Viva Pancho Lump (img heavy)

Gator Bait

Almost 2 months ago I posted about a lump charcoal that I had found in a small Latino store in Cape Coral , Quebracho Charcoal. I was wandering yesterday and thought I would check a couple Latino stores closer to home out of curiosity. The first little market had Kingsford briquettes. The second one had this Viva Pancho 100% Mesquite Charcoal. It was $6.00 for 8#, not the best bargain but cheap enough to play with. I have never tried Mesquite charcoal.




We have ignition . . .

It didn't spark very much on lighting but once it got started it was amazing. It was popping and crackling like a fire place fire made with very dry soft wood. It was a premature July 4th! You can see some of the white fly ash that was prevalent also.

The sacrificial subject, a nice little rib eye. I sprinkled it with a little sea salt, black pepper and course garlic powder.

My fire was taking off well and was passing 500° in a hurry so I tossed the steak in and started controlling my temps. You can see some of the white fly ash on the top of the fire ring.

I cut the cook time by almost a full minute a side to be on the safe side and it was already slightly over cooked. This charcoal is HOT stuff.

The grill flavor was fantastic, I didn't use any smoke wood so I could check out the flavor from the charcoal. Aside from being slightly over cooked it was a very good tasting steak with more great grill flavor then I would get from Royal Oak with no smoke wood.

Gator

BENTE

thanks i have a guy that comes to some of the car auctions and he used to buy mesquite charcoal from bbq galore and since they closed he was looking for some i will look for this around here and pass the info on!!


thanks again

Gator Bait

Hi Bente

I would call the phone number on the bag in 2nd photo and ask, probably the easiest way to find out. Good luck! I need to play with it some more. It is the only Mesquite lump I have seen in Fort Myers.

Gator

BENTE

i wrote it down and will pass it along.. i would proabably not use it but it is always good to know the diffrent places you can find lump..

and i would not use it because of the mesquite. i have never even had a piece of it in my egg. i used some years ago and did not care for it. i now have an endless supply of cherry wood from a friend of mine and i have grown really attached to it.. so no use in screwing with something that works and is free


thanks again he has said something about it on a pretty regular basis..

Panhandle Smoker

It looks like some decent size lump. I guess I will have to check the local Latin markets to see what they have here.

Gator Bait

Hi Eddie,

Yes, the size was respectable. I put a couple pieces back in the bag that were three or four times what you see there. They were huge and heavy. I have not looked in the bottom of the bag yet to see how much little stuff and dust there is, it doesn't feel like much. The Mesquite feels pretty hard and might travel well.

The little Latino markets are always fun to explore. LOL, I am always looking for the perfect Cuban sandwich. Haven't found it yet but I'm still looking.

Gator

Panhandle Smoker

We will be going to Louisianna next week and thay have a great little Cuban Restraunt we like to go to. They have the beat bacon wraped shrimp.

Gator Bait

I hear ya, Bente. If I had a good supply of something I really liked I would stick with it also. Fort Myers is a grilling dead end. The only lump I can find on a regular bases is Royal Oak. I have nothing against RO, matter of fact I like it. I like to experiment and lump is very limited down here. This Mesquite lump has much less flavor then chunks or chips of Mesquite and none of the bitterness that you can get with it. It was a great excuse to put another steak on the egg.

The Naked Whiz has at least one other Mesquite charcoal in his data base. You might want to pass it on to your buddy also.

Gator

Gator Bait

Sounds good! I love Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. Some day I am going to do some on the egg. We have a few very good Cuban Restaurants around here. They range from fine dinning to Mom & Pop real home style Cuban cooking. The Mom & Pop is a little hole in the wall but make the best Cuban sandwich in the area for about $3.68, a bargain for about a 10" sandwich! The fine dinning one makes one of the best cups of coffee in the world with just a touch of cinnamon to it. Hope your trip is a good one.

Gator

BENTE

i hear you on the dead end!! fort myers has got to be bigger than anderson s.c. because i have actually heard of fort myers and my guess is you have not heard of anderson (maybe you heard of radio {the person not the thing that spits out music :laugh: }that is one of our biggest claim to fame) i drive about a thousand miles a week anyway so i get around the area a good bit. i buy all my lump from resturant depot in charlotte n.c. (which is near a auction i work) and they only have RO.. i really like wicked good lump but can't walk into a store and buy any so i just keep with the RO.. it is pretty standard so there are no big surprises unless you get the stuff from outside the us and that stuff i would only use if there was no powerand i had to keep my family warm

Gator Bait

LOL, I confess I do not know Anderson but that may be a good thing. There's a lot to be said for small town America. I am guessing that Fort Myers may have twice the population, but if we weren't on the coast of Florida we would be no where, just another speed bump between Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami/Fort Lauderdale. It's a 2 hour drive north to one and a 2 hour drive east to the other. It could be worse, I could have landed where they didn't carry Big Green Eggs! :blink:

Gator

BENTE

somehow i ended up 2 hours from the mothership which is where i bought both of my eggs and two hours from charlotte n.c. small town kind of we have 182 thousand here so not too small we have a egg dealer but i know more about the egg than their whole sales force combined (i swear i will walk in there someday and one of their sales people will show me where the tank goes)


we just got back from mickey's house and i know for a fact i will never willingly live in florida.. i thought i needed some scuba gear there for awhile :laugh: but still one of the greatest places to visit

Gator Bait

Fort Myers is about 68,689. The population estimate for the metropolitan area is about 623,725. That includes Cape Coral, they sort of run together. I don't know what time of year that is either, sounds like winter although summers are getting almost as crowded. This used to be a quiet little town in the summers.

I've been here 25 years and have not been to any of the big attractions. LOL, to rich for my blood. As for living here, it's different! That's for sure. It sort of grows on you. I am used to the weather and the heat no longer bothers me. I bet it will probably get hotter where you are before the summer is over. As long as the hurricanes stay far away I'm happy. I grew up in New England, that weather is really bad.

Gator

Florida Grillin Girl

Thanks for the info, Gator. I am going to look for some different charcoal- we have a tone of latin markets here.
Also some great cuban restaurants!
Faith
Tamp, FL

FSUScotsman

Ft. Myers and Anderson are both a lot cooler than Tallahassee and a lot closer to civilization. When I came here I thought it would be "centralized". Instead it's in the middle of nowhere and hotter than anywhere else in Florida.

Gator Bait

I can see where that would be the case Scotsman. I have never spent any time there but have passed through. Tallahassee is like a lot of towns in Florida, it is in between a lot of not much. Being this far down the peninsula has its advantages with the heat, both summer and winter.

Gator

Gator Bait

My pleasure, Faith.

I bet Tampa/St. Pete are full of little Latino markets and Cuban restaurants. I wish I could get up that way just to explore. Back in 1983 I spent my first month in Florida in St. Pete. Got hit by a car and spent the four weeks in a hospital there. Some of the friendliest people on the earth live up your way. Let us know if you find anything interesting.

Gator

FSUScotsman

LOL!!! Yes, I understand. I'm moving to St. Cloud soon, but I told the other half.."when we retire we ARE going somewhere where the leaves fall in the winter!!". I'm from N. Carolina and I miss seeing a little snow on the ground.

kjed

What store in Cape Coral did you find it? I live in CC, and am always looking for a good source of lump (I'm a transplant from NH, where it's always easy to find Cowboy and Wicked Good).

Thanks,
Keith

Gator Bait

Hi kjed,

Hahahaha, I will have to do a little research on the store in Cape Coral. I get lost on that side of the river! My buddy lives over there and we were out running a few errands and he asked me to stop at this little market. That is where I found the Quebracho Charcoal. My buddy and I have been playing phone tag for the past two weeks, hopefully I will catch up with him soon.

The Viva Pancho Mesquite Charcoal I found in a little Latino market on this side of the river. If you come across the Cape Coral Bridge turn west (right) on to McGregor Blvd. and go 3.48 miles, go straight through the light. Now you are on San Carlos Blvd. Proceed about .72 miles and on the right you should see Marti's Restaurant just back off the road. The market is in the same building about three doors further back from the road and is simply called Latinos Market, that is 16200 San Carlos Blvd.
To say that English is spoken there might be stretching it slightly, lets just say that communicating in English can be done and can be a fun part of the adventure, they are nice people.

You can always get Royal Oak at Wal Mart for $6.37/10# or Publix in house Greenwise 100% Natural Charcoal is Royal Oak, normally going for $5.49/8.8#. I notice at the Publix over here it is marked down to $4.99 till about Wednesday.


I hope that helps, I will try to get back to you with info on the market in Cape Coral. I need to find out where it is myself.

If you have not found it yet Rincon Cubano is a little Cuban restaurant at 958 Country Club Blvd. They serve very traditional home style Cuban cooking for very reasonable prices. I find my way over there for one of their Cuban sandwiches every now and then. They make the best in the area I think.

Welcome to the forum, a little late and if you have just transplanted down here welcome to southwest Florida.

Feel free to email me anytime, I am a transplanted New Engalnder myself and have been down here for ever. LOL, seems that way.

Gator

kjed

Thanks for the welcome. I'll definitely check out Rincon Cubano. Here in Cape Coral, I like Azucar on Del Prado. The cuban sandwich and Media Noches are pretty good, but the bakery items are the best - the guava/cream cheese/puff pastry things are addictive; kinda like Cuban Krispy Kremes!

I've never been a big fan of the RO at Walmart; it's always really small pieces. I do like the Greenwise lump, though. Funny that they're made by the same company...