MMMM.. BRISKET..
The BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS.  



Our Homepage Donation to Forum Overhead Welocme Merchandise Associations Purchase Subscription Amazon Affiliate
Go Back   The BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS. > Discussion Area > Q-talk

Notices

Q-talk *ON TOPIC ONLY* QUALITY ON TOPIC discussion of Backyard BBQ, grilling, equipment and outdoor cookin' . ** Other cooking techniques are welcomed for when your cookin' in the kitchen. Post your hints, tips, tricks & techniques, success, failures, but stay on topic and watch for that hijacking.


Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 01-04-2013, 09:19 PM   #1
trufunk
Full Fledged Farker
 
trufunk's Avatar
 
Join Date: 11-14-11
Location: San Antonio, Tx
Default Anthracite coal good for BBQ?

I went to Grimaldis this evening for piazza (jalapeno & pepperoni). I asked the waitress what kind of coal they use, I was expecting some kind of lump but no she said they use Anthracite she brought me a piece, looked like a small meteorite very cool. Has anyone used this for Qing? Is it expensive?
trufunk is offline   Reply With Quote




Old 01-04-2013, 09:20 PM   #2
MilitantSquatter
Moderator
 
MilitantSquatter's Avatar
 
Join Date: 09-17-05
Location: Mooresville, NC
Default

I wouldn't try it personally, but I'm curious it if works better in a PBC vs a UDS

I know the best pizza place in America, the famous Totonno's in Coney Island (shut down due to Hurricane Sandy) uses anthacite coal in their oven since 1924.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg bbq 001.jpg (55.0 KB, 218 views)
File Type: jpg bbq 002.jpg (67.0 KB, 220 views)
__________________
XL BGE (#2) & Performer Platinum

Former owner: Jambo Backyard, Klose BYC, Lonestar Vertical offset w/ Insulated Firebox, Medium Spicewine, Pitts & Spitts, XL BGE (#1) & (2) Medium BGE's, 22" WSM & (2) 18" WSM's, 18" & 22" Weber Kettles

Last edited by MilitantSquatter; 01-19-2014 at 03:30 PM..
MilitantSquatter is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:23 PM   #3
Pitmaster T
Babbling Farker
 
Pitmaster T's Avatar
 
Join Date: 04-03-11
Location: Texas
Default

It would make stuff taste a bad funky. man. hey... this is a funky thread so far.
__________________
I could care less if you pay attention - my 15 years of threads are here for the historical record before my impending death.

Edict.
Pitmaster T is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:31 PM   #4
PatioDaddio
Babbling Farker
 
Join Date: 05-04-08
Location: Boise, Idaho
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by trufunk View Post
I went to Grimaldis this evening for piazza (jalapeno & pepperoni). I asked the waitress what kind of coal they use, I was expecting some kind of lump but no she said they use Anthracite she brought me a piece, looked like a small meteorite very cool. Has anyone used this for Qing? Is it expensive?
Kingsford Original has anthracite coal in it.

John
PatioDaddio is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:43 PM   #5
trufunk
Full Fledged Farker
 
trufunk's Avatar
 
Join Date: 11-14-11
Location: San Antonio, Tx
Default

Militant -that piazza looks G U D!

T- That's what I was wondering about the taste...I do like the flavor on the piazza but I guess they ain't smoking piazzas just using coals for heat?

Patio- is the original in the blue bag? I usually buy lump or mesquite charcoal from HEBs here locally.
trufunk is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:46 PM   #6
PatioDaddio
Babbling Farker
 
Join Date: 05-04-08
Location: Boise, Idaho
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by trufunk View Post
Patio- is the original in the blue bag? I usually buy lump or mesquite charcoal from HEBs here locally.
Yup, blue bag, hickory, and mesquite.

John
PatioDaddio is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:47 PM   #7
IamMadMan
somebody shut me the fark up.

 
IamMadMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: 07-30-11
Location: Pemberton, New Jersey
Default

Coal is basically solidified crude oil -- decayed plant matter, compressed over long, geological time. For cooking purposes, burning coal differs from burning charcoal in that exposure to a coal fire can poison your food with petroleum by-products. Coal can be used to fire a stove or an oven, but only if the food is in a completely separate environment from the fire.

"Indirect heat" as in barbecue terminology is not indirect enough when the fuel is coal.

In coal-fired pizza ovens, which are still used in the Northeast US, and not to confuse them with wood-fired hearth ovens. A coal fire is much hotter than a wood fire and would be great for getting the thermal mass of a big ceramic oven up to temperature, but the firebox and exhaust are completely isolated from the cooking chamber.

.
IamMadMan is offline   Reply With Quote


Thanks from:--->
Old 01-04-2013, 09:51 PM   #8
Pitmaster T
Babbling Farker
 
Pitmaster T's Avatar
 
Join Date: 04-03-11
Location: Texas
Default

I heard a PBC can separate the anthracite fumes from the wood fumes. Its the horseshoes I think.
__________________
I could care less if you pay attention - my 15 years of threads are here for the historical record before my impending death.

Edict.
Pitmaster T is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:53 PM   #9
kw
Knows what a fatty is.
 
Join Date: 07-12-10
Location: Owings, MD
Default

Anthracite is the cleanest burning coal out there. At least that's what I was taught. It is hard to light though. In the power plants, bituminous was used only to get the anthracite lit, after that they all ran on anthracite.

I have no experience with coal fired pizza ovens. The ones we used were Blodgett ovens during my stint at Pizza Hut in the mid '70's.
kw is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 09:55 PM   #10
trufunk
Full Fledged Farker
 
trufunk's Avatar
 
Join Date: 11-14-11
Location: San Antonio, Tx
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by IamMadMan View Post
Coal is basically solidified crude oil -- decayed plant matter, compressed over long, geological time. For cooking purposes, burning coal differs from burning charcoal in that exposure to a coal fire can poison your food with petroleum by-products. Coal can be used to fire a stove or an oven, but only if the food is in a completely separate environment from the fire.

"Indirect heat" as in barbecue terminology is not indirect enough when the fuel is coal.

In coal-fired pizza ovens, which are still used in the Northeast US, and not to confuse them with wood-fired hearth ovens. A coal fire is much hotter than a wood fire and would be great for getting the thermal mass of a big ceramic oven up to temperature, but the firebox and exhaust are completely isolated from the cooking chamber.

.
Understood! Thanks for dropping science!
trufunk is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 10:16 PM   #11
IamMadMan
somebody shut me the fark up.

 
IamMadMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: 07-30-11
Location: Pemberton, New Jersey
Default

KW you are correct, Anthracite is about 92% pure carbon and does not give off tarry or other hydrocarbon vapours when heated below their point of ignition.

When I lived near Buffalo, NY the steel plants would bring in Bituminous Coal and run it through a high temperature oven to remove any impurities. The resulting prodict was coke, a highly effective fuel, essentially producing double the heat content of the coal.

The coke was then used to melt the ore and other ingredients to make ingots of pig iron for later smelting.

The smelting furnaces had little or no smoke as they burned the coke, but the ovens used to make coke would release a reddish brown ash that covered everything in about a half mile radius.

It was a dirty job.
IamMadMan is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-04-2013, 11:36 PM   #12
flyingbassman5
is one Smokin' Farker
 
flyingbassman5's Avatar
 
Join Date: 11-26-12
Location: Saint Louis MO
Default

No, true coal is NOT GOOD at all for cooking with unless, like already mentioned, the cooking chamber is completely sealed from the exhaust.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitmaster T View Post
I heard a PBC can separate the anthracite fumes from the wood fumes. Its the horseshoes I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MilitantSquatter View Post
I wouldn't try it personally, but I'm curious it if works better in a PBC vs a UDS
Give it a rest about the PBC. Seriously. Bringing it into other threads?! Talk about mature...True mockery at its finest.
__________________
18" OTS, 22" OTG, SJ Silver, Cimarron Offset, Coleman Bullet, PBC, UDS, QMaster ATC
flyingbassman5 is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-05-2013, 07:04 AM   #13
MilitantSquatter
Moderator
 
MilitantSquatter's Avatar
 
Join Date: 09-17-05
Location: Mooresville, NC
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by IamMadMan View Post

In coal-fired pizza ovens, which are still used in the Northeast US, and not to confuse them with wood-fired hearth ovens. A coal fire is much hotter than a wood fire and would be great for getting the thermal mass of a big ceramic oven up to temperature, but the firebox and exhaust are completely isolated from the cooking chamber.

.

FYI... Totonno's has the coal and pizza right near each other... grandfathered in under NYC laws and the cook time is very short due to the intense heat.


__________________
XL BGE (#2) & Performer Platinum

Former owner: Jambo Backyard, Klose BYC, Lonestar Vertical offset w/ Insulated Firebox, Medium Spicewine, Pitts & Spitts, XL BGE (#1) & (2) Medium BGE's, 22" WSM & (2) 18" WSM's, 18" & 22" Weber Kettles
MilitantSquatter is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-05-2013, 07:34 AM   #14
IamMadMan
somebody shut me the fark up.

 
IamMadMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: 07-30-11
Location: Pemberton, New Jersey
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MilitantSquatter View Post
FYI... Totonno's has the coal and pizza right near each other
I stand corrected... I have never heard of coal and food being in the same chamber. Thank for the pictures.

But also after "KW" pointed out that Anthracite is a dense clean burning coal, I did look up and find that it is aprox 92% pure carbon and does not gives off fumes below the point of ignition. This means it burns cleanly consuming any petroleum based vapors within the fire the same way propane (liquid petroleum gas) is cleanly consumed in the burners of our backyard grills.

"PatioDaddio" also pointed out that Anthracite is in Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes as well.

Thanks for expanding the horizons of my knowledge.

But personally I still would not use it if the exhaust came in contact with my food.
IamMadMan is offline   Reply With Quote


Old 01-05-2013, 04:15 PM   #15
1MoreFord
Babbling Farker
 
1MoreFord's Avatar
 
Join Date: 03-14-05
Location: Central Arkansas
Name/Nickname : Joe
Default

Kingsford's latest MSDS doesn't list anthracite. It did earlier. I have no idea how long it's been gone.

http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/down...albriquets.pdf
__________________
Joe

Falcon MK V gaseous grill w/Grill Grates, OK Joe Longhorn w/ vertical - now gone, Char Griller Akorn, Camp Chef PG24SG, Weber 22" OTG w/SNS components
1MoreFord is offline   Reply With Quote


Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


Forum Custom Search: Enter your Search text below. GOOGLE will search ONLY the BBQ Brethren Forum.
Custom search MAY not work(no display box) in some configurations of Internet Explorer. Please use compliant version of Firefox or Chrome.







All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:29 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
2003 -2012 © BBQ-Brethren Inc. All rights reserved. All Content and Flaming Pig Logo are registered and protected under U.S and International Copyright and Trademarks. Content Within this Website Is Property of BBQ Brethren Inc. Reproduction or alteration is strictly prohibited.
no new posts