Steve Whiting
TVWBB All-Star
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting our beloved Administrator, Chris Allingham. My wife and I were in San Jose visiting family and decided to take advantage of the generous offer Chris had made to give free of charge a bag of the Kingsford Competition briquettes to anyone willing to use it in the WSM and post on their experience. Ever since Chris first announced that Kingsford was going to offer an alternative to their standard briquettes I have been anxiously anticipating its arrival. I have been using Royal Oak lump almost exclusively this last year but truth be told I prefer the consistency in size and temperature that briquettes offer. So this last weekend I finally found the time to give it a try.
At about 10:00pm Friday night I prepared a 12.something pound Brisket and a rack of Baby Backs. I filled the WSM charcoal ring till it heaped over the top, I fired up approximately 15 Competition Briquettes in the chimney and lit her up. The first thing I noticed was that it caught fire extremely fast. A huge trail of white smoke billowed out of my chimney-more than I ever recall seeing with any other fuel. The smell was good. My wife and I agree it was a nice woodsy aroma. I likened it to the smell of a campfire. Not quite as strong though as the aroma I experience when using the Royal Oak lump. Definitely NO bad odor.
The brisket went on at 11:00pm. With the hot coals and 3 chunks of hickory on the unlit the WSM came up to temp very fast and was easily stabilized at around 230 degrees. The brisket was thick so the cook was very long. After a good night’s sleep I awoke at 7:00am to find the temp still sitting in the target range. The temp continued to hold strong and did not start to drop until 10:45am Saturday morning. At 205 degrees I stirred the coals to free them of ash. I noticed there was still a good amount of half burnt briquettes so I did not add any more. The temp was back up to 240 in less than 10 minutes. At 11:30am I threw on the Baby Backs. At 1:30pm I noticed the temp starting to drop so I finally added more unlit briquettes. This means the initial load lasted 14 ½ hours. The brisket came off at around the 15 1/2 hour mark and was terrific.
My final thoughts on the new Kingsford competition briquettes are as follows:
It burns hot, long and consistent. The smell was good-no bad odor. This product did produce a fair amount of ash. More than lump and not as much as regular Kingsford but you will need to dump after each use. It was everything I hoped it would be and can’t wait to get more. I still have not found it in stores here in Sacramento yet. I see this as a positive alternative for those who like the consistency of briquettes.
A final note. I have never used Rancher but have heard nothing but good things about it so I emailed the Original Charcoal Company to ask how I can get it here in California. They told me that Rancher will be available in OSH and Trader Joes this spring. Wow! I can’t wait to try it too.
At about 10:00pm Friday night I prepared a 12.something pound Brisket and a rack of Baby Backs. I filled the WSM charcoal ring till it heaped over the top, I fired up approximately 15 Competition Briquettes in the chimney and lit her up. The first thing I noticed was that it caught fire extremely fast. A huge trail of white smoke billowed out of my chimney-more than I ever recall seeing with any other fuel. The smell was good. My wife and I agree it was a nice woodsy aroma. I likened it to the smell of a campfire. Not quite as strong though as the aroma I experience when using the Royal Oak lump. Definitely NO bad odor.
The brisket went on at 11:00pm. With the hot coals and 3 chunks of hickory on the unlit the WSM came up to temp very fast and was easily stabilized at around 230 degrees. The brisket was thick so the cook was very long. After a good night’s sleep I awoke at 7:00am to find the temp still sitting in the target range. The temp continued to hold strong and did not start to drop until 10:45am Saturday morning. At 205 degrees I stirred the coals to free them of ash. I noticed there was still a good amount of half burnt briquettes so I did not add any more. The temp was back up to 240 in less than 10 minutes. At 11:30am I threw on the Baby Backs. At 1:30pm I noticed the temp starting to drop so I finally added more unlit briquettes. This means the initial load lasted 14 ½ hours. The brisket came off at around the 15 1/2 hour mark and was terrific.
My final thoughts on the new Kingsford competition briquettes are as follows:
It burns hot, long and consistent. The smell was good-no bad odor. This product did produce a fair amount of ash. More than lump and not as much as regular Kingsford but you will need to dump after each use. It was everything I hoped it would be and can’t wait to get more. I still have not found it in stores here in Sacramento yet. I see this as a positive alternative for those who like the consistency of briquettes.
A final note. I have never used Rancher but have heard nothing but good things about it so I emailed the Original Charcoal Company to ask how I can get it here in California. They told me that Rancher will be available in OSH and Trader Joes this spring. Wow! I can’t wait to try it too.
