The heat is on in this charcoal test
When it’s time to pick up a bag of charcoal, there are almost as many options in the barbecue aisle as there are candy bars at any grocery checkout station. And the debate about which one is best is a heated one — literally.
What burns hottest? What burns longest? What delivers the best flavor? What meats would pair best with it?
So we held a trial by fire for six kinds of charcoal, testing them to answer these chin-scratching questions. Every brand was given a full chimney starter’s worth of coals, which amounts to about 50 briquettes, or about a pound of the hardwood varieties that aren’t uniform in size.
With each test, the grill was cleaned out so no residue from any previous cook remained, allowing each charcoal to stand on its own merits. And with each type, I cooked an 8-ounce, thick-cut sirloin steak, seasoned only with kosher salt and coarseground black pepper, on a classic 20-inch kettle-style Weber grill. Each steak was given five minutes per side (10 minutes total) to see if it would reach the ideal medium-rare finish of a 135degree internal temperature in that time.
No lighter fluid, was used and all charcoal was started with a propane torch. Here are the findings, with each charcoal rated Grill On, Average or
Bag It.
B&B Competition CharLogs: By far the most unusual take on charcoal ($19.99 for 30 pounds), these briquette logs are shaped like thick slices of pool noodles with a hole in the middle and are built more for longer cooks like low-and-slow smoking than your standard backyard cookout.
They took about 40 minutes to get to 450-500 degrees, but even after all that time, the size of the logs remained about the same. They failed to deliver charcoal flavor to the steak, although it did get to mediumrare in the 10-minute window I allowed.
But the strength in this brand is its ability to hold high heat for a long time with pieces of wood stacked on top. There is a reason “competition” is in the name: It’s a staple in that community and is the foundation for scores of briskets and pork ribs. Rating: Average
H-E-B Grand Champion Applewood: Apple doesn’t get much love in Texas, so this H-E-B variety ($4.48 for 8 pounds) begged for a taste test. I smoke a lot of pork with apple, and it produces a sweet, smoky finish. In charcoal form, the flavor wasn’t quite as dominating, but this brand fired up to 500 degrees in 20 minutes and stayed there like a book reader on a park bench.
The high heat delivered a crispy gristle on the steak that sealed in the seasoning like a blanket and allowed the beef flavor to stand out more than the fuel. This is a knockout charcoal that would work with anything, and it’s the runaway winner of the test. Rating: Grill On, and overall winner
Jack Daniel’s: The bag ($4.98 for 4 pounds) looks like the famous whiskey label and is infused with the white oak wood used to make the barrels of the good stuff. It also comes with a side bag of six pieces of actual barrel wood that you can use to add flavor.
It failed to generate heat, unable to get much hotter than a max of 325 degrees inside the closed grill dome, even after an hour of lighting the coals. And the real bummer was there was absolutely no trace of the whiskey flavor. Also, those barrel pieces burn off way too quickly to add anything of significance to the cook.
This charcoal is nothing more than a gimmick, producing a ho-hum steak that couldn’t get beyond the rarest of rare in 10 minutes. Rating: Bag It
Kingsford Original: This old warhorse ($6.99 for 8 pounds) has been around for more than 100 years and is the standard for backyard grilling. That leads to a little tension among cookout champs because it’s akin to the big-box store picking on the little guy, but it got to be the big name because it’s a tremendous product.
Kingsford heats very quickly (500 degrees in 15 minutes) and produces the nostalgic flavors of your childhood. It’s clearly designed for the hot dog and burger community, but it tackled the steak like a champ, and there’s no reason it can’t continue to be your default for anything else you throw at it.
The only drawback is that the briquettes get very ashy and burn off quickly, so it will require at least one or two reloads for cooks that extend beyond one hour. Rating: Average
Royal Oak Hardwood Lump: This hardwood lump variety ($7.98 for 8 pounds) is made with a mixture of oak, maple, hickory and other select woods with pieces that can range in size from a golf ball to a Coke bottle. It wastes no time getting hot, hitting 475 degrees under the dome in 20 minutes, and the temperature held for more than an hour.
Royal Oak burns very cleanly, and the wood chunks don’t get overly ashy, which makes this a great option for “S,” allowing you to toss the meat or vegetables directly onto the fire.
There were zero issues with the steak getting to mediumrare, but the flavor wasn’t a standout. Rating: Average
Viva Pancho: Made in Mexico, Viva Pancho ($5.39 for 8 pounds) is pure mesquite, with chunks of random-size hardwood.
It burns hot and fast, reaching 500 degrees under the dome within 20 minutes of ignition. It held a steady temperature of at least 400 degrees for more than an hour. It produces so much smoke, you’ll smell like a chimney sweep after the cook, but it produced a wicked-good steak with a sweet yet smoky bite that hit the perfect medium-rare temperature in 10 minutes.
Great all around, but I would not use it for longer cooks because of the harshness of the mesquite smoke. Rating: Grill on