On Jul 12, 5:20 pm, TFM® > wrote:
at, and that's it.

> I suppose we all mellow with age. <G>

LOL. It happens to the best of us!

> There seems to be a lot of mesquite lump on the market here these days. Is
> it worth a go on some steaks?

I would say it depends on how you cook yours. I leave my coals and
wood in the chimney until all of them are orange. Then I put them in
the grill and cook away. At super high temps the steaks don't spend
much time over the fire (medium rare) so there is almost no chance of
too much smoke no matter what you are using.

If you are the other school of cooking and sear both sides and cook
away from the fire to finish, you obviously get more smoke.

For the first method I use 1/3 R Oak briquettes, 1/3 oak (white or
red) and 1/3 seasoned mesquite chunks. I put the RO on the bottom of
the chimney and let it light first, then the oak, and lastly the
mesquite. When the mesquite is really burning, the chimney is ready.
I scatter the hot coals and wait about 15 minutes with the cooker top
down to really heat up the cast iron grates. The wood will generate a
lot of smoke and heat, but since the mesquite (and oak) is really dry,
no creosote stuff. This is for rib eyes and strips.

On the second method for meats that can use a bit more time on the
grill like sirloins, etc., I do pretty much the same thing but use all
lump as it doesn't get as hot. But since the mesquite has been
converted to lump, it doesn't have much bite so the lower temps are
fine. I have had great success with some kind of Mexican made lump
they sell here for grilling steaks and chicken. As properly made
lump, it is pretty mellow.
It does burn really hot though and the stuff I bought just doesn't
give that mesquite taste I crave from time to time. To finish cooking
with that bag lump, I put strips in the grill (about 3 or 4) of
seasoned mesquite that are about the same size as a carpenter's
pencil. Like I said, no much needed. Came out great.

I would say give it a whirl and see what you think. It's cheap enough
to try. You could burn a quick test steak and some bird on it and see
pretty easily what you get.

I'd be interested to know!

Robert