Mesquite Charcoal?

F308gt4

I was at the local Albertsons, and they have bags of Natural Mesquite Charcoal for $6 and change (20 lb bag). Bag is very generic looking, says 100% natural and that it's a product of Mexico.

Anybody ever try this stuff? How strong would the mesquite taste on stuff cooked with this charcoal?

I'm very tempted to try out a bag, but would like to see if anyone has ever tried it out.

Thanks!

Richard Fl

Not sure about that brand, but have bought several different brands smaller bags of mesquite made in tejas or mexico in latin grocery stores here in florida and they work fine, hot burning and lots of spark.

Mike in Abita

For that price, I'd give it a whirl. Seems to me that someone was on here about a week or so ago and said they used some and liked it.

I'd stay away from a lot of fresh mesquite, but in charcoal form it should mellow quite a bit.

texasAUtiger

That's the type that dominates the market out here in central TX (surprise, surprise). I use store brand mesquite lump and love it.

Cory430

The only time I used mesquite lump (Lazarri, I think), it worked fine. Seems like it was a bit harder to light in a chimney, but once lit, no problems. The smoke taste was no more pronounced than the other lump that I use as far as I could tell.

The Naked Whiz

Go for it and see if you like it. I've used mesquite to do a low and slow overnighter for a pork butt and it was fine. Good luck!

Gator Bait

 
I love Mesquite charcoal and wish I could get it for that price. Here is a post I did about Viva Pancho Mesquite Charcoal last summer.

The Mesquite flavor is much milder then Mesquite smoke wood. The Viva Pancho brand does smoke a little constantly and has good flavor. Mesquite is a hardwood like other good charcoals and has a long hot burn to it. I think it is perfect for steaks. I some times will mix it with my Royal Oak for other meats. I think it takes a little more to get it started and it can spark like the Fourth of July when I use the MAPP torch on it.
For that price I don't see how you can go wrong. Let us know if you try it I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

Gator

 

Grandpas Grub

 
Can't see your bag picture but I have tried 3 or 4 different kinds all being product of Mexico.

Be aware of sparks when lighting and if you cook at a hot temperature. Flavor was excellent on chicken. Also a nice wood flavor when using the mesquite and apple wood chips.

To see if you like the flavor of that lump cook some chicken, which is a pretty short cook and the bird will pick up the flavor readily.

GG

LoveHandles

I've used it before and had good luck. The pieces are usually large and need to be broken up sometimes, but the price is right.

Grandpas Grub

 
Some pieces in the larger bags (40# bags) are huge. Larger than my arm and I am not a skinny fart.

GG

thirdeye

I use it a lot and just a few months my source for Lazarri Mesquite dried up. Could you post the full name and if possible the SKU number of the stuff you saw. I have an Albertsons store.

Grandpas Grub

 
If you have a Korgers owned store up in or around Casper you can get Royal Oak there. Kroger bought out Smith Food King down our way.

Albertsons has been sold out down here also, it was taken over by a wholesale food supplier, the name will change in our area.

thirdeye

We still have a Smith's and it has always had Kroger branded stuff throughout the store.

Last year our Albertsons remodeled, and for lack of a better word they restructured their inventory to be a little more generic and economy minded. The name did not change (yet), but the changes in the store are very noticeable.

Meanwhile, one of the Safeway stores remodeled and now sort of has that Whole Foods look, complete with a Starbucks and a Wi-Fi lounge.

It was after the upscale remodel that Safeway dropped lump charcoal, so I'm hoping Albertsons will be able to order the mesquite for me (even if there is a minimum)

Wal-Mart still carries orange bag Royal Oak, and Menards has the green bag RO.

Grandpas Grub

 
The wholesaler Sysco is one of the distributors out here and they have some type of lump as well as mesquite. However, they have a minimum opening order and require a weekly minimum buy to keep the account open.

The remodeling and newer look has been going on with the stores out here for a few years now. Two of my daughters work in a local medium size food chain, interstate and are involved with the corporate side of things. Twice a year they go on 'excursions' back east (everything east of Colorado is east). They visit the stores and get ideas to improve what is being offered out here. There has been a huge remodel and attitude change with most of the grocery stores.

They are getting higher profit margins by making a lot of fresh foods available, artisan bread cooking, cheese bars with huge selections of cheeses from around the world. Since they began making their own salsa a year ago they make 1M net net profit quarter in 8 or so stores just off of the salsa.

There is a huge selection of 'take and bake' foods and precooked foods for customers. They have their own blend of sausages, brauts, dry aged meats (part of what got me interested), high end foods, like prime rib, fresh planked salmon on alder - sides and salads.

Walmart hit this area hard and it seemed this one company was targeted. A good portion had Walmarts and Super Walmarts were build directly across the street from their stores.

To avoid loosing market share they began upgrading and modernizing.

Business is indeed interesting.

Hopefully F308gt4 will post a name/sku number. I can get 40# Mexico Mesquite down here for I think it is $15 a bag. Some of the pieces look like tree trunks, I use a welding hammer to break the larger pieces up.

I still mostly cook with RO.

thirdeye

Thanks for the Sysco tip. I know several chef's and restaurant owners that have Sysco accounts, and have bought stuff through them in the past. I'll check out that lead on charcoal.

F308gt4

OK, went to Albertson's and picked up a bag.

The Bag is labelled:

California Hot Wood
100% Natural
Mesquite Charcoal
Product of Mexico

On the back, the UPC label is:

0 35022 20002 2

Hope this helps.

I still have about 3/4 of a bag of Royal Oak to finish up before I try this stuff, but that shouldn't take too long...

thirdeye

Cool, I appreciate that.

Click the link below to read the review on that brand. The Naked Whiz has a data base of most brands of lump charcoal.

Naked whiz Review

Grandpas Grub

Thanks for posting.

GG

F308gt4

thirdeye wrote:

Cool, I appreciate that.

Click the link below to read the review on that brand. The Naked Whiz has a data base of most brands of lump charcoal.

Naked whiz Review

Thanks. Very interesting.

The bag that I bought is a 20 lb bag, vs the 7 lb bag that you reviewed. Hopefully, it will turn out a little better than your review. But, if not, at least the price was good (I normally pay $6 and change for a 10lb bag of royal oak from Walmart- this is 2x the lump for about the same price)

Thanks!

Ricklesss

Lately, I've only been using Lazzari Brand Mesquite.
I buy it in 40lb bags for 12 dollars at a local restaurant supply store. (cash and carry)
At first, when I posted about this, 4 months ago, I got many folks who said it would be too strong, but I have found that not to be true...
I like it a lot.