First Rockwood, First Flatiron Steak

After years of reading people on this forum raving about Rockwood, with the help of @stlcharcoal telling me how to order it from a local Ace hardware store, I finally was able to get some Rockwood charcoal:



This wasn't a cook where I'd expect to see or taste any difference, really, between charcoals -- hot grilling a steak.  But I did notice two things that were unusual.  First, though I don't imagine this will necessarily be consistent and probably has more to do with shipping than brand, this is the first time I had to break up a bunch of the lumps because too many of them were just too large (I use starter cubes, and didn't think I'd be able to light such huge chunks very well).  Interesting.  But second, I really didn't notice ANY white smoke when starting up from a freshly-opened back of lump.  I don't think that has ever happened before.

What I'm really waiting for is to cook a spatchcock chicken, because I have really enjoyed the mild smokiness of BGE lump in the past for cooks like that.  With no added wood chips or chunks, the chicken had a really nice "campfire" flavor and fragrance that I really like, and I've wondered what it would be like if I did the same cook the same way with Rockwood that is famous for being "neutral."  I don't grill all the time, so it'll probably be a little while.

This also was my first cook of a flatiron steak.  I was going to cook flank steak with a home-made teriyaki-style marinade I've been enjoying since 1969 or so (!), but right next to the flank steak were a couple of flatiron steaks, so I tried that instead.  Really good, but I'm not sure I'm completely crazy about the bit of gristle/silverskin that runs through the middle of it of part of it.  Had a good beefy flavor, though.  I think if I cook one again, I won't do the teriyaki, but much more simple seasoning, maybe just salt and pepper.