When we published our first grilling issue in 2011, lump hardwood charcoal was like the kale of the grilling world. If you were a real cook and you cared about ingredients and quality, you had to have lump hardwood charcoal. As someone who had always been a fan of grilling over charcoal on a classic Weber, what was so appealing about hardwood charcoal was the intense heat. It's "FIRE" in all-capital letters. There was something primal about grilling hunks of meat on this intense heat, the way it's supposed to be done. I was enamored of it.
But I remember one time I was talking to [the New York Times food editor] Sam Sifton and talking about how awesome lump hardwood charcoal was, and Sam was like, "No, no—briquettes!" And I thought, "What? Briquettes? No one uses briquettes!" Sifton's argument was that lump hardwood charcoal is like a flashy, over-the-top lead guitarist playing some blazing solo—it's too much. Briquettes, on the other hand, are like the steady, driving bass line: super-dependable, even-keeled, and keeps you anchored. I hadn't thought of it that way before.
The next summer, I decided to try briquettes—and I'm happy to admit that I was wrong. Lump hardwood charcoal is appealing in its intensity and its ferocity—but it's maddeningly hot, and it tends to spike and die. If you want to make a ton of burgers over the course of a few hours, or if you've got something like a big leg of lamb that needs a steady, consistent amount of heat for a prolonged period of time, I think briquettes are the better option. They provide a steadier, more manageable burn and longer, even heat, which is especially important if you're grilling for a crowd and need to keep the grill going for longer. Plus, they're cheaper.
I still think lump hardwood charcoal is great. If you have lump, there's no need to go out and buy briquettes. But grilling with hardwood charcoal is a very attentive task—you've got to be a more experienced griller, because you're constantly going to be moving the food around to deal with the intense heat level. Briquettes get the job done in a more manageable and forgiving way.
Now, I'm not saying we're necessarily wrong in everything that we wrote. But I am saying that Sam was right. We've come around. (Food director Carla Lalli Music has also come to love the briquette for its longer, steadier heat.)
The one thing I won't endorse are the instant charcoal briquettes that have been pre-soaked in lighter fluid. And, whether I'm using briquettes or hardwood, I'll use a charcoal chimney, which everyone should own. It's one more reason print's not dead—you need newspaper to put underneath that chimney.