kim_martin•2mo agoProlific Poster

Did a side-by-side test of charcoal briquettes vs lump for ribs yesterday

I always figured lump was just for looks, but I finally ran my own comparison on two racks of spare ribs. The lump charcoal gave a cleaner burn and way more consistent heat over 5 hours of smoking. Briquettes left this weird ashy taste on the bark that I never noticed before. Anybody else pick up a difference, or did I just get a bad bag of Kingsford?

3 comments

3 Comments

wadeyoung2mo ago

Actually read something from Meathead at AmazingRibs about how binders in briquettes can mess with the flavor profile in longer cooks... explains a lot about that ashy taste you mentioned.

julia_jones722mo ago

Definitely changed my mind too. I used to grab whatever bag was cheapest at the store for long smokes. Did a 12 hour pork shoulder with standard Kingsford and it had this weird chemical aftertaste that I thought was just bad meat. Never connected it to the binder until I read that same article about how starch and limestone filler can get bitter after hours of heat. Switched to one of the all-natural lump brands for anything over 6 hours. No more off flavors.

hollyramirez29d ago

@wadeyoung beat me to the punch on that Meathead article, but yeah that weird ashy taste is the binder breaking down. I did ribs once with some old briquettes from the back of my shed and the bark tasted like I was licking a charcoal starter chimney. Lump all the way now, especially on longer cooks. Even my wife who can't tell brisket from pot roast noticed the difference.