Starting the Charcoal Pile

There are many ways to light or start the Charcoal Pile:  electric, butane, pressed sawdust with wax and alcohol. I know a guy who uses a wad of toilet paper to light his Charcoal.  My favorite is a solid wood charcoal starter.

We only use Lump Charcoal at my house.  Lump Charcoal is natural and is made from real wood.  All charcoal is not made from real wood, briquettes are often made from bituminous coal, clay and biochar from grass or sawdust.

It makes good sense to use a Firestarter made from Solid Wood just like the Lump Charcoal.  FiddleSticks Charcoal Starter is made from solid oak wood.  When the starter is first lit the powerful flame crackles the charcoal into ignition and later a nice coal and ember is produced to get the fire going quick.

Lighting Charcoal is easy with solid wood firestarter.  A couple pieces in the pile and  light the bottom edge of the starter.  Light the bottom edge because fire travels up easier than down.  After a few minutes the charcoal pile will glow.

I like solid wood firestarter because it is made from solid wood, hardwood, Oak-just like my favorite Lump Charcoal.  Starter made from Solid Wood is also easy to move around in the Charcoal Pile with some BBQ tongs even when it is burning.

Lump tastes best.

The difference between All Natural Lump Charcoal and the bag of briquettes is remarkable.

The only ingredient in our all natural lump charcoal is Real Hardwood.  Lump is prepared in a kiln, the process heats the wood while starving the fire for oxygen.  When the wood gets around 486 degrees Fahrenheit the wood releases volatile organic compounds(VOC) gases.  The gases are captured and burned to keep the temperature going.  The VOC burns up and the pure carbon structure of the wood is left in the kiln.  When you light a lump in your grill it doesn’t take long to get the fire started and there is hardly any smoke or ash left behind.  Lump Charcoal is the same charcoal used in water filters to take out the impurities and in some air fresheners to filter out stink.

Most of the briquettes manufactured for grilling are made with wood char some fines from charcoal, lignite coal high in sulfur content, limestone, starch to bind the ingredients, borax, sodium nitrate and sawdust to help it light. The reason there is so much smoke is because the chemicals are burning off from the charcoal.  The smoke is the actual chemical particles condensing in the air, as the particles meet with cooler air they form very small droplets as they condense.

If you haven’t tried Lump give it a shot.  Food tastes great with real charcoal.

Smell Better and Taste Better.

Real Food deserves Real Charcoal Fire

An essential ingredient for real good food on the grill is  Lump Charcoal.    Real wood charcoal takes some recipes out of the equation.

Granted Sausages and Brats are hard to mess up, but that hickory and oak wood fired grill puts flavor on food beyond anything briquettes and gas bring to the grill.

A sweet gal came over to grill out the other night.  She had buns made from whole-meal flour.  When I hollered to pass me a plate for the sausages, she passed her buns out to warm on the fire.  Those buns didn’t try to burn like my white bread. They toasted nicely and didn’t fall apart.

The platter made it back to the kitchen and she made me the perfect sausage, a little mustard on one side and a little mayo on the other.  I’m not above eating regular white bread but her buns were the best I can remember.

Try warming your buns on a real wood fire the next time you grill.  Let me know how it turns out.