Yes perhaps unlucky with the BGE charcoal but I’ve seen similar comments elsewhere.
I picked up a bag of Kamado Joe charcoal at the same time, it looks much better than the rest having just opened it, pictures may not do it justrice:
I’m not sure about the Big K stuff - their non-premium charcoal is not very good, but I get the feeling even the premium one smells somehow ‘impregnated with something’.
Despite the tiny BGE bits it didn’t have an offensive smell when burned.
I got a couple of 15 kg bags of ‘restaurant grade’ charcoal a few years ago - in some kind of turquoise bag, maybe from Amazon or Homebase - foul smelling stuff. Anecdotally foul smelling ‘charcoal’ often to me seems quite ‘shiny’ making me think it’s some kind of coal derivative.
Equally charcoal generally these days seems inferior to what I used as a lad or our cheap Hibachi BBQ 35+ years ago.
We go to Bookers wholesale……large sack of lumpwood charcoal was about a tenner last year……bits too big i just take a hammer to them.
No stores near me unfortunately. Wonder if they sell online to a different country!
Yes mine was a turquoise bag too! Disgusting stuff.
Everything you need to know and likely more:
Brilliant link, thank you so much!
Another thought, can we make our own charcoal easily?
Never occurred to me to make charcoal, but some hard core enthusiasts will open a new bag and segregate by size.
That looks good. I’ve used Weber Premium Lumpwood charcoal recently and it’s fine too.
For those purposes I don’t think a Son of Hibachi can be beat.
I recently switched to coconut briquettes and wouldn’t use anything else.
They are more environmentally friendly (the coconut shell is normally a waste product), they burn more evenly and longer and they give off less smoke. Temperature wise they don’t go as high as charcoal, but higher than regular briquettes.
Same as with regular briquettes, do make sure you get a decent quality and not the supermarket stuff.
Initial impression was that it gave very little smoke or at least little unpleasant smoke - Mrs AC hadn’t realised I’d even lit it as a few other bags recently have got to her chest straight away.
If the chunks are large down to the Botton of the bag that will be a plus.
I also got 2x10kg bags of the Weber Premium Lumpwood while I was there as they were the last ones - I assume a little cheaper than the 5kg bags but not certain.
I have not opened them yet, but the 8kg Green Olive Firewood Co bags had palpably large lumps of charcoal on the shop floor, not so sure about the Weber but it’s a stiffer glossier bag.
This Aldi Kamado is considerably better than an older Weber kettle BBQ which created clouds of ash dust whenever you removed the lid, no matter how gently and it had dire build quality of the base/legs.
I may be green to all of this Kamado stuff (having only had a tiny one before) but while the Aldi is fair vfm, I think there are already areas where the more expensive brand leaders will have the edge both in terms of quality and accessories. Perhaps its the awfully tiny bits of charcoal in recent Big Green Egg bags and others but I’m struggling to see how I could keep the Aldi going for many hours at low heat without topping up the charcoal.
That said, I must confess I’m probably more of a quick sear and grill person especially with steak as I like it fairly rare. We did a lovely slow brisket a few weeks ago, but I’m not sure I have the patience for very slow cooking - maybe I just need to find the nice recipes!
Just revisited their website and there are some local branches, must have a look.
I recently switched to coconut briquettes and wouldn’t use anything else.
They are more environmentally friendly (the coconut shell is normally a waste product), they burn more evenly and longer and they give off less smoke. Temperature wise they don’t go as high as charcoal, but higher than regular briquettes.
Same as with regular briquettes, do make sure you get a decent quality and not the supermarket stuff.
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Any recommended brands? I’d always assumed that were an over-priced ‘eco gimmick’ having mainly seen them in petrol forecourts or supermarkets but would be tempted to try them though I’d rested using any briquettes in the Kamado barbecue to date.
Will let you know when ours has some in……none last week
Currently I’m using Prodica briquettes, which are good, but they do leave a bit more ash than some of the others. Perhaps they burn up a bit quicker too?
If you want the absolute best, get EcoBrasa, not cheap but you get what you pay for. Also, they’re square so can be stacked nicely if you want to do a low and slow.
Thanks for the pointers, will investigate - sounds bit like solid fuel briquettes with some leaving a lot more ash than others. I’ve used Ecoal50 briquettes not infrequently which apparently contain a lot of olive stones which would otherwise be waste but there is a fair bit of ‘ash’ compared to burning wood.
Interesting. Are you using them in a kamado? I thought that was a “no no.
