Grilling with Lump Versus Briquette Charcoal

Published on Friday, May 29, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Grilling with Lump Versus Briquette Charcoal

Jamie Purviance, author and grillmaster, thinks that a combination of lump and briquette charcoal is best, since lump burns hotter but briquette burns longer.

Jamie, who is a grilling authority, also represents the Weber brand. He was not paid, nor did Weber in any way compensate CHOW, for his participation in this video. We just thought he knew his stuff. CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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  • I always have used charcoal for grilling (about 55 years), but last year I made the error of buying a big expensive gas grill at Sam's club because it looked great and I thought gas would more convient, etc. Big mistake. It ended up I hated the gas grill: because, it lacked the charcoal aroma and flavor (even if you add a wood,etc), but mainly it was a nightmare to keep clean and I found I had to...+READ

    I always have used charcoal for grilling (about 55 years), but last year I made the error of buying a big expensive gas grill at Sam's club because it looked great and I thought gas would more convient, etc. Big mistake. It ended up I hated the gas grill: because, it lacked the charcoal aroma and flavor (even if you add a wood,etc), but mainly it was a nightmare to keep clean and I found I had to clean it up after every cooking. Not like my old Weber Kettle where I could shut the vents, kill the fire, eat my BBQ then come back later to wire brush the grill, then I was done to enjoy desert. Hate to admit it but I sold the gas grill after about 6 uses for about half the cost.!
    Dumb idea to play around with the old tested standbys.-COLLAPSE

  • Dear Akitist,

    Interesting! Never considered the drip pan on the coal grate. I have three fire bricks on my coal grate. They make a triangle, with a point against the side of the grill's bowl-shaped bottom. The side of the triangle opposite the point leaves about six or eight inches of space between it and the grill bowl. That space is where I make the charcoal fire.

    Whatever is cooking is put...+READ

    Dear Akitist,

    Interesting! Never considered the drip pan on the coal grate. I have three fire bricks on my coal grate. They make a triangle, with a point against the side of the grill's bowl-shaped bottom. The side of the triangle opposite the point leaves about six or eight inches of space between it and the grill bowl. That space is where I make the charcoal fire.

    Whatever is cooking is put above the brick point, on the other side from the fire. Then, when I put the lid on, I align the vent over the brick triangle point, opposite the fire, above the food. This helps draw the heat over the food.

    I've heard of building two fires and putting the food in the center. But never of building an entire ring of coals! Doesn't that use a lot of charcoal? How do you get the coals all hot at once?

    In my system, I can start my fire by making a pile of charcoal in my fire space. I scrumble the charcoal a bit to make a hole (indentation) in the top of the pile. I put a little pile of dry twigs in the hole and light them with a match. This gets my fire pile going, and when it's hot --but way before all the charcoal is burning-- I put on the food grate. The food grate has two handles, and outside the handles are spaces where there are no grate bars. So I put one of those spaces over the fire pile. That way I can dump more charcoal or flavoring wood(s) on the fire pile if necessary.

    Add the the food and cover as described above.

    "Surrounding" the food with a ring of fire sounds like a great system. I wonder though if my smallish grill is big enough. And how to get all the coals going at once?

    Oh, and of course you don't soak the charcoal. Soaking is for chips added to charcoal. I don't use chips, though, for flavoring woods. Chunks of cherry, hickory etc. or pieces of grapevine get thrown on top of the fire pile before I put on the food grate, and so before the fire is so hot it burns them up right away.-COLLAPSE

  • I tear off a piece of foil and cover the coals with it to slow down combustion. Pull away the foil, the coals starrt up again.

  • Mesquite wood may have flavor, but the volatiles go out when it's turned to charcoal. I don't soak it. I do bash some of the bigger chunks to reduce the size a bit, as this stuff is really irregular.

    Again, allowing the coals to come up to the white-ash stage lets any petroleum fumes boil off briquettes if such are there.

    I've never tried piling all the coals to one side, but that should make...+READ

    Mesquite wood may have flavor, but the volatiles go out when it's turned to charcoal. I don't soak it. I do bash some of the bigger chunks to reduce the size a bit, as this stuff is really irregular.

    Again, allowing the coals to come up to the white-ash stage lets any petroleum fumes boil off briquettes if such are there.

    I've never tried piling all the coals to one side, but that should make coals last longer, due to presenting less surface to the available oxygen. My normal procedure for indirect cooking is to make a ring of coals surrounding a drip catcher, normally a steel pie pan, with the chicken centered on the grill above. Works super for turkeys, too; faster and more even than oven cooking, less than 3 hours for a 20-ish pound bird.-COLLAPSE

  • OK, that's good to know about the more dense mesquite. But mesquite has a pretty powerful flavor, which might not always be the one wanted.

    Maybe the results are a function of how the charcoal is used. I pretty much never "grill" over an open fire. I'm usually building a fire to one side of the grate, putting stuff on the rack to the other side of the grill and then covering the grill. In other...+READ

    OK, that's good to know about the more dense mesquite. But mesquite has a pretty powerful flavor, which might not always be the one wanted.

    Maybe the results are a function of how the charcoal is used. I pretty much never "grill" over an open fire. I'm usually building a fire to one side of the grate, putting stuff on the rack to the other side of the grill and then covering the grill. In other words, using my grill more like an oven. This definitely makes the charcoal last longer: it coals, instead of burning. I can roast a whole chicken that way with one initial pile of Cowboy (or other mixed hardwoods brands) and one adding of about a half pile. A "pile" being about a scant gallon, more or less. Maybe a bit less.

    And I'll often have charcoal left over from the adding, which goes out when the grill is covered and all the vents closed.

    Steaks and burgers are the only things I grill over an open fire, and yes, pretty much every brand of mixed-hardwoods I've tried burns up pretty fast when the fire is open, not covered.-COLLAPSE

  • do you soak the mesquite?

  • Re: Cowboy charcoal. In my experience (one time, never again) it would last long enough for burgers or steaks, not for chicken. Mexican mesquite lump is denser and lasts much longer. The way it pops and spits as it starts is entertaining, too.

  • I forgot to mention that in Italy (Sicily in fact), they sprinkle lots of sea salt on the fish .It never sticks. The fish never tastes salty either, but from my experience it tastes wonderful.

  • Couple of thoughts.
    1. Briquettes without petroleum based binders aren't easy to find. But can be. So I hope when Jamie talks aout "briquettes," he's talking about non-petroleum brands.
    2. Nothing wrong with Cowboy Brand lump, as far as lump goes. All lump is less dense, hence burns up quicker.
    3. Second MGZ. I usually add seasoned wood per the food being grilled:
    Beef, add hickory.
    Pork, add a...+READ

    Couple of thoughts.
    1. Briquettes without petroleum based binders aren't easy to find. But can be. So I hope when Jamie talks aout "briquettes," he's talking about non-petroleum brands.
    2. Nothing wrong with Cowboy Brand lump, as far as lump goes. All lump is less dense, hence burns up quicker.
    3. Second MGZ. I usually add seasoned wood per the food being grilled:
    Beef, add hickory.
    Pork, add a small amount of hickory (maybe a handful of nuts), cherry.
    Chicken, add cherry, and grapevine. Definitely cover grill, and flip chicken a few times so the grapevine smoke coats all surfaces.
    Fish and vegetables, usually no extra woods. Charcoal smoke enough for most fish.-COLLAPSE

  • I love a charcoal or wood fire grill, but I was spoiled by the convenience of gas.

  • I use lump, briquette, and real hardwood in different proportions according to what I am grilling - only way to go!

  • A couple of thoughts:

    There's some stuff branded Cowboy charcoal that is made from such small and non-dense pieces that it disappears really fast. Avoid this stuff if you want a fire that lasts any length of time.

    You can get an insane amount of heat by using lots of briquettes. As in charring gloves 18 inches distant.