Best Briquettes to cook with?
- Thread starter mullermoon
- Start date
-
Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
SimonM
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I buy restaurant grade lump wood charcoal from our local cash and carry wholesaler...Bookers.
it gives a steady cooking temperature for 5 hours and cost less than the carp that Argos sell.
Simon
it gives a steady cooking temperature for 5 hours and cost less than the carp that Argos sell.
Simon
Briquettes??!!!! Wash your filthy mouth out! 
they are mostly coal dust and clay, with a little charcoal dust and other things such as salt peter and sulphur in them!
Get some PROPER charcoal, you know the stuff that used looks like the tree is came from
Lumpwood charcoal won't make your food smell/taste bad, isn't nearly so crunchy, nor ashy, burns well, is easy to light, is lighter to carry and more environmentally friendly. Call yourself a bushcrafter 
they are mostly coal dust and clay, with a little charcoal dust and other things such as salt peter and sulphur in them!Get some PROPER charcoal, you know the stuff that used looks like the tree is came from
Lumpwood charcoal won't make your food smell/taste bad, isn't nearly so crunchy, nor ashy, burns well, is easy to light, is lighter to carry and more environmentally friendly. Call yourself a bushcrafter 
Briquettes??!!!! Wash your filthy mouth out!
Get some PROPER charcoal, you know the stuff that used looks like the tree is came from
He's talking about cooking in a covered dutch oven. Nothing outside will effect the taste. But briquettes will be easier to regulate the heat with. 13 on the bottom and 13 on the top. That'll give you an interior temp of about 350f; the normal temp for most DO dishes.
Last edited:
I don't think you've come across some of the horrendous things masquerading as charcoal that is sold over here. sometimes impregnated with paraffin as well, it stinks when burns and the smell gets everywhere.
Fortunately lumpwood charcoal is also widely available.
Sounds like the same thing we have (briquettes made by compressing sawdust, charcoal dust, and food grade wax) After all that's why briquettes were invented by Henry Ford. So he could find a use for the sawdust remains from the wood used in the early automobiles. But that said, they work very well when offgasing doesn't effect the food (and it doesn't in a closed cooking vessel)
But the ones containing paraffin are usually marketted over here as "Match light" or something like (meaning you don't need a starter fluid to light them) And I avoid those just as you suggest.
I might add here that a very good, non-toxic starter fluid for charcoal is ordinary cooking oil.
Last edited:
Briquettes also work far better in my Cobb than lumpwood. 9 Briquettes will burn for about 1.5 hrs at least.
This'll surprise a few, but yeah I'd agree with that. They are the only briquette that I'll buy.
Briquettes??!!!! Wash your filthy mouth out!
Get some PROPER charcoal, you know the stuff that used looks like the tree is came from
Dave I cooked a shoulder of pork that had been soaked in still cider for 72 hrs inside a kettle BBQ using heatbeads. They burn clean, hot and for a hell of a long time. I normally don't recommend them as they have been difficult to get hold of down our neck of the woods, but if you can get them they are good.
I've used the Weber stuff to smoke a Turkey a few years a go and a double row (one row lit, one not) burned for four
hours.
They are the best I've used, and worth the extra cost IMHO.
hours.
They are the best I've used, and worth the extra cost IMHO.
Indeed. Light with a sheet of newspaper, 2 capfulls of cooking oil and a chimney. Perfect for slow and low
Sent from my ST21i using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my ST21i using Tapatalk 2
briquettes are fine to use with a DO, pretty much any of them will do the job. There is a DO calculator app for android phones.
