Alright, since I was going to use two cookers last night I decided to see if I could detect any difference between Weber briquettes and KBB. Before I came up with the idea to test them my plan was to cook a whole chicken on the top rack of my 14.5 WSM. No bowl, vents wide open and a compact chimney that is 2/3 lit (a technique I picked up from @Ernest). It drips onto the hot coals and cooks the bird just like the PBC does. While that was going on I was going to cook a pan of red skins on the Jumbo Joe. It was when I decided to add a couple of chicken breasts for a pot of soup that I decided to experiment. I put one breast in the Jumbo Joe and the other in the WSM. I didn't use any wood - straight charcoal. The only other factor I had to contend with was grill smoke as the drippings from the whole chicken created that familiar PBC fog in the WSM. At the base of the chicken cavity I noticed two sizable flaps of skin. I cut them using kitchen shears, put them on a skewer and placed them above the front edge of the fire in the Jumbo Joe. This created enough grill smoke to at least sort of replicate the fog in the WSM.
I used KBB in the Jumbo Joe and Weber in the WSM. My wife and I both were able to detect a slight difference between the 2 fuels, but it was very subtle. The Weber was slightly milder and slightly cleaner than the KBB. This is particularly notable given that the Weber had constant grill smoke in the WSM and the grill smoke in the Jumbo Joe lasted about 20 minutes or so. The entire cook took just over an hour. The other notable difference was when I went to move the 2 cookers back into the garage the KBB was spent and the Weber briquettes were still burning strong. Overall my verdict is Weber briquettes >> KBB. In the first 2 pics below the chicken breast on the top of the pic came out of the WSM. My plan was to reverse sear that breast on the Jumbo Joe, but it wasn't necessary - what you see is how it looked when it hit 160 internal.
I used KBB in the Jumbo Joe and Weber in the WSM. My wife and I both were able to detect a slight difference between the 2 fuels, but it was very subtle. The Weber was slightly milder and slightly cleaner than the KBB. This is particularly notable given that the Weber had constant grill smoke in the WSM and the grill smoke in the Jumbo Joe lasted about 20 minutes or so. The entire cook took just over an hour. The other notable difference was when I went to move the 2 cookers back into the garage the KBB was spent and the Weber briquettes were still burning strong. Overall my verdict is Weber briquettes >> KBB. In the first 2 pics below the chicken breast on the top of the pic came out of the WSM. My plan was to reverse sear that breast on the Jumbo Joe, but it wasn't necessary - what you see is how it looked when it hit 160 internal.
Comment