Lump Charcoal

Lump charcoal is not as widely used or as readily available as pressed briquettes but you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Lump charcoal is very clean burning and it burns hotter than briquettes because it is made only of hardwood and none of the chemicals or fillers found in the pressed composite briquettes.

You will need to control the air flow through your grill in order to find the optimum cooking temperature. More than likely, you will need to shut down the air flow more than you are used to with briquettes. With some experimenting, you will soon find the right combination.

You may be asking why not just cook with hardwood? Hardwood is a great choice for outdoor cooking but the prep time is much longer. You have to build the fire and let it burn down to a bed of hot coals before cooking. Lump charcoal can be lit and ready to cook on in a matter of minutes.

The best method for lighting lump charcoal is with a chimney starter. Just put a couple of sheets of crumpled up newspaper in the bottom, put the lump charcoal on top of that and light. The lump charcoal will soon be burning hot and you will be ready to cook.

Want to add some smoky flavor? That’s easy enough. Just add some wood chips (see my page on flavored wood chips, and smoker box).

There are many producers of lump charcoal and they will vary slightly in their content. Just keep in mind that you want medium to large chunks. If the brand you get has a lot of small pieces and a lot of dust in the bottom, that’s probably not the best brand to use because you will not be getting your money’s worth. Medium to large chunks of lump charcoal will burn longer and hotter.