Flavored Charcoal Briquettes

Charcoal grilling is one of the most popular ways to get the best out of your barbecue. But what do you do if you want to take your grilling expertise to the next level? This is where flavored briquettes come in. They are known to be fantastic fuel for your grilled food. The briquettes burn with hot temperatures without emitting any smoke. This allows your food to cook evenly and thoroughly without developing that smoky smell.

All those fantastic features added to the fact that the briquettes are flavored makes them the ideal choice of fuel for your BBQ. This blog will cover all you need to know about briquettes. By the time you are done reading it, you will have a clear idea of why you should use flavored briquettes and effects of flavored briquettes on your food.

Type of flavored briquettes available in the market today

What makes flavored briquettes better than any other grilling fuel is the primary raw material that is used during its creation. That is also the main reason why there are different types of briquettes in the market. Most of them are classified depending on the kind of tree they are created from, for instance:

Mesquite Briquettes

Mesquite briquettes – made from mesquite wood and are known to have a distinctly bold and smoky savor. The North American tree is known to produce wood that gives grilled food the smoky taste of the mesquite wood. It is mostly used when cooking vegetables, ribs, and steaks. The briquettes give your food that authentic taste, making it more enjoyable.

Cherry Wood Briquettes

Cherry wood briquettes – If you have ever come across grilled food that has a fruity taste, then there is a considerable chance it was made using cherry wood briquettes. As the name suggests, cherry wood briquettes come from cherry bearing wood. They are known to give your food a much lighter but unique fruity flavor. It is mostly used when grilling pork and poultry, among other foods. When compared to other briquettes, cherry wood is known to be much sweeter and tastier with a light touch that leaves room to add different flavors.

Pecan Briquettes

Pecan briquettes – are known to be very vital when it comes to adding a nutty flavor to your food when grilling. The nuts come from a hickory tree, and that is why despite having a dense taste, it is still a bit mild than that produced by hickory briquettes. The briquettes are known to add a nice tasty kick to smoked turkey, briskets and pulled pork. What you get from pecan briquettes is a lovely and intriguing taste that will transform your BBQ and give you that strong nutty flavor that everyone yearns for in grilled food.

Applewood Briquettes

Applewood briquettes – if you love that fruity taste of apples in your food, then the Applewood briquettes are what you need to make your BBQs memorable. The 100% natural apple ingredient included in the briquettes helps to give your food an amazingly sweet and fruity flavor that suits most types of grilled food. Most importantly, the taste becomes more profound in foods such as pork and poultry. Whenever the fats hit the extremely hot briquettes and are vaporized back into the food you are grilling, the apple taste is added to your BBQ, and the result is a delectable grilled meal with a unique flavor.

Hickory Briquettes

Hickory briquettes – is the tree that gives out pecan nuts, but unlike pecan briquettes, hickory does not have a nutty flavor. It instead gives out that amazing smoky taste that is essential to outdoor grilled food. In case you are looking for ways to boost the flavor of your game, beef, poultry, and pork, then hickory flavored briquettes are what you need to make your BBQs remarkable. The authenticity of the smoky flavor that comes with using hickory briquettes is enough to take your grilling skills a notch higher and make your grilled food appetizing.

Those are so far only some of the flavored briquettes that you will find in the market. You can thus choose which briquettes you want to use depending on what you are planning to grill as well as your preference. The briquettes can give your food a nutty, fruity, or smoky flavor and leave it tasting much better than if you used conventional charcoal. Also, beware that there are those flavored briquettes that give your food a mild taste while there are those that give it a deep flavor.

You can also add other aromas to your food before grilling and pick a flavored briquette that will blend well with them. This way, you will come up with foods that have a twisted flavor making them much more delicious. If you are good at outdoor grilling, you can be sure that with flavored briquettes, your food will be well cooked, tastier and enjoyable.

How are flavored briquettes made?

There is a huge possibility that you already know what flavored briquettes are, but you have no idea how they are made. Briquettes are simply a mixture of sawdust and small woods that have undergone processing. The mixture is first cooked at remarkably high temperatures to remove water and other insignificant compounds. Very little oxygen is used during the process so that the product doesn’t ignite. The result is pure carbon, which is mixed with a binding solution, spices, herbs, and other remarkable flavors then left to dry.

This is the main reason why flavored briquettes burn evenly and at extremely high temperatures. They are also known to add flavor to the grilled food thanks to the additives included during their creation. The food’s flavor is further enhanced when the fats coming from it drips in the briquettes, burns, and rises back to the BBQ. This is why professional grillers will always go for flavored briquettes in place of charcoal. This enables them to come out with tasty BBQ that is tender and well-cooked without worrying about the smoke that comes with charcoal.

Why you should use flavored briquettes

There are so many advantages that come with flavored briquettes. That is why most people are ditching gas grills and conventional charcoal for BBQ and are instead going for flavored briquettes. Most of these advantages are the reasons why you should use them as fuel for your outdoor grill. Some of them include:

1. They are environmental friendly. One of the main reasons why you should use flavored briquettes is that they are environmentally friendly. Once you start using them, you will notice that they don’t produce smoke. This means that you won’t end up polluting the environment nor experience any effects of smoke after you are done with your grilling. It is one of the best ways to keep your environment safe while enjoying doing what you do best.
2. Flavored briquettes are hygienic. Everyone loves hygienic products. It not only ensures that your food is grilled in the right conditions, but it also ensures your food is safe for consumption. Flavored briquettes are known to provide hygienic conditions to grill any arbecue, be it pork, beef, or turkey. You will not have to worry about toxic wood being part of the contents that make up the briquettes, and you will also not have to deal with any food contamination problems.
3. They are very easy to light and maintain. Flavored briquettes are very easy to ignite. You won’t waste too much time trying to ignite them. In ideal conditions, you will only need 15 minutes or less to kindle. They also don’t need any maintenance after lighting. Flavored briquettes burn until there is nothing left to burn. Such a feature makes them ideal for anyone who wants ample time when preparing BBQ. The easy lighting procedure and the minimal effort required to keep them lit makes them very suitable for use.
4.  They burn for a long time. The amount of hours briquettes burn depends on how they have been manufactured. But on average, flavored briquettes burn for as long as 1 hour and 30 minutes to 3 hours. You have plenty of time to prepare your BBQ before the first batch goes off. Remember, you can also add more briquettes if you feel like the ones burning won’t get the job done. It is thus the most reliable fuel that will see you do your grilling in peace without any worry of the briquettes going out before you are done cooking your food.
5. They produce a lot of heat. It is hard to use flavored briquettes when grilling and come up with uncooked food. This is because the product usually produces quality heat that speeds up your cooking a great deal. Any beef, pork, poultry, or vegetables that have been grilled using flavored briquettes are known to come out tender. The intense heat cooks the BBQ remarkably, leaving behind pleasant and delectable food. The quality heat combined with its long lasting nature makes flavored briquettes ideal for tough beef and game as well as other foods.
6. It produces little residue after combustion.  Unlike many other fuels that end up generating so much ash when they burn out, briquettes produce minimal fuel. This means that you are left with little cleaning to do after having a great time preparing BBQ. The ash the briquettes create requires less time to collect. Remember, the only way to enjoy the process of making barbecue is when you know you only do minor cleaning once you finish up. Those reasons make flavored briquette very popular and widely used. Their simplicity when it comes to set up is also among the reasons. You should also know that briquettes produce less sulfur when compared to other grilling fuel.

Factors to consider when buying flavored briquettes

Before having a look at the effects the flavor has on your food, let us look at the factors to consider when purchasing flavored briquettes. What do you look for, and why?

1. The flavor of the briquettes.  The taste of the briquettes you end up with is essential. This is because you need to make a perfect blend of flavor and aroma to come up with the best BBQ. Other flavored woods are only as good as the BBQ they are being used to prepare. You don’t want to ruin the taste of your grilled food just because you did not analyze the flavor of the briquettes before purchasing it. Some of the flavors available include coconut flavor, fruity, smoky, and nutty flavors.
2. The shape of the briquettes. This might seem like a minor factor to consider until it comes to stacking your briquettes in your grill. When purchasing your briquettes, consider going for those with uniform shape. This will give you an effortless time during set up, so the preparation period will end up being shortened. You don’t want to end up wasting too much time preparing your grill just because the flavored briquettes you bought don’t have a uniform shape.
3. The amount of debris at the bottom of the package. Make sure you feel how much debris is at the bottom of the wrap-up if you want to end up with the best flavored briquettes. If there is too much debris, don’t make the purchase. The amount of debris at the bottom of the package will tell you if the briquettes are easy to crumble or not. Go for flavored briquettes that have very minimal waste.
4. The availability of lighter fluid. Scan the words on the box and find out whether the lumps come with lighter fluid or not. Yes, its availability will give you an easy time lighting your briquettes, but it will end up having a huge impact on how your BBQ will taste. Flavored briquettes that come with lighter fluid tend to make your BBQ to taste bitter due to the fluid. This will end up tampering with the flavor of your BBQ a great deal.
5. The type of binders used. Most people tend to forget about this factor when making a selection of their briquettes. Flavored briquettes require adhesives for them to stick together into lumps or bricks. This is because the end product after burning sawdust doesn’t hold since its pure carbon. This leaves the manufacturers with the option of using binders. The two main categories of adhesives that can be used are either chemical binders or natural binders. Make sure your briquettes have not been molded to its shape by chemical binders. Such products always come with numerous effects. Your briquettes should be lumped up by natural binders like corn.
6. The number of wood fillers. Different flavored briquettes produce different amount of ash after burning. The size of ash produced is dependent on the number of wood fillers used in the creation of the briquettes. If your briquettes have too much wood fillers, the amount of ash it will produce will be high. This means that you will end up wasting too much time cleaning the ash after grilling your BBQ.
7. The type of wood used. The kind of wood that is used to create flavored briquettes matters a lot. Always make sure that you go for a product that has been created by hardwoods. This is because these types of wood often produce less ash and also enhance the flavor of your BBQ. Using briquettes made of softwood, on the other hand, will tend to produce a bitter resin that will end up affecting the taste of the food you are grilling. You should thus always keep off flavored briquettes that are made from softwood such as pine. Instead, go for hardwoods such as Applewood, cherry wood, and hickory, among others.
8. Effects the flavor has on your food. You must be wondering why you should go for flavored when while you can personally add flavor to your BBQ. Well, as much as that is possible, there is a particular natural flavor that flavored briquettes bring about. You can experience this when the fat melts at high temperature and falls on the burning briquettes only to vaporize and rise to your beef, poultry, or pork, giving it a sweet scent and taste that is incomparable. The flavor tends to cover the whole food giving it a great aroma too. This means that you end up enjoying food that not only has the taste you marinated it with but also a sweet natural flavor that you cannot get elsewhere. The flavored briquettes can be nutty, earthy, fruity, or even smoky. This enhances the sweetness of your food a great deal, making it much better. This effect makes flavored briquettes the best option in the market.

Conclusion

Using flavored briquettes is one way of ensuring you come up with remarkably grilled food. It not only adds flavor to the food but also burns at high temperatures, making it tender and well cooked. All you have to do is purchase the best briquettes while considering the factors above. Make use of flavored briquettes at all times to enhance your grilling expertise and prepare great BBQ with fantastic flavor and the best aroma.

As Always, Happy Grilling