 

I've been more impressed, though, with the Frontier lump I stocked up on.  It burns really hot, and seems to last a long time as well.  It's been my understanding that lump will burn hotter but faster, but my experience with this lump is that it burns hotter but just as long.  Today, I lit a full chimney of lump, then turned it out into two coal baskets.  I roasted a red pepper directly on each basket before I poured another 2 cups or so of coals on top and started up the rotis.  That ran at about 450 for an hour, and then I put on some broccoli to roast.  I pulled it off for dinner, completely forgetting to choke out the fire.  When I went out a bit later to close the vents, the thing was still running at just under 400 degrees.  So that was over 2 hours of roasting, and still keeping some good temps.  I don't think I ever got that out of the Kblue. 

I know the lump is more expensive per pound, but I get a lot more cooks per pound out of the lump than I did from the Kblue, I think.  Because it makes more BTUs, but also because I'm not paying per pound for those briquette binders. 

[Bman]

I was at the local TW Perry lumber yard (Leesburg) and saw they carried Frontier Lump.  I'll have to grab a bag and give it a whirl.

[1buckie]

Yeah, the Frontier is pretty reasonable.....I'm  still using the Ono & Orange Tree stuff I got for 1/2 price so it'll be awhile before lump-time........

Interested in what you say about Trader's, i got some 'cause i can't find Stubb's anywhere & it seemed pretty decent.....slightly crumbly, smells / tastes nice...........
Ran a bit hotter / faster than what I'm used to & I was trimming the vents down to get it right.....that part's OK, but the thing that bugged me was I found some plastic (thin sheet) type stuff, some nylon thread that they use to sew the bags closed, loose in the bag & several briquettes with the above embedded in them.....
Scan your stuff a bit before youi light, may be isolated, maybe not.......