How to Pick the Right Charcoal for Your Summer Grilling

Hold up: There are different kinds of charcoal? Yup. You’re damn right there are. Like sandwiches, insurance plans, and automobiles, charcoal is no one-size-fits-all beast.

You’ll find two main types of charcoal out there in the world, and they lend themselves more appropriately to different grilling situations. So before you give it a light, you need to know what you'll be cooking. Here are the two main types of charcoal and what you should be using them for:

Charcoal briquettes are probably what you picture when you think about charcoal. Typically the cheaper option, they're uniform nuggets of dense, packed sawdust, and they offer an even, predictable, long-burning heat that’s great for grilling larger pieces of meat that take a long amount of time to cook through.

Because briquettes aren’t 100 percent wood (they’re packed with binders to hold their shape), they're technically the less natural option, but if you’re planning on grilling all afternoon, consider these nuggets your economical, dependable, workhorse.

Hardwood lump charcoal is your other option—and it's all about flavor. Made from irregularly-shaped pieces of real hardwood (no filler or binding agents—just trees!), it burns hotter, less evenly, and more quickly than briquettes. Hardwood lump imparts flavor on the food you’re grilling because it’s an ingredient in itself: Depending on what kind of hardwood lump you're using, be it mesquite, applewood, or pecan, your food will taste taste (and smell) different.

We use hardwood lump for quick, hot-and-fast grilling (say you're grilling bread or sliced squash or hot dogs and burgers), but here's a pro tip: You can also throw a handful on top of already-burning briquettes to create a plume of aromatic wood smoke so that you can have some of the benefits of both types of charcoal.

To summarize, here's our rule of thumb: If you’re grilling something that’s quick-cooking, like thin-cut pork chops or smaller vegetables like string beans, asparagus, or snap peas, you want the high-heat fire of hardwood. If you’re going low and slow on a whole chicken or a large steak, briquettes are your best friend. Either way, dinner’s better when you know you’re using the right charcoal.

Want to grill some skewers? Use that lump!

There's no messing up with these spicy, sambal-laced grilled chicken skewers. They've always been there for me, and they'll always be there for you.

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit