I am about to purchase a Weber performer grill. I like the idea of
charcoal with gas convenience.
I have a few newbie questions.

#1 Does the Weber work ok with lump charcoal vs. the kingsford type
briquettes?
Are all types of lump created equal, in other words are there much
differences between brands
of lump charcoal
#2 What are the best types of hardward to grill over (burn temperature
etc,)
#3 When cooking over lump charcoal, do you still need wood chips to
get flavor?
I have seen many claims that without wood chips, you don't get much
flavor.
If that is true, why bother cooking over charcoal vs. gas? Myself,
I always found far more
flavor cooking over charcoal than gas.
#4 For wood chips, are pellets such as (BBqr's delight) a better
choice.
The claim is that pellets provide more consistent smoke.

See my answers to your questions
On Apr 22, 4:05 pm, wrote:
> I am about to purchase a Weber performer grill. I like the idea of
> charcoal with gas convenience.
> I have a few newbie questions.
>
> #1 Does the Weber work ok with lump charcoal vs. the kingsford type
> briquettes?

I use both briquets and lump charcoal to great success.


> Are all types of lump created equal, in other words are there much
> differences between brands
> of lump charcoal

There is great variation in the quality of lump charcoal and
avaliablity depends on where you live I have had good luck with
Royal Oak and Lazarri. Cowboy and the related brands have not worked
well.

> #2 What are the best types of hardward to grill over (burn temperature
> etc,)

You won't like grilling over "hardwood" if it isn't lump charcoal. It
just takes way too much wood to make a decent fire and there are
better alternatives.

> #3 When cooking over lump charcoal, do you still need wood chips to
> get flavor?

If you are grilling no. If you are slow cooking yes.

> I have seen many claims that without wood chips, you don't get much
> flavor.
> If that is true, why bother cooking over charcoal vs. gas? Myself,
> I always found far more
> flavor cooking over charcoal than gas.

Again, if you are slow cooking use wood chunks.

> #4 For wood chips, are pellets such as (BBqr's delight) a better
> choice.
> The claim is that pellets provide more consistent smoke.

Don't like pellets.

Brent

On 2007-04-24, Brent > wrote:
>
>> #2 What are the best types of hardward to grill over (burn temperature
>> etc,)
>
> You won't like grilling over "hardwood" if it isn't lump charcoal. It
> just takes way too much wood to make a decent fire and there are
> better alternatives.

Certainly make sure that IF you do use hardwood and its not already
black and charred that it is at least seasoned for 1 year or so to dry it
out and get rid of the resins,etc.. Make sure that you read the FAQ on this
before you start chopping down your pine tree for BBQ wood which is bad --
some woods should not EVER be used -- RTFM..

>> I have seen many claims that without wood chips, you don't get much
>> flavor.
>> If that is true, why bother cooking over charcoal vs. gas? Myself,
>> I always found far more
>> flavor cooking over charcoal than gas.
>
> Again, if you are slow cooking use wood chunks.

I should ad that if you use wood chips or chunks on a fire that is too hot,
it can lead to a very strong/bitter taste in your food -- at least I believe
I've read that somewhere.. You're really only wanting to do the "smoke" if
you're doing low-n-slow. YMMV!

Rick F. wrote:

> I should ad that if you use wood chips or chunks on a fire that is too hot,
> it can lead to a very strong/bitter taste in your food -- at least I believe
> I've read that somewhere.. You're really only wanting to do the "smoke" if
> you're doing low-n-slow. YMMV!
>

For gas grills, I recommend soaking chips in water for about an hour,
then wrapping them in foil. The foil prevents combustion, so all you
get is smoke. Bradley, in their excellent electric smoker, feature a
hot plate that is used to heat puck sized wood bisquettes of chipped
hardwood held together with collagen. The hot plate doesn't exceed
500f, and since the smoker is fairly airtight, there is no oxygen to
support combustion. By keeping the temperature under 500f, I believe
that much less creosote is released by the smoldering pucks. After 20
minutes, the old puck is forced off the hot plate into water and
replaced by another.

Many folks who don't even fiddle with charcoal preburn seasoned hardwood
and then just shovel glowing coals into the pit. The preburning drives
off and burns out the creosote so all you get is heat and flavor. It
takes a lot of wood, but is probably cheaper than using charcoal in the
long run if you have trees around. We lived in NC, where there was
always a lot of pecan to cut up.

--
---Nonnymus---
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.