All About That Charcoal - Smoked Chicken Wings

Brick vs Lump Charcoal

For anyone thinking this is like a flat vs drum debate, you are completely wrong. The bricks are less expensive, burn up faster, and create a lot more ash, like way way more ash.

I had a friend try to convince me the brick is just as good. Dude is probably the smartest guy I have ever met, but I’m happy to report he is wrong on this one. I even got the, “my brother that has a Big Green Egg also says he really can’t tell the difference.” I’m calling BS, but at the same time, who am I to judge.

I have learned on my journey by traveling at the speed of wing that lump is the way to go, and all lump is not created equal. Test them for yourself. I have a primary brand and a backup, it keeps my wings perfectly consistent.

Charcoal Guide

I have tried a lot of charcoal brands. I have seen videos of people pouring out bags and frankly I used those to figure out which charcoals I want to try. They test them by measuring heat and how long. That may be important for some, but I want consistency and not huge variations in size. Also, since I’m smoking, I don’t really care how how they will get, just that my smoker stays consistent throughout my cook. Here is my charcoal cheat sheet:

Big Green Egg

I prefer this charcoal over the others I have tried. I have a feeling this is made by Royal Oak, but I have not been able to verify that (mostly because it doesn’t really matter). I like the BGE charcoal because it is the most consistent sized pieces.

Consistency – A
Size – A
Ash – A
Pro – Great charcoal, most consistent
Con – Pricey, has been out of stock for several months

Cowboy

Pretty good. A little more ash and less consistency, but a great value and readily available at many local retailers.

Consistency – B
Size – B
Ash – B
Pro – Good value lump charcoal
Con – I prefer the paper bags I can roll closed, this is poly bag

Royal Oak

I used a lot of Royal Oak when I could not get the Big Green Egg. This is a nice value line. There is nothing wrong with it, you just get more than your bargain for. I called customer service after verifying the rocks at the bottom of my kamado cooker were from the Royal Oak bag. This is a “known” issue and due to the manufacturing process they get rocks. She did say they account for getting some rocks in the bags by always being over the stated weight on the bag. Just doesn’t sit well with me cleaning rocks out of my smoker.

Consistency – B
Size – B
Ash – A
Pro – 15 lb bag easier to handle
Con – Rocks unfortunately

Simple Truth Organic (Kroger)

I bought this because they had smaller bags for my camper. I was pleased with the charcoal. The shape of the pieces varied greatly, like there were some round pieces, flat pieces. Honestly, I thought this was where the rocks were coming from, but then I realized it was the Royal Oak bags. I like the 7lb bags for space savings.