How to use Coco Char & smoking wood for low & Slow

[lobsterbake]

Hello

I am looking for any insight from KK owners that use KK Coco char and also hickory, oak etc wood chunks for smoking items like Pork Butt. I have heard to use a full basket of coco and just want to see what you have found that works when adding smoking woods. Do you put on top, intermix etc? I have found the coco is awesome but a little hard to get lit. My KK will be here in Nov but I do have some Coco and have been playing around with on my Weber charcoal grill. Any tips as I want to use my KK primarily for smoking and will use coco for smoking and lump when I am grilling. Thanks Mark

[dstr8]

Re: How to use Coco Char & smoking wood for low & Slow

I've used, since taking delivery of our new 23" KK about a month ago, 5-boxes of KK coco-charcoal. This has been for low and slow pork butt smoke/cooking, 750-800 degree pizza baking and typical steak/chicken quick cooking/searing.

For the typical 10-hour pork butt (~5-7lb boneless) smoke/cooking I probably used 1/2-3/4 basket (about 5-6 of the coco logs) and kept the KK at 225-250 most of that time. Once the coco is mostly gray I add my choice of wood chips/chunks and let the white smoke burn off before adding the meat to the grill.

The only comparison I have with fuel types in our KK is Lazzari Mesquite lump and KK Coco. The KK Coco burns longer and cleaner, both in visible smoke out the flue and taste impart to seared meats, than the Lazzari Mesquite lump. And given the pieces of KK coco are all uniform its easier/more predictable to gauge how much fuel is needed, especially for long slow cooking sessions but also for party pizza night where we make numerous Neapolitan pies spread out over an hour or more and need the KK to sustain 700-800 degrees for this time frame.

Last weekend I tried the Lazzari lump for pizzas and although I got the KK to 650-700 degrees easy enough it just didn't last very long. I had to add KK Coco mid-way to get both high temp and duration...I need to try some Royal Oak, as the site below states it burns hot but longer duration than Lazzari for compare.

If you haven't been here this is a good review site for all things charcoal/lump: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

[tony b]

Re: How to use Coco Char & smoking wood for low & Slow

Second the recommendation to check out the Whiz's website. He's "the man" when it come to charcoal.

My everyday is Royal Oak lump. My favorite is Weekend Warrior. I hoard the Coco for special cooks, as it is a precious commodity here in Iowa.

For your smoking wood, consider using a converted dutch oven as a smoker box. It will prolong your smoke over just tossing chunks on top of the fire. Here's another thread about that:

http://www.komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5335&hilit=dutch+oven+smoker+box

I like to use a combination of a hard smoking wood (oak, maple, or hickory) and a fruit wood (apple, peach, or cherry) in the dutch oven for lo & slo cooks. 2 parts hard wood to 1 part fruit. If it's chicken or steaks, I just toss the chunks onto the fire to get smoke generation right away, as they are much shorter cooks than butts, ribs or briskets. I like to use mesquite or red oak for steaks - bolder smoke flavor.