Charcoal and you; picking the right bag.

As we've discussed in earlier posts, charcoal is the only way we cook. On very rare occasions I will use a propane grill at a friend's house if I need to, but my loyalties lie in fuel that comes out of a bag, not a bottle.

There are many brands of commercially available charcoal, but not all coals are created equal. The one thing that I think is most important to mention at the beginning of this article is this; NEVER use an easy start or "match light" charcoal if you care about the way your food tastes. This also includes the stuff that you "light in the bag" to save time. This stuff is always made with some type of chemical accelerant in the formula; this is similar to soaking what could have been perfectly acceptable charcoal briquets in a bucket of lighter fluid. You can smell it as soon as you open the bag, and since it isn't just on the outside layer, that smell will continue to permeate your food as you cook. Nobody likes drinking gasoline, so why make food that tastes like it? You also shouldn't add more of this type of briquet in the middle of cooking, especially not by pouring the bag into a hot grill... the little chunks of broken briquets and the dust in the bottom of the bag are very flammable.

There are two major types of charcoal you can buy in the store, lump hardwood and briquet. Almost everywhere you go you can get the basic blue bag of Kingsford, and to be honest, that is what I use most of the time.

Hardwood "Lump" Charcoal:

While not nearly as uniform in size or appearance as briquets, lump charcoal is made the same way it has been for centuries. Wood is allowed to smolder, but not actively burn due to deprivation of oxygen. The end result is mostly carbon; it is a lot lighter than it started out, and burns in a more predictable fashion than wood chunks would. Lump charcoal is not as readily available as briquettes, and usually costs substantially more for the high quality stuff. Another thing worth mentioning is that the lumps can be quite fragile; try to get a fresh looking bag that hasn't been too banged up, and don't throw it around on the way home unless you really want smaller chunks and more dust for some reason.

Lump charcoal lights faster and burns shorter than briquettes do, but with no additives. This makes it a little better for temperature control if you have to raise the temp quickly, but you will have to use more volume over long duration smokes or long cooking sessions with a lot of food being grilled. This faster burning quality can be lessened (if not eliminated) by limiting the flow of oxygen during use. Many people swear that it tastes a lot better, but I haven't found the difference in the brands I've tried so remarkable as to swear off briquets totally. Try both and see what you think.

One brand that I would warn you to consider avoiding is the Cowboy Brand Hardwood Charcoal; my personal experience with the stuff has been that the bag had a lot of bits small enough to fall through the charcoal grate or chimney starter without ever producing heat, and it burned fairly quickly, even with the lid on and the vents almost completely closed. The only positive thing I could say about it is that it is the cheapest lump charcoal I've ever seen marketed, but this is one of the situations where you get what you pay for. Many other people have reported on other sites that they got strange looking non-wood items as a surprise in the bag. Since this isn't a toy in the bottom of the cereal box, I wouldn't want to find any in mine.

I have had a lot more experience with briquets, but look forward to trying out a more varied range of lump charcoal in the future. There is a great database of lump charcoal types and information maintained by the Naked Whiz that is absolutely worth reading. They review all different types of lump charcoal themselves using a very thorough scientific method and allow consumers to submit ratings for the products as well. Based on a review I read there of a local store brand, I plan on picking up a bag of it to try out this weekend.

Briquets:

The original Kingsford charcoal briquet was made from the junk lying on the floor after body panels for cars were made. Yes, I'm being completely serious. Lucky for us, this was the 1920's and the manufacturing plant belonged to Henry Ford. Back in those days, car bodies were made of wood and not metal. Good thing too, because metal shrapnel from the floor of the Nissan plant probably doesn't burn very well compared to sawdust and wood scraps. I imagine the taste would be different too. Must be one of those "right place at the right time" things.

Today, I imagine the manufacturing process and formula has changed slightly, but not the concept. Without getting too much into the way briquets are made, I will note that there are several non-wood elements added to the mix to promote even burning and to allow them to stick together into those little rounded black pillows. Kingsford uses starch to bind the briquets together, mineral char and carbon as well as wood char for fuel, and sodium nitrate and sawdust to make them light more easily. They also add limestone to color the ash white, and borax makes an appearance as a compound to help them release from the mold during manufacturing. Does this taste like anything while its burning? Maybe so. The price and availability of briquets from Kingsford is enough to offset the possibility for many, including myself. As I said earlier, most times I buy the basic Kingsford stuff for my BBQ needs; plenty of competitions have been won with the stuff over the years.

I did try a bag of Kingsford Competition Briquets a few weekends ago while camping, and I was impressed with their performance. The ingredient list on these is a lot lower than with their blue-bagged brethren, including only wood char, starch for binding it all together and borax to release it from the mold. A very scientific review of this new offering from Kingsford was posted on the Virtual Weber Bullet site, showing the fact that they burn faster and produce less ash than the standard issue Kingsford stuff. The attempt was to make something similar in taste and performance to lump charcoal but in the convenient briquet form. I am looking forward to doing a head-to-head comparison of the two at a later date to see if there is a noticeable difference in taste. They do cost almost double what the regular briquets do, so keep that in mind. They were definitely worth another try from what I've seen.

There are plenty of other briquets made by other manufacturers, including many store brands available based on where you live. A lot of times, a little research on the internet can tell you who the products are actually made by, and some of them are actually high quality stuff for less money than the bigger brands. In this case it pays to do your research.

As Nick mentioned in a previous article, the best way to start coals quickly is the chimney starter, and the Weber Rapidfire chimney is the best I've ever used. If you don't already have one, get one soon. Even if you swear you can't taste the lighter fluid, consider this: not only does it light them quickly with no lighter fluid, it costs less than a few bottles of that junk and won't run out.

In the coming months, we'll be trying out several different kinds of charcoal to see what we can learn. We'll let you know what we find out.

Now go outside and cook something!

Grill Profile: Weber One Touch Kettle Grill Buyers Guide

Have you decided on a Weber One Touch but don't know which one would be best for you? This guide should help you make a more informed decision, as the information from most other sources might not make a lot of sense if you aren't already familiar with their product line.

Growing up we always had a Weber kettle in the backyard. Propane grills would come and go, but that well worn black orb on a tripod was always there. My father had already had it for around 25 years when I started grilling my own food, and while it may not have been as shiny as a new one, it worked every bit as well. Even though the design and manufacturing processes have certainly changed in the 50+ years these grills have been in production, the shape is instantly recognizable. These grills are durable, easy to maintain and very well designed. One of the main advantages to the lack of drastic change is the availability of replacement parts should they become necessary.

Although the shape remains the same, some of the features on the current Weber One Touch grills are fairly recent additions. I'm going to focus this guide on the four models that represent the middle of the Weber charcoal grill product line, which I hope will make it easier to understand. Choosing the right one for your needs can be a little confusing, and its next to impossible to get all this info in one place, even from Weber's own site. I am deliberately ignoring the 26.75" version of the One Touch Gold for the purposes of this guide due to the significant price increase (double the cost of the next closest one) and the additional features it does not share with the smaller versions.

All members of the Weber One Touch family have several very important things in common, all of which are improvements over their lesser-priced competitors:

• One Touch cleaning system- on all models there is a lever on the underside that sweeps ashes and debris that have fallen below the charcoal grate through three large slats in the bottom of the grill. There are differences in these, but the function is the same. Earlier versions had several vents on the bottom of the grill instead, but no real way to remove ash quickly; this system doubles as the air flow control for the bottom as well.

• Porcelain enameled bowl and lid- very important for rust prevention. With proper care, the coating on these grills will last for many years of solid use.

• Aluminum no-rust lid vent- this little guy is incredibly important for temperature control, and making it out of aluminum ensures that it wont rust out or seize shut.

• Glass reinforced nylon handles- these were made of wood on the older models, but would crack and splinter once they sat out in the elements for a few years. This newer design is far more durable, but keep in mind that they can get quite hot.

• Heavy duty plated steel cooking grate- each member of the One Touch team has a different one, but the key thing to remember is that they're easily replaceable. Many retailers keep them in stock, and since the sizes haven't changed in a long while, you should be able to get one easily years down the road when yours gets nasty.
  

I recommend selecting the series you want first- this is a selection that will be based solely on features, so I will compare and contrast the various differences in layout and materials.

One Touch Cleaning System:

On the One Touch Silver models, the system is comprised of a lever and three aluminized steel blades. These blades have been coated with a process that bonds them with an aluminum-silicone alloy, giving them increased corrosion resistance over normal steel. They can eventually rust out, especially if soot is able to build up on them holding moisture right against the surface. They are available through Weber as replacement parts should this eventually become an issue for you. Ashes are dropped out of the bottom of the grill into an aluminized steel dish that can be removed (with some effort to avoid making a mess) to discard the cold ashes. As long as you keep the dish clean you won't have a problem, but a gust of wind can easily coat you from the knees down in white ash on a good day, and let charcoal fragments and embers out when the bottom control is used to regulate airflow. On this model, the cleaning system requires simple assembly, but anyone who can follow simple directions will have no problem completing this step in a matter of minutes.

The One Touch Gold models have a slightly different setup that offers a few distinct advantages. First, the internal blades in the system are made of stainless steel rather than the coated steel of the Silver version. The fact that the system is already assembled is a plus, but the biggest difference is the removable high capacity ash can. The whole thing comes out with a simple turn of the handle and can be carried very easily with no drastic ash loss. For people that grill frequently, this can be a major selling point.


Glass Reinforced Nylon Handles:

The One Touch Silver has one handle on the lid and another handle positioned in the front of the grill for rolling it around. For most things this works just fine.

The One Touch Gold adds an additional handle on the rear of the grill to make lifting it easier. Fairly simple addition, but quite useful when repositioning the grill or trying to move it over things, especially when hot.


Heavy Duty Plated Steel Cooking Grates:

The Silver models get the basic cooking grate. These will stand up to years of hard use if kept clean, and the plating is very resistant to chipping, even when coming into contact with metal grill tools every time its used. Handles stick up above the cooking surface so the entire grate can be easily removed (please wear insulated gloves) to tend to the coals underneath. A couple of bricks near your cooking area can make a very easy spot to set the grate down without scorching anything important, and can be quite useful in keeping your food off the ground, something I know I'm a big fan of.

The Gold models get an upgraded version with hinges built into the edges for adding additional coals during the grilling process. This is mainly used when using indirect heat, a technique that is essential to long duration smoking, or cooking anything that would burn if placed directly over the hot coals. It should also be noted that these are available for a fairly reasonable cost (under 20 bucks) should you choose to upgrade later, and work very well with the addition of charcoal rails or baskets that are used to keep coals where you put them. In summary, if you're hyped to have a hinged grate but don't care about the extra handles or ash can (two options that can't be added later if you change your mind), grab a silver and buy this grate as a replacement part- buy a few cases of beer with the money you saved.


By this point in the guide, you should have a pretty good idea of what series you prefer. This next section should be a lot simpler than the previous one. Always best to save the easy parts for last, right?

Both the One Touch Silver and One Touch Gold models are available in 18.5" and 22.5" sizes. While this may not seem like much of a difference, this measurement is only the diameter of the cooking grate. When converted to area, the 18.5" has 268.8 square inches of area, whereas the 22.5" version has 397.6 square inches. The math nerds tell me this is very close to a 48% increase.

This measurement is important in the size of the cooking grate, but also in the outer dimensions of the grill itself. If you do most of your grilling by yourself or with a handful of friends, the 18.5" grill would probably suit you fine, and would be easier to store if you have a smaller cooking area. If you cook for larger groups, or your friends are impatient and have to have all their food cooked at once, go with the 22.5" version. Keep in mind that the lid on the 22.5" is also slightly taller- much better if you plan on smoking a large turkey or making beer can chicken. There are also a few accessories that only work with the larger size, like the rotisserie attachment and charcoal holder baskets. Most of the accessories made by Weber are designed to work on either size.

Also, the 22.5" version is the only one available in additional colors. Both dark green and royal blue are offered in addition to the original black. These options are not usually stocked by most retailers, so expect to pay a little more for the froo-froo fancypants look. I bought mine in blue.

Since price can also be a deciding factor, I priced out the basic black versions in all 4 models at Lowes to give you a baseline:

Weber One Touch Silver, 18.5" - $69.70
Weber One Touch Silver, 22.5" - $89.70
Weber One Touch Gold, 18.5" - $129.70
Weber One Touch Gold, 22.5" - $149.70

These prices are listed online and are current as of 7/30/09- they can fluctuate a little seasonally, but are usually around the same as they are now.

Good luck with your selection, and keep in mind that these grills are designed to last many years with proper use and maintenance. Enjoy!