In an old recipe collection book (1960) I have read the following on bbq
"Never Use Charcoal for Broiling
Charcoal absorbs great quantities of poisonous gases. It is used for this purpose in gas masks. It will absorb ninety times its own volume of ammonia gas. Most charcoal briquette contain quantities of wood alcohol and acetic acid. These fumes are given off as the briquette burn and are extremely toxic.
Charcoal is a dark or black porous form of carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substances, as by charring wood in a kiln from which air is excluded. In countries where coal and other fuels are hard to find or are too expensive charcoal is used for cooking fires.
Americans observed charcoal cooking in other countries and decided it must be a better method of broiling. Charcoal gives off various types of fumes, depending on what it is made from by mostly just a dirty carbon odor. This carbon odor gives a taste to broiled food that is just the same as you would get by sprinkling carbon on the food. This taste is far more often undesirable than desirable.
For broiling meat, fish or fowl over a fire, always us hard coal. It gives off no carbon fumes like charcoal and it gives the meat, fish or fowl a much cleaner taste. Hard coal never obscures the flavor of the meat, fish or fowl as charcoal definitely does.
The use of hard coal instead of charcoal in Minnesota for broiling has always been the accepted practice. Many other parts of America have also discovered this to be true. The famous restaurant, Gage and Tollner's in Brooklyn, which unquestionably broils the finest fish and meat in the east, uses nothing but hard coal for broiling, Never charcoal. "
Now I have never tried this before and was wondering if anyone else has. I cannot get any hard bit coal here in MN without ordering a whole dump truck worth from the east coast, but I would be curious if anyone has any knowledge on this type of broiling or thoughts.
Thanks.
3 types of coal. The mineral you get from the ground. Charcoal briquettes that nowadays are made with no harmful ingredients and lump coal. Lump coal is what I use it is 100% wood with nothing added. You can do a quick Google search to see the differences. In reference to the book you have from the 60's, I would like to point out that in that same era there was a cigarette company that used asbestos filters and marketed it under the theme it would be healthier for you to smoke so you won't burn your lungs.
Yes, good point, just wondering if anyone had tried it.
I wonder if there is a noticeable difference in using coal instead of charcoal.
Although I am not aware of anyone anywhere using the coal that comes from the ground that many homes use to heat their house with or that runs industry and power plants as a BBQ medium. I did find an article I think can answer a few of your questions about today's Briquette's vs Lump Coal
The Great Charcoal Debate: Briquettes Or Lumps?
Had never used lump charcoal until I moved down here and then I had to use it because briquettes were not available, here, at the time.
Once I got the hang of starting it, I loved it and when they started bringing in American briquettes to sell here, I didn't even bother.
The way lump charcoal is started, here, is that the bags include a small bag of ocotes - short, thick splinters of pine that stay lit long enough for the charcoal to get going well.
I don't have a chimney starter and, unlike some people, I don't like using gasoline or kerosene as starter fluid (commercial starter fluid is still rare here), so I have found that it is 99.999% impossible to start this lump charcoal with newspapers, etc., but that the ocotes start it quickly and easily EVERY time.
It's amazing what can happen when you use the right tool for the job. LOL!
@ labradors
This will not be worth the money if you do not BBQ often or if there is not an electrical supply next to where you grill or smoke, but I have found it to be a very awesome tool for starting my lump.
The Looftlighter
Interesting, but the ocotes work very well, once you know how to use them and I don't have any outlets that close to the grill, anyway.
Also, because of the cost of electricity, here, one of the points of grilling is NOT to use something electrical. LOL!
in pizza ovens coal is mainly for tempature. i am guessing this is the case for broiling. it's more like a salamander type heat then wood heat around 1000f compared to maybe 5-600f with a good fan you can melt iron with it.