Tweet
First, if this post needs to be moved then please move it. However, what I cooked last night was a big load of lump charcoal. Also, excuse the narrative form here. It was an adventure and I don't want to short change it!
I have a Forno Bravo supplied shipping pallet in my garage that has been there for 2 years. I hated to throw it away, but wouldn't dare use it for cooking because it's fir. It's dry fir, but it's still fir, and softwoods smoke like crazy while they burn off their resin.
It's high grilling season here in Florida (but it always is!), and I've been playing with lump and briquettes. I've reused coals from the WFO in my grill before, and they work great. But yesterday I looked at that pallet and had an idea. Charcoal is just wood that's burned in the absence of oxygen. All wood smokes like crazy while it's being converted into charcoal, but the process burns off the volatile chemicals and leaves a hunk of pure carbon. I busted up the pallet and waited for the cover of darkness.
I started a heating fire in the WFO with dry sticks and branches...no big pieces of hardwood. I then stuffed it to the gills with dry pieces of the fir that I cut up and waited for the fire to push from front to back. Once it did (and IT DID BIIIIGGGG), I clamped on the door and plugged the air gap except for a venting hole. Lots of white smoke (cover of night!) and then thin blue smoke.
Here's the best part. I came back this morning, 10 hours later. As I approached the door I felt a lot of heat and thought, well crap, it had burned all night long and I would have an oven full of ash. I opened the door and there was a giant pile of smoldering lump charcoal. The air made it glow back into a flame, so I moved it to my kettle grill to smother it. I checked the temp inside the oven. It was 750 degrees, 10 hours later. I now have a full day of cooking in a hot oven and enough lump to fire my grill at least 3 times from a softwood that I normally couldn't burn.
Stan
I have a Forno Bravo supplied shipping pallet in my garage that has been there for 2 years. I hated to throw it away, but wouldn't dare use it for cooking because it's fir. It's dry fir, but it's still fir, and softwoods smoke like crazy while they burn off their resin.
It's high grilling season here in Florida (but it always is!), and I've been playing with lump and briquettes. I've reused coals from the WFO in my grill before, and they work great. But yesterday I looked at that pallet and had an idea. Charcoal is just wood that's burned in the absence of oxygen. All wood smokes like crazy while it's being converted into charcoal, but the process burns off the volatile chemicals and leaves a hunk of pure carbon. I busted up the pallet and waited for the cover of darkness.
I started a heating fire in the WFO with dry sticks and branches...no big pieces of hardwood. I then stuffed it to the gills with dry pieces of the fir that I cut up and waited for the fire to push from front to back. Once it did (and IT DID BIIIIGGGG), I clamped on the door and plugged the air gap except for a venting hole. Lots of white smoke (cover of night!) and then thin blue smoke.
Here's the best part. I came back this morning, 10 hours later. As I approached the door I felt a lot of heat and thought, well crap, it had burned all night long and I would have an oven full of ash. I opened the door and there was a giant pile of smoldering lump charcoal. The air made it glow back into a flame, so I moved it to my kettle grill to smother it. I checked the temp inside the oven. It was 750 degrees, 10 hours later. I now have a full day of cooking in a hot oven and enough lump to fire my grill at least 3 times from a softwood that I normally couldn't burn.
Stan
Comment