What Kind of Fuel Should I Use?

That is a great question.

What is the preferred type of fuel when using a grill or BBQ?

The first thing you should know is what kind of cooking device that you own or will be using.

If it is a gas grill, you should talk to Hank Hill of Fox Networks "King of the Hill." Hank Hill works for a propane company who is known to have said to his son, "Bobby, I've got propane in my urethra." Damn! It has to be good then, right? Well, it can be. It is probably the most convenient of all fuels. You walk up to your grill, turn a couple valves and press an ignition switch. You are up and running.

So with great convenience like this...why would anyone use something else?
How could someone spend anywhere from a half hour to an hour trying to light some charcoal?
Sounds like a huge pain in the butt right?

Well, if you are crunched for time, then the propane grill is the way to go. Especially if you are cooking for the kids or their friends at one of those birthday parties with cheep hot dogs or Costco Hamburger Patties that come in a sleeved stack (Not a Sleestack). Propane's heat is easily controlled as well. You can cook on a rotisserie, you can cook over direct heat, cook over indirect heat to cook some roasts. But there is one thing that propane lacks. Flavor.

Charcoal is packed full of flavor. Granted, I would never put some salt on a bucket of charcoal briquettes and start munching on it while watching the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Yes...I said Trilogy. Stupid Refrigerator....Anyways...Charcoal brings a lot of flavor to the food. There are different types of charcoal at your finger tips:

Lump
Hardwood Briquettes
Kingsford Briquettes

These three are the basics. I will now explain the pros and cons of these three types of fuel.

Lump Charcoal is created by placing hard wood (Like Mesquite, Hickory or Oak) in underground pits and covering them up with Steal and dirt. They light one end of this pile and it starts to smolder. It does not catch on fire and burn out because there is very little oxygen, hence...the smoldering. When it is all done smoldering, all the liquid, sap, and other substance are no longer in the wood, leaving us a nice clean(yeah...check your fingers after touching these) charcoal to cook our food on. This type of charcoal brings the most flavor out of all the other types. But not unlike propane...it comes with it's own problems. It does catch fire easily. But on the other hand, it gets super hot...super fast. If you have too much lump coal, it could take some time for the heat to go down to cook. Once the heat peaks to super nova, it starts to lose it's heat just as fast. So now you have to dump more in...then some more...and once you think those chicken parts are almost done...yeah...you have to dump some more charcoal on. One of the more exciting things about using Lump Charcoal is the popping and crackling of the charcoal. In fact, if you are not careful, they can pop explosively. The coal has pockets of gas within it. So when it heats up....KABWAMMY! It will definitely keep you on your toes.

Hardwood Briquettes share a lot of similarities with the Lump Charcoal. It burn fast and hot and is made from hardwoods. You don't get the explosions like the other because they are crushed up and bound together usually with a natural starch into "Pillow-Shaped" briquettes. This shape makes it easy to handle, and to create even mounds on the bottom of the grills.

Kingsford Briquettes are the most commonly used briquette in this nation. All you Ford haters, you might want to consider using another type of charcoal. Why you ask? Kingsford was created by Henry Ford and E.G. Kingsford from the scraps of the Ford Motor Company wood scraps. Today these briquettes are created with many different things to make grilling easy and tastey. I read in one of my cooking books that this is the list ingrediants found in Kingsford Briquettes: Mineral Char, Mineral Carbon, Limestone, and crushed charcoal and cornstarch. Why do we need these other ingrediants? Well, I'll tell yah!

The Mineral Char is a soft coal and the Mineral Carbon is a hard coal. Both of these together raise the temputature of the fire, and prolongs the time that they remain hot. The limestone is added as a guage to show when the coals are ready to use. When they "Ash Over" and look all grey, they are ready to use. The rest of the ingrediants you already know. The other thing that Kingsford has that the others dont is these little grooves in the briquettes. Kingsford calls them "Sure Fire Grooves." What do they do? Simply, they create more surface area so they burn hotter so you need less of them. Pretty awesome stuff. Kingsford also offers many different types of Briquettes, you should check them out!

So what do I use?
I use a bit of everything.
When time is an issue, I have a small propane grill.
When I have more time, I use my Weber One-Touch Silver, I use Kingsford Charcoal.
When I have more time and a 6 pack of beer to drink, I use my Smoker with some hardwood or some fruitwood.

When I am using my grills, I always add wood chips. What kind of woodchips? All kinds! Make sure they are used specificaly for cooking with. Some woods can make you sick! It is best to use some pre-packaged wood chips. You can find a large selection at BBQ's Gallore usually has a large selection of fruit woods to hardwoods. Lots of grocery and home improvement stores carry a few different types as well. Or you can even look online! I usually soak the woodchips in some type of juice instead of plain water. Water does not add much when it comes to flavor. So soak them in some juice for at least 30 minutes, drain them, and place them directly over your coals. Add a little at a timeand they will smolder over the hot coals. When they smolder, they give off a lot more smoke and burn longer. This way your food tastes better! If you have a gas grill, some have a compartment specificly for putting woodchips in. If you don't, no worries. Grab a piece of Aluminum Foil and wrap a handful of soaked woodchips in it. Not to tight so the smoke can't come out, and place it over a back burner so the flames hit it. Yes. Take the grill off if you have to. You need to make contact with some heat so that it will smolder.

This will make a big difference in all your grilling experiences and your friends will think you are a grilling god!

Keep on Grillin'!

-Dave