" wrote:
>
> Dave Bugg wrote:
> >> If you're talking briquettes rather than real lump charcoal, then it has
> > more to do with making sure all the briquettes are ignited and stabilized to
> > reduce temperature fluctuations. Some folks fire up briquettes with starting
> > fluid,a petroleum derivative, --- can we say YUCK --- which does add
> > unpleasent flavor to the food; but so do most briquettes. Kingsford, for
> > example, uses a mixture of anthracite coal (yup, that stuff in the ground)
> > and fir tree char (which you would never use for real barbecue, unless you
> > love the taste of turpentine). It is then bound together with starches and
> > other binders. No amount of burning will remove the off-taste that is
> > inherent to these products.
>
> After using a gas grill for the last 15 years, there's no way I could
> go back to charcoal. I eat a charcoal grilled hamburger and all I can
> taste is charcoal.

That would be the crap lighter fluid and coal issue as noted above, not
charcoal.

Try grilling a burger formed from just ground beef (<5 min from grinder
to grill) over proper lump charcoal (low grill position, 600+ degrees)
and taste a new culinary world.

Pete C.