Question/response Kingsford

[bigsteve]

Just an FYI.......

I was curious as to why Kingsford (and most other) brand Charcoal said to wait 15 minutes/until ashed over after the coals are lit. And depending on their response, if it's okay to add unlits later. So I emailed them and asked. Here is a paste of their email response:

Thank you for contacting us about your Kingsford Regular Charcoal. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers.

You need to wait for the charcoal to ash over before putting the meat on so that the food doesn't taste like lighter fluid. You can add more regular charcoal to the existing but never add Match Light to existing charcoal.
Again, thank you for contacting us.


Sincerely,


Candy Thoma


Consumer Response Representative


Consumer Services

 

[fire it up]

Maybe they were confused and assumed you used lighter fluid on your coals?
I always figured you let the top third of the coals ash over so they were all at a good enough temp.

 

[pignit]

Cool. That's good to know. I do know I've got some funky flavor from using an offbrand charcoal I got from Wal-mart. I've been using lump as my unlit base and starting it all with a chimney of briquets.

 

[tn_bbq]

She probably assumes you are using lighter fluid.

To answer your question, I feel that you'll get more consistent heat when letting your coals ash over when GRILLING. Since the vast majority of charcoal is used for grilling, the wait 15 minute guideline is sound advice. If you're using them to smoke, then you're wasting fuel. You're better off controlling the heat with the air vents on your smoker.

Also, consider they are in the business of selling briquettes and if they can get you to seemingly "waste" 15 minutes of heat, they'll sell more (ain't nothing wrong with that). Sorta like shampoo manufacturers telling you to wash, rinse & repeat. But in fairness to K-ford, you will get a more consistent grill fire if you GRILL over gray, ashed coals.

 

[bigsteve]

I didn't mention that I don't use fluid. A friend of mine claims you have to wait for some nasty (unhealthy) additives to burn off. So I asked Kingsford to see what they say. I just asked "why?" I didn't explain what my buddy said.

 

[tn_bbq]

Your friend's advise is pretty solid. No telling what sort of binding agent goes into briquettes.

 

[bigsteve]

Actually, I intend to use the LADIES response to kid my friend.