Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Lump Charcoal From Trader Joe

I picked up some of this lump charcoal from Trader Joe's. I haven't had a chance to try it but thought for the price, what the heck.

It is a blend of oak, hickory and maple. The ad says it burns hot and lights easy. If you have had any experience with Cowboy Charcoal, let me know. Drop me a comment about how long it burns,use in a smoker or grill, etc.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just picked up a 20lb bag of Royal Oak lump from Restaurant Depot (Yay! I got my membership!). I'm trying it out tonite on a couple of Pork Butts. I'll let yo know how it works out.

Bert said...

Sylvie:

I've used it and acually have some at home now. It is excellent! It burns cleaner and hotter than Kingsford, my usual brand of choice. When I grill for extended periods, this charcoal tends not to smoke as much when added to an existing fire. I like it and recommend it.

Ugly Gourmet said...

Hi-

I have been using Cowboy for a couple of years now and have always had fine luck. My only problem with the product is that their is often a significant amount of very small coals at the bottom of the bag. After a very quick bit of research if found some interesting info. I have not encountered any of the problems found in the review, but it makes for interesting reading. Here's the address: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag6.htm you be the judge. Over the next a few weekends I plan to conduct my own trials of lump coal ( i came across you post in my research) and i will post what i find on my blog.

I am new to the blogging world so please forgive my inability to get the point...


My blog is eatugly.blogspot.com ( i have yet to figure out to add a link?)

sylvie1950 said...

UG-I'll be checking on your blog to see what results you find. Thanks for the info. I tried the Cowboy lump for the first time last weekend (didn't blog about it yet) and I was happy. The price is right.

Anonymous said...

I Googled Cowboy Charcoal and found you. We just had our first grill tonight: salmon and London broil. We start in a chimney, and the result was wonderful.

Kingsford has recently changed their formula for the worse, and people who worshipped it are, in a word, hosed. (As it, "put out the fire.")

This Cowboy stuff is soooo good. And it smells like camping out. Does that make sense? Kingsford only ever smelled industrial to me.

sylvie1950 said...

Hi Tana,
Thanks for your comment. I did try the Cowboy and I do love it. As you said it cooked up great.

I only worry that after the summer, it won't be available and I'll have to find another alternative. I could buy a lot but have no place to store it. Yea, I do a lot of smoking and grilling.

Rudy Canoza said...

I don't know if you're still interested in comments on this, given that your original post is over two years old, but I'm happy to give my two cents worth. I like this charcoal a lot. It burns cleanly, doesn't have any off aromas, and is a good value. It does tend to burn really hot - even hotter than mesquite, which is supposedly one of the hotter charcoals - and I find it burns a little fast. I buy it at TJ's all the time. I hope to remember near the end of summer to stock up on several bags to last over the winter, as it's only a seasonal item at TJ's.