Choosing the right charcoal for your BBQ can be overwhelming. With so many options available, whats going to give you the most balanced smoke and grill experience?
Everdure by Heston has done the research for you, and developed a 100% Natural Lump Charcoal that's designed to take away the stress.
What is lump charcoal?
Sometimes called charwood or natural lump charcoal, this is the original charcoal, made by burning trees or logs in a sealed cave or even underground (no air). Unlike briquettes, lump charcoal is pure wood—free of binders or petroleum-based accelerants. Lump charcoal burns hot, cleanly, and pure. You can refuel a lump charcoal fire with unlit charcoal without producing the acrid smoke associated with freshly lit briquettes.
What are briquettes?
Charcoal briquettes: These are designed to burn evenly and maintain a steady “broiling” temperature of at least 600 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. Traditional briquettes contain wood scraps, sawdust, coal dust, borax, and petroleum binders, so it’s not surprising that they emit an acrid-tasting smoke when first lit.
Instant-light charcoal consists of briquettes saturated with lighter fluid. The acrid smoke disappears once the charcoal glows orange and begins to ash over, but you’re still grilling over borax, coal dust, and petroleum binders. Although the petroleum-based accelerants of instant-light charcoal burn off in theory, they can produce an oily taste when less than completely lit.
Everdure by Heston's recommendation
Heston recommends lump charcoal for our charcoal range. Customers often get frustrated using lump charcoal as there is no consistency in the size of coal. In order to provide a consistent lump charcoal, we have designed a lump charcoal range that is graded to give customers an even cooking experience. These are available in 10kg and 20kg bags.
Using it with your Everdure by Heston BBQ
The Fast Flame Ignition system has been developed for use with natural lump charcoal. Briquettes can be used but may take slightly longer to ignite as this coal contains non-combustible ingredients such as starch, limestone or even clay.
How much charcoal you use is based on what you're cooking and the quantity. For the initial ignition, we recommend loading no more than 1.2kg of lump charcoal for the FUSION™ barbeque and no more than 1.8kg for the HUB™ and HUB™ II barbeques. After, you can add more charcoal depending on the weight and quantity of food being cooked.
Please note, if you want to begin cooking in 10 minutes from ignition, then no more than 1kg of lump charcoal to be ignited. You can refer to our product Quick User Guides for more information.
If you do enjoy charcoal cooking with the addition of woodchips, please soak the wood chips overnight to stop from instant burning and combine with lump charcoal.
Hot tip!
Charcoal that contains accelerant should not be used at any time.
Accelerant is a substance used to aid the spread of fire i.e. gasoline, turpentine or butane. This range of charcoal barbeques have been designed to be ignited using the Fast Flame Ignition System with charcoal and are not designed to be used solely as an electric barbeque or charcoal barbeque.
Happy cooking!
