I have been having issues with charcoal briquettes lately. I usually pick up double pack of Kingsford charcoal briquettes while I am at Costco picking up some meat to BBQ. On a recent trip I come to find out that my local Costco only carries the Kingsford Match-Light Instant Light Charcoal. I’m not a big fan of the Instant Light so I had to press on. All that I wanted was my regular Kingsford briquettes.
Plan-two was Smart & Final, I had to go there anyway to pick up some BBQ supplies. I found a double bag of what seemed like the old favorite with one significant difference… it had ridges, or what Kingsford refers to as “Sure Fire Grooves.” What the heck is a Sure Fire Groove? I wasn’t exactly sure, but after further research I come to find out that these grooves are a standard feature across all of Kingsford charcoal products.
These Sure Fire Grooves supposedly allow the charcoal to be lit faster (in fifteen minutes) and burn more evenly for longer time. Now this is really messing with my mind because I never had a problem with the way the old charcoal worked. Why would you even think about changing a winning formula? It has worked well all these years why change it? Lighting it was never a problem in a chimney starter… BTW, why doesn’t Kingsford make a charcoal chimney starter? Duration was never a problem with the old charcoal and I have yet to find that the Sure Fire Grooves to burn longer. It actually seems as though they don’t burn quite as long. Now, that is just an opinion, but it seems that way. I wish I could get a hold of some of the old stuff to put it to the test, but it is no longer available.
One thing that I have noticed is that this new briquette design becomes much more fragile as it burns. So, if you are someone who likes to adjust your charcoal briquettes after they are lit you might find yourself dealing with a pile of lit ash. This also poses a problem if you are the type of person who uses these briquettes for outdoor dutch-oven cooking. Nobody likes briquettes that fall apart once they are lit.
I am not sure what Kingsford was thinking when they decide to change this age-old design… it was probably some market research guy who wanted to be known as the person who reinvented the charcoal briquette. There have been some arguments against using briquettes because of the additives that are used in their production… believe it or not charcoal doesn’t naturally come in perfectly formed little briquettes. But, I was willing to use the briquettes for the strong and steady heat that was produced by them. It was one constant in the world of BBQ that you could count on again and again. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case and I might have to start using more lump charcoal.
Sure Fire Grooves courtesy of Kingsford market research.
Top view of the Sure Fire Grooves
20. October 2008 at 1:18 pm
I also agree with Melloski on speling. We know what you mean.
11. March 2009 at 3:31 pm
Kingsford Employee 2 basically described a lot of the differences, but I want to stress that it is pivotal to control the vents and remember that Kingsford with SureFire grooves is ready to cook on faster.
Hypothetical grilling scenarios:
Old Kingsford is ready in 15 minutes and has cooled below cooking temperature at 90 minutes.
New Kingsford is ready in 10 minutes and has cooled below cooking temperature at 88 minutes.
If you continue to grill the same way you used to, starting at the same time, you will have less cooking time. Also, if you leave it in the chimney for too long which is great for radiating heat and burning up the coals, a lot of that carbon is going to burn up before the charcoal is in the grill.
For low and slow, as described above, you will most likely need to close up the vents more. Make sure to control the temperature and you should be fine. I have seen the new product work just as well as the old using the Minion method in a WSM. For those who are complaining about the 18 lbs, it’s true when it says that it performs the same as 20 lbs of old Kingsford. Both bags have the same number of briquets. If you fill up a WSM charcoal chamber, there will be the same number of briquets in the chamber whether using old or new, which corresponds to an equal number of bags per use. There will be less total mass, but it performs more efficiently. Another note for those having trouble with low and slow using the Minion method: consider using fewer lit briquets in the beginning. For instance, if you used to use 20 for the old product, try 15 with the new product.
3. August 2009 at 6:21 pm
I’ve been using Kingsford Charcoal for 15 years cooking over 200 pigs and many chickens. This year I’m having a big problem with the ash on my food, I have to cover everything with foil. I have not had this problem until this year. I called Kingsford, seemed interested they took my information, haven’t heard anything. I will be trying some new charcoal. Unfortunately, I do not recommend Kingsford charcaol briquettes at this time.
22. November 2009 at 6:02 pm
They have obviously added something that makes it smokier and makes it “crackle and pop” which it didn’t before.