Are you people aware of all the nasty things that are puy into Briquettes? One of the ingredients in KINGSFORD is ANTHRICITE COAL that is used for heating,power plants coal stoves. This is not something that gives you more flavor. Switch to lump charcoal and taste the difference, not to mention it lasts a lot longer. Homedepot, K-mart,And TRUE-VALUE carry it just to name a few.
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Kingsford Charcoal
- Thread starter Bryan S
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G
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This topic has been discussed in great detail, and a detailed list of Kingsford's ingredients has been posted. I will continue to use it anyway. I've never had an off flavor from it, it lasts much longer, and it costs half as much. I think it's a great product.
Steve
Steve
Konrad Haskins
R.I.P. 3/23/2014
Sorry I do not want to start anything just can't let an attack on my favorite charcoal go unanswered.
Yes I've seen the complete ingredients list. My Ouma (grandmother) had an Anthracite fired Aga stove in her farm house Kitchen. That Aga cooked some extremely memorable meals.
I've won 17 Ribbons in my first 6 competitions including reserve grand champion, grand champion, 3 first place finishes in a row for Chicken and the last two were PERFECT scores.
If I want a lot of heat from grilling then Kingsford is not the right choice. In a smoker that re-circulates air like a ceramic or a Goodone, Kingsford may not be the right choice.
But when the folks I cook with and against do well at national events with Kingsford and WSM's please don't bad mouth either as the results do not agree.
Yes I've seen the complete ingredients list. My Ouma (grandmother) had an Anthracite fired Aga stove in her farm house Kitchen. That Aga cooked some extremely memorable meals.
I've won 17 Ribbons in my first 6 competitions including reserve grand champion, grand champion, 3 first place finishes in a row for Chicken and the last two were PERFECT scores.
If I want a lot of heat from grilling then Kingsford is not the right choice. In a smoker that re-circulates air like a ceramic or a Goodone, Kingsford may not be the right choice.
But when the folks I cook with and against do well at national events with Kingsford and WSM's please don't bad mouth either as the results do not agree.
G
Guest
Guest
This otter be worth $.02......
I used to worry about weird stuff being in charcoal, too. That's why I started cooking with oak coals in the offset. Then I moved to where there is no oak, at least not cords and cords of it, and so I returned to charcoal and chunks.
Then, I started to notice how many folks were cooking, enjoying and winning on WSMs using Kingsford and chunks. So I joined up and got mine too.
Just finished my third cook, an all-niter cooking a brisket and a butt; I used a pizza stone right on the tabs with the water pan empty right on top of that.
Even though I nervously woke up every hour or two, I really didn't need to. The bullet held steady as a rock at 240 in the dome and turned out some great food.
I used to worry about weird stuff being in charcoal, too. That's why I started cooking with oak coals in the offset. Then I moved to where there is no oak, at least not cords and cords of it, and so I returned to charcoal and chunks.
Then, I started to notice how many folks were cooking, enjoying and winning on WSMs using Kingsford and chunks. So I joined up and got mine too.
Just finished my third cook, an all-niter cooking a brisket and a butt; I used a pizza stone right on the tabs with the water pan empty right on top of that.
Even though I nervously woke up every hour or two, I really didn't need to. The bullet held steady as a rock at 240 in the dome and turned out some great food.
Ryan Solin
TVWBB Member
We have a client that worked for Kingsford for 25 years. Pretty much over saw the construction of a couple of their production facilities.
Yes, Kingsford contains some interesting stuff. Though, I've been told that it is lignite coal that Kingsford uses. Could be a misunderstanding, but with the amount of years that this person worked there, I would think he knows what he's talking about.
I use Kingsford only because it's the only thing that I can get a lot of around here. I would gladly pay more (a lot more) if I could get something else. Such as maple leaf.
Kingsford is ok. Nothing special. It's just charcoal. Way, way, way to much ash though. You can blame this on their increasing the amount of binders and minerals that they add (minerals are added for weight).
Yes, Kingsford contains some interesting stuff. Though, I've been told that it is lignite coal that Kingsford uses. Could be a misunderstanding, but with the amount of years that this person worked there, I would think he knows what he's talking about.
I use Kingsford only because it's the only thing that I can get a lot of around here. I would gladly pay more (a lot more) if I could get something else. Such as maple leaf.
Kingsford is ok. Nothing special. It's just charcoal. Way, way, way to much ash though. You can blame this on their increasing the amount of binders and minerals that they add (minerals are added for weight).
Kevin Taylor
TVWBB All-Star
Below is an official reply form Kingsford. This question was actually asked on this very forum.
I totally disagree with your outcomes of longer burn times. I have used several varieties of lump and they cannot come even close to the 16-22 hour burn times of Kingsford charcoal. I would agree with Steve B. in that my findings and testings show that lump is more than TWICE as expensive, is in rather short supply(I have one source only in a town with 500,000 people) and it lasts NOT EVEN half as long.
As far as Kingsford, I too have won many ribbons in competitions using it. If everything is so bad in it, why has the product been around for over 80 years? Furthermore, if it so bad why has our over-bearing, over-regulating Federal govt. allowed its exsisitence?
I hope this helps all of us in this discussion.
Stogie
__________________________________________________
I asked Kingsford about the smell and what was in thier product. Here's the reply.
Dear Mr. Gibson:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about KINGSFORD Briquets. We appreciate your interest in our products.
The ingredients of this product are as follows:
Ingredient Function
wood char, heat source
mineral char, heat source
mineral carbon, heat source
limestone, uniform visual ashing
starch, binder
borax, press release
sodium nitrate, ignition aid
sawdust, ignition aid
Nobody knows when or where charcoal was invented, but traces of it have been discovered in archeological digs of Neanderthal sites, and cavemen used it to draw pictures of mastodons and other early animals. The modern charcoal briquet was invented by automaker Henry Ford. Ford operated a sawmill in the forests around Iron Mountain, Michigan, in the years prior to 1920 to make wooden parts for his Model T. As the piles of wood scraps began to grow, so did Ford's eagerness to find an efficient way of using them. He learned of a process developed and patented by an Orin F. Stafford. The process involved chipping wood into small pieces, converting it into charcoal, grinding the charcoal into powder, adding a binder and compressing the mix into the now-familiar, pillow-shaped briquet. By 1921, a charcoal-making plant was in full operation.
E. G. Kingsford, a lumberman who owned one of Ford's earliest automobile sales agencies and was distantly related, briefly served as manager of the briquet operation. A company town was built nearby and named Kingsford. In 1951, an investment group bought the plant, renamed the business the Kingsford Chemical Company, and took over operations. Its successor, The Kingsford Products Company, was acquired by The Clorox Company of Oakland, California, in 1973.
Today, KINGSFORD charcoal is manufactured from wood charcoal, anthracite coal, mineral charcoal, starch, sodium nitrate, limestone, sawdust, and
Page Two
borax. The wood and other high-carbon materials are heated in special ovens with little or no air. This process removes water, nitrogen and other elements, leaving almost pure carbon. The briquets do not contain petroleum or any petroleum by-products. KINGSFORD charcoal briquets with mesquite contain the same high-quality ingredients as KINGSFORD, but with the addition of real mesquite wood throughout.
/ Manufacturing briquets begins with preparing the wood charcoal using one of the following methods:
Retort processing -- Waste wood is processed through a large
furnace with multiple hearths (called a retort) in a
controlled-oxygen atmosphere. The wood is progressively
charred as it drops from one hearth to the next.
Kiln processing -- The waste wood is cut into slabs and stacked in
batches in a kiln that chars the wood in a
controlled-oxygen atmosphere.
Once the wood charcoal is prepared, it is crushed and combined with the other ingredients, formed into pillow-shaped briquets and dried. The advantage of using charcoal over wood is that charcoal burns hotter with less smoke.
If I can be of further assistance to you, please contact us again.
Sincerely,
Terry Dittus
Product Specialist
I totally disagree with your outcomes of longer burn times. I have used several varieties of lump and they cannot come even close to the 16-22 hour burn times of Kingsford charcoal. I would agree with Steve B. in that my findings and testings show that lump is more than TWICE as expensive, is in rather short supply(I have one source only in a town with 500,000 people) and it lasts NOT EVEN half as long.
As far as Kingsford, I too have won many ribbons in competitions using it. If everything is so bad in it, why has the product been around for over 80 years? Furthermore, if it so bad why has our over-bearing, over-regulating Federal govt. allowed its exsisitence?
I hope this helps all of us in this discussion.
Stogie
__________________________________________________
I asked Kingsford about the smell and what was in thier product. Here's the reply.
Dear Mr. Gibson:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us about KINGSFORD Briquets. We appreciate your interest in our products.
The ingredients of this product are as follows:
Ingredient Function
wood char, heat source
mineral char, heat source
mineral carbon, heat source
limestone, uniform visual ashing
starch, binder
borax, press release
sodium nitrate, ignition aid
sawdust, ignition aid
Nobody knows when or where charcoal was invented, but traces of it have been discovered in archeological digs of Neanderthal sites, and cavemen used it to draw pictures of mastodons and other early animals. The modern charcoal briquet was invented by automaker Henry Ford. Ford operated a sawmill in the forests around Iron Mountain, Michigan, in the years prior to 1920 to make wooden parts for his Model T. As the piles of wood scraps began to grow, so did Ford's eagerness to find an efficient way of using them. He learned of a process developed and patented by an Orin F. Stafford. The process involved chipping wood into small pieces, converting it into charcoal, grinding the charcoal into powder, adding a binder and compressing the mix into the now-familiar, pillow-shaped briquet. By 1921, a charcoal-making plant was in full operation.
E. G. Kingsford, a lumberman who owned one of Ford's earliest automobile sales agencies and was distantly related, briefly served as manager of the briquet operation. A company town was built nearby and named Kingsford. In 1951, an investment group bought the plant, renamed the business the Kingsford Chemical Company, and took over operations. Its successor, The Kingsford Products Company, was acquired by The Clorox Company of Oakland, California, in 1973.
Today, KINGSFORD charcoal is manufactured from wood charcoal, anthracite coal, mineral charcoal, starch, sodium nitrate, limestone, sawdust, and
Page Two
borax. The wood and other high-carbon materials are heated in special ovens with little or no air. This process removes water, nitrogen and other elements, leaving almost pure carbon. The briquets do not contain petroleum or any petroleum by-products. KINGSFORD charcoal briquets with mesquite contain the same high-quality ingredients as KINGSFORD, but with the addition of real mesquite wood throughout.
/ Manufacturing briquets begins with preparing the wood charcoal using one of the following methods:
Retort processing -- Waste wood is processed through a large
furnace with multiple hearths (called a retort) in a
controlled-oxygen atmosphere. The wood is progressively
charred as it drops from one hearth to the next.
Kiln processing -- The waste wood is cut into slabs and stacked in
batches in a kiln that chars the wood in a
controlled-oxygen atmosphere.
Once the wood charcoal is prepared, it is crushed and combined with the other ingredients, formed into pillow-shaped briquets and dried. The advantage of using charcoal over wood is that charcoal burns hotter with less smoke.
If I can be of further assistance to you, please contact us again.
Sincerely,
Terry Dittus
Product Specialist
I would like to appolagize to all of you. I have used Kingsford all my life and just freaked out when i read the ingreidents. I prefer lump on the weber kettle and now that i've calmed down i'm still going to use kinsford in the WSM. I got off on the wrong foot here Happy smoking I love My WSM
Konrad Haskins
R.I.P. 3/23/2014
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Konrad Haskins:
[qb]
[qb]
Originally posted by Ryan Solin:
[qb]
I use Kingsford only because it's the only thing that I can get a lot of around here. I would gladly pay more (a lot more) if I could get something else. Such as maple leaf.
[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> http://www.smokinchips.com/
These folks wholesale the good lump they are in Western WA.
Wal-Mart in Idaho carries Lump, not seen it in WA or OR. Cash and Carry has Mexican mesquite lump which I like for grilling and the price is very right. Everything is on my links page click the little house by my name.
G
Guest
Guest
Bryan,
I think I can relate to how you feel. I, too, got off on the wrong foot with another cooking forum by entering it with some tough questions and challenges. No matter how many times, or in how many ways, I said that I didn't intend to cause any hard feelings, that I just wanted some lively debate, virtually nobody stood up to accept it for what it was. I guess we are all a little too protective of our own convictions. Maybe I should do as you have done and just offer a simple apology. If they can't accept that, it's no longer my problem, it's theirs. Thank you.
I think I can relate to how you feel. I, too, got off on the wrong foot with another cooking forum by entering it with some tough questions and challenges. No matter how many times, or in how many ways, I said that I didn't intend to cause any hard feelings, that I just wanted some lively debate, virtually nobody stood up to accept it for what it was. I guess we are all a little too protective of our own convictions. Maybe I should do as you have done and just offer a simple apology. If they can't accept that, it's no longer my problem, it's theirs. Thank you.
Kevin Taylor
TVWBB All-Star
Bryan....
No apology needed, but it is appreciated.
As in all things BBQ, in the end, whatever YOU like is the best!
Keep on postin'!
No apology needed, but it is appreciated.
As in all things BBQ, in the end, whatever YOU like is the best!
Keep on postin'!
G
Guest
Guest
So, I wonder if it's the borax mold release agent that causes the acrid, nasty smoke of freshly lit briquettes?
It has to be something in the outer layer, because that smoke goes away once the briquette i covered in ash -- even though the inside of the briquette hasn't been ignited.
It has to be something in the outer layer, because that smoke goes away once the briquette i covered in ash -- even though the inside of the briquette hasn't been ignited.
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