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ckreef

"Red Lump"

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Nope not the color red. Communist "Red" that is. Lump charcoal from Cuba. 

 

I was on the Fogo website one night when the little chat customer service box popped up. I never use those boxes but I was feeling a little squirrely that night. "What is the absolute hardest, longest burning lump you have that's not super huge pieces?" well about 1 minute later there was a live person on chat. After a brief discussion of my particular application (for use in my Yakatori grill), Marabu Harwood Lump imported from Cuba was recommended. I bought a bag. Here it is. This is about 25% of the bag dumped into the box. Definitely heavier and more dense sounding than the RO I had to compare it too. Will give it a go in the Yakatori grill tomorrow night. 

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This review has very little to do with kamados. My intention was to find the longest burning lump suitable to use in my XL Konro Yakatori grill. Last night I tried Fogo Marabu Hardwood Lump. 

 

Using an XL Weber chimney I added two alcohol soaked cotton balls, a thin layer of RO lump and then filled it up with Marabu lump. With that setup it had no problem getting lit. I started it on the porch but quickly moved it out to the yard. To just say it was sparky is a huge understatement. I've bought $10 fireworks that didn't spark as much as that chimneys worth of Marabu. We did have a nice fireworks show before dinner - LOL. Once it was fully lit and glowing orange the sparks ended and I dumped it in the Konro. 

 

It did burn nice and hot. Me and Mrs skreef had a leisurely dinner cooking and eating that lasted about an hour. There were plenty of glowing coals still going when we finished. The Marabu lump eventually burned completely up and left very little ash compared to other lumps. 

 

In this Yakatori grill I've tried Black Diamond, Rockwood and now Marabu. Both the Black Diamond and Rockwood burned hot but definitely didn't last as long. I would consider the burn time of Black Diamond and Rockwood to be 1+ hour. On the other hand the Marabu would be a 2+ hour burn time. The extra burn time is definitely useful especially if you have a few guests sitting around enjoying a nice evening of cooking and eating. 

 

Would I use Marabu in a kamado? Probably not due to the sparky issue. For now it's the best I've tried in the Konro and will continue to use it until I find something that sparks less and burns at least as long. 

 

Sorry no pictures of this adventure. Not quite ready to showcase the new Konro Yakatori grill. (I still have some trim work to do on my modified Yakatori table.) 

 

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I posted this question on the guru, so if you don’t want to answer twice, no problem.

How was the flavor? I’ve seen conflicting reports, so I’m curious as to your thoughts.

I’m looking for potential substitutes in the event Dennis can’t work out his cocochar issue.


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I'll repeat the reply in case people over here want to know the answer. 

I would say it was no flavor but....... I had every piece glowing completely orange before cooking on it. That's how you work a Yakatori grill. You would never use it that way in a kamado so it just might have a flavor when burned under normal kamado use. 

To add a little more to the answer, it was so sparky not sure I would ever try it in a kamado. Fogo had great shipping from FL to GA so I'll probably try their black bag lump for use in the KK's. 

 

 

Edited by ckreef
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I'm really excited about your new grill @ckreef and it is, partly, @Syzygies' fault.  When I was running through my KK purchase options Syzygies slipped in an off the cuff comment about buying binchotan if I was really rich.  I was intrigued about a charcoal that required you to be rich and disappeared down the rabbit hole in search of this mystery coal.  Way too expensive for me but it led me to yakitori and the konro grills.  

It seems like an amazing art, making binchotan and then cooking wonderful morsels of meat over it on the konro.  Whenever there is a TV programme on BBQ and someone eats really good yakitori it seems like it is a tranformative experience.  How far am I on the journey?  Well, I have had some sumi bincho briquettes in our basement for some months now (poor man's binchotan at a tenth of the price of the real thing) and am still waiting for my konro grill.  Hoping it will come in the next few weeks so I too can spend a leisurely evening eating meat over super-hot coals.  

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  On 4/22/2018 at 6:40 PM, ckreef said:

This review has very little to do with kamados. My intention was to find the longest burning lump suitable to use in my XL Konro Yakatori grill. 

Sorry no pictures of this adventure. Not quite ready to showcase the new Konro Yakatori grill. (I still have some trim work to do on my modified Yakatori table.) 

 

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I'm also very excited to see your setup! I've looked at these grills for years... One of our favorite restaurants is Raku in Vegas. The best robata we've ever had, anywhere. They of course only use binchotan charcoal. Probably the main thing that has stopped me from buying a yakitori/robata grill is the crazy expense of that binchotan. It sounds like you are cooking some good food without going to that expense, so I'll be paying attention to your experience! 

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  On 4/23/2018 at 1:11 PM, MacKenzie said:

tekobo, that sounds like sooo much fun, so tasty and so relaxing.

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Well, the guy selling the grill said I could potentially light the fire outdoors and then cook indoors (under a hood I presume).  It really depends on the smokiness of the coal and of the cook.  Getting the coals to glowing before bringing them in could make all the difference.  Imagine...indoor barbecuing in the winter!

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  On 4/23/2018 at 5:52 PM, tekobo said:

Well, the guy selling the grill said I could potentially light the fire outdoors and then cook indoors (under a hood I presume).  It really depends on the smokiness of the coal and of the cook.  Getting the coals to glowing before bringing them in could make all the difference.  Imagine...indoor barbecuing in the winter!

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I wouldn't. 

I often see pics posted online from a manufacturer in Italy of a WFO that I've been eyeing. Some folks, it seems, like to put the oven on their kitchen counter and run the chimney out an open window. Besides the fire hazard, I'm not too comfortable with an indoor CO producer, no matter how well ventilated.

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