The Coal Wars: Royal Oak Smoked Ribs

Am I a terrible person or what? I have spent the last 3 or so weeks complaining about rain and now that the sun is out and it’s 93°, I’m still not happy (too hot). However, I can finally light the BBQ pit.

One good thing about the heat is that my smoker maintains temperature much longer than when there is snow on the ground. Even better, when ever I fire up the pit on a hot weekend day free beer seems to appear on my porch steps; gifts from hungry neighbors hoping for a taste. I like nothing better than cold beer, compliments and people to eat my barbecue. I figure the least I can do is share since I am in the habit of having the pit lit by 7:30 AM.

On the menu this past weekend were some tasty St. Louis cut pork ribs. The lump charcoal of choice was made by Royal Oak and commercially packaged under the name Nature-Glo. The wood of choice was my special blend of maple and cherry at about a 3(maple) to 1 (cherry) ratio. The rubs of choice were Pork Rubber’s Products, Mary’s Cherry (my favorite commercial blend) and the Pork Powder Dry Rub. Both are excellent and great for those days when you’re just not up to blending your own rub recipe.

I love to mix my own spices and brew my own sauces, but I am often temped by my stock room. Plus I only sell products that I love to eat so it’s hard not to cook with them. Anyway, today’s guest of honor is the Royal Oak lump and I have to say it did not disappoint. There was no visible scrape in the bag and very few chunks smaller than an inch. I started with two unlit chimneys in my pan and ignited those with ¾ lit chimney. It only took 1 and ½ sheets of newspaper to light the stack and about 20 minutes for my smoker to hit 220°-230°.

After about 1 hour the temp spiked up to 260°. I closed my side vents each to half and the temp fell moderately back to around 220°. This temp held for just about 3 more hours. It was more than 4 hours before I had to add more coal; when I did it was only 3 handfuls of unlit. I added water (apple juice and a beer) and some wood at 2 and ½ hours (give or take a few ticks), but that was only because I could hear the water pan sizzling. At about 6 hours I tossed a ½ chimney of lit in just for good measure. The ash was minimal. I never had to clean out my coal pan once during an 8 hour cook.

In the last two hours of cooking I dropped the temp to just over 200° and tried to let the coal burn out. It never did. The Royal Oak has a mild and sweet smelling smoke. I would imagine it imparts a similar favor to the food even without the maple and cherry woods. I figure I burned about 12 pounds in 8 hour, maybe less (there was a considerable amount left in my coal pan). It is definitely the longest lasting lump charcoal I have burned so far.

Overall I couldn’t be happier. Aside from the shipping costs Royal Oak is a great lump charcoal. It was easy to light and burned hot and long. The next charcoal on my list is Wicked Good Charcoal Competition Bend, when it becomes available. I check there site regularly and there has not been an update in a while. Locally stores seem to only have the Weekend Warrior Blend in stock. With this I am done with my research until then, shipping lump charcoal is just too expensive. However if anyone has a lead as to where I can get some Competition Blend it would be much appreciated.

PS. For those of you who care more about the ribs I will post their journey in a day or so and let you know what’s on the menu for this weekend. If you in the area and smell the smoke stop by for a bite and a beverage, there is always plenty of BBQ.