Charcoal: Everything You Need to Know

At this point, it’s not even a debate: When it comes to grilling fuel, charcoal is superior to gas, and second only to hardwood among live-fire heat sources (a case we’ll make later this summer; stay tuned).

While we hold nothing against gas grills—nothing beats the convenience of firing one up for a quick weeknight grilling session—unless your gas grill has high-quality infrared burners (for which you’ve paid a hefty sum), it will never produce the heat that about $2 worth of charcoal puts out. The best non-infrared gas grills top out around 600°F, while a charcoal fire can easily exceed 1000°F.

What’s more, charcoal isn’t just better at getting hot; because it’s made from wood, charcoal produces more smoke than gas, which makes a big difference in flavor when grilling at lower temperatures for longer periods of time.

But the category of “charcoal” itself can be broken down into several styles, each with its own attributes and advantages. So whether you’re grilling in a kettle, a kamado, or a DIY Konro, it helps to choose the right fuel for the job. Here are the main types of charcoal you should know:

Charcoal Briquettes

How it’s made:
Charcoal briquettes are molded nuggets of charcoal, binders, and additives, including sawdust, starch, and sodium nitrate. Our favorite brands are the popular Kingsford Original, and we like Royal Oak's Classic briquettes as well, which will burn longer and hotter than Kingsford.

What it’s best for:
Because they’re uniform in size, charcoal briquettes beat out lump charcoal in their ability to offer a longer, steadier burn, making them a better choice for longer grilling sessions and grill-smoked foods.

Lump Hardwood Charcoal

How it’s made:
Lump charcoal is made by burning scraps of wood in an oxygen-free environment to remove moisture, sap, and natural chemicals. The size of lump charcoal can vary dramatically, even within the same bag (the larger the chunk, the longer it will burn.) Our favorite brand of lump charcoal is Fogo, which sells charcoal of various sizes, as well as charcoal made from specific wood varieties.

What it’s best for:
Lump charcoal lights more quickly and burns hotter than briquettes, making it the better fuel option for fast, high-heat grilling. Lump charcoal also produces less ash and reacts to changes in oxygen levels more quickly than briquettes, making them a better option for using in kamado-style grills, such as the Big Green Egg. Lastly, lump charcoal produces more wood smoke than briquettes, which will add a touch more smoky flavor to your food.

Binchotan

How it’s made:
This Japanese invention is made by carbonizing wood sticks inside a kiln, then extinguishing the fire with a coating of sand and ash, which gives binchotan its grayish-white color. Because of its extreme density, binchotan takes longer to light than other styles of charcoal, but once it’s lit, it will burn for several hours. We buy most of our binchotan from Korin, which carries several top brands.

What it’s best for:
Binchotan burns long and hot while producing minimal smoke and ash, making it the fuel of choice for preparing yakitori and other Japanese-style grilled foods. It won’t add much smoky flavor to your food, and it’s far more expensive than other types of charcoal, so it’s best used for long grilling sessions in a konro-style grill.

Ogatan

How it’s made:
Ogatan-style charcoal is made by compressing sawdust into a cylindrical tube. It performs similarly to binchotan, but is considerably less expensive. Our go-to brand is Thaan, which is made from rambutan wood and provides a long, hot, consistent burn.

What it’s best for:
We love using ogatan—especially Thaan, which fits perfectly in our konro—when grilling skewer-based foods or embarking on an afternoon of grilling. The heat put out by a single layer of ogatan is moderately high, so we stack a second layer on top, Lincoln Log-style, when we need high heat.