slu Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Last month I ordered a large pallet of hickory charcoal from Halls Hill Charcoal Company in Tennessee. This is a small family run venture by folks who pride themselves in a quality product. The business was formally known as "Taste of the Boro." For technical reasons they had to change their business name. Having used their lump charcoal for a month now, experimenting with direct, indirect, and reverse sear methods, I can report that the charcoal exceeds my expectations. In fact it is a great product. It is sized perfectly, with pieces running from about 3" to 8". It is very stable when cooking relative to the method you choose to employee. I recently did several racks of pork ribs at 220 for six hours, and I did not have to adjust my intake damper once after I heat-sinked the KK. And when employing the reverse sear method that Dennis has recommended, the charcoal reacted very quickly when I opened up the air intake to finish the steaks at a high heat sear. BUT best of all is the incredible aroma imparted to the meat. It imparts a slightly sweat, delicate, and very subtle flavor. I have shared some of my purchase with some friends who are into serious BBQ, and they are as equally impressed. Just as Dennis is an incredible person with whom to do business, the folks at Halls Hill are as equally committed to quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paswesley Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal @slu: Thanks for the charcoal tip. We are all ever searching for the perfect cooking fuels. I have located the company and will post a link to their page below. I am going to order a bag and test it before I order a large amount. I am tempted to order a pallet on your recommendation alone, but personal taste is involved... I look forward to testing it. Here is the link to their homepage: http://www.charcoalcompany.com/cart.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal Definitely get a bag and try. Let me know what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckillgore Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal Well I'm always looking for better Charcoal. I live in a small town that doesn't have many options for lump charcoal. So I got a few bags of this to try. I will try it out this weekend. Looks good, and it's nice to know what the charcoal is, not any mysterious lumps of unknown substances in here! Until then here are some pics of one of the bags and it's contents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu Posted March 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal I hope you like it. I have gone through about six bags now. My charcoal pieces, at least from the pic, seem to be larger n66742 n66741 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal Until then here are some pics of one of the bags and it's contents. I have to say that I'd be disappointed to get all those smalls in a charcoal labeled Premium and costing almost $2 lb. undelivered. Looks like my charcoal will redefine what Premium lump Charcoal is.. I'm going to sell the smalls locally and only ship/sell the best pieces Stateside. @Chris and Peter.. Is that charcoal easily light and does off-gas and burn with a flame when first lit.. or is it hard to light and have no flames at first? Just curious if it's high in the volatiles and has a very obvious Hickory smoke profile or well carbonized with less flavor.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu Posted March 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal Dennis, I'm not a charcoal expert but I'd say it's low in volatiles. It takes a little while to get going, and the smoke is very subtle. It's not acrid at all, but you definitely know that you are using something different from oak or mesquite. I probably have smelled more types of smoke than anyone on this forum, and it is definitely unique (wonderfully so), at least to California. The charocal I received is more uniform in size; it does have some fines but then I need to have some. I also have found it to be very stable when cooking. Are you going to export lump as well as extruded? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal [@Chris and Peter.. Is that charcoal easily light and does off-gas and burn with a flame when first lit.. or is it hard to light and have no flames at first? Just curious if it's high in the volatiles and has a very obvious Hickory smoke profile or well carbonized with less flavor.. Dennis, I just pulled this off the Halls Hill Website: http://www.charcoalcompany.com/cart.html "Our Premium quality charcoal is processed between 800 to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. At these temps, the yield is 30% and carbon content is 87%. So in other words, 1000 pounds of wood will yield 300 pounds of charcoal. The charcoal is 87% carbon and 13% volatile compounds." Apparently, if they take the carbon content any highr, then the charcoal will be too brittle. It's a consequence of the density of the hickory. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNakedWhiz Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal I just happen to have some of that and will be doing a review. Their math is a bit suspect however, since they omit the ash and moisture content. But we'll see how it ranks with all the others..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Lazzari Oak Natural Briquettes So Lazzari has recently been selling natural oak briquettes. I searched; Naked hasn't reviewed these. (Lazzari) CHARCOAL BRIQUETTES (Chowhound) Pure briquettes in the Bay Area? The price at the factory is virtually identical with their oak lump, $16 per 40 lbs. For many uses the briquettes are very convenient: Easy to measure with predictable results, no fine crumbs to grade/avoid, no apparent taste difference. I can easily get to 500 F to 600 F, with less chance of overshooting. Lazzari says they're same source, same wood as the oak lump, just a different process. The Chowhound thread says briquettes are inferior for low & slow, but I never use lump either for that, I use extruded coconut charcoal from Dennis. So I'm having trouble remembering why I prefer lump. Something about all the junk in commercial briquettes? We bought a car recently that (gasp!) was automatic, not stick, so perhaps nothing we say can be trusted anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNakedWhiz Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal I think Kingsford is the only one with "all that junk". I don't review briquettes unless there is some special reason that has grabbed my fancy, but all the ones I've read about other than Kingsford have been just charcoal and binder. I think the main objection to briquettes other than Kingsford has been the ash volume. In the KK, you have a huge volume to accept the ash. In BGE, for example, it builds up rather quickly. Another consideration is that the ash builds up on the briquettes, so the heat output goes down if you are grilling unless you knock that ash off. But I know what you mean about the automatic. Shoot, next thing you know, I'll be wearing Spanx. (or rather, my barrel will be wearing Spanx) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Briquettes with additives have their place.. The briquettes with the added ingredients are great for an open grilling application where you don't have a top or way to control airflow / temps. The clay and other ingredients are there to help with lighting and to slow the burn to I believe 350ºf. Without airflow control a pile of lump in an open cement donut at the beach would get much too hot to grill many foods.. Those traditional briquettes produce the perfect middle grilling temps which are great for hot dogs, burgers etc. Kingsford's new lump charcoal I can guarantee is carbon and volatile level wise the most predictable, uniform product on the market. Grinding the wood to uniform size let's them carbonize the wood to exactly the levels they want.. all day and all night. With lump charcoal, unless you hand sort and carbonize wood that's all the same size and have a way to exactly control the temps in every corner of your charcoal retort will have very different properties. In the same retort the smallest pieces will have higher carbon and lower volatile levels making it harder to light and less flavor (some will consider this over carbonized). The larger piece sitting next to it will be easier to light, (might off gas a bit) have more smokey flavor and have lower carbon levels. If you want smoke free charcoal load up a big bowl, crank it up to where it's all raging red.. shut it down. The remaining charcoal will be difficult to light but burn a long time and be pretty much smoke and flavor less.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu Posted March 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Re: Hickory Charcoal I see the Naked Whiz has done a review. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag99.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
