Grilling For All Reasons

One of the key benefits (at least in my view) of cooking over an open fire is the flavor enhancement you get. That flavor comes from smoke. You get that smoky flavor naturally when grilling over charcoal or wood, but not with a gas grill or indoors on a gas or electric range. But, you CAN add smoke regardless of what you’re cooking on or how you’re cooking it. And no, I’m not talking about pouring on chemical-laced “liquid smoke”. It all comes back to why you get it naturally with charcoal or wood fuel — the wood.

There is a style of cooking called smoking that derives from this, but we’ll leave the techniques to another day. Today, it’s about the wood.

In previous articles, I’ve talked about fuel choices and cooking over wood. I’d like to drill down on the types of wood and the unique flavor that each will impart on food, as well as some of the methods of getting that smoke regardless of what you’re cooking on.

Wood Flavor Characteristics

Wood is wood, right? Well, not quite, particularly when you’re trying to cook with it. Each type of wood has distinctive burning and flavor characteristics. Most hardwoods are excellent both for fuel, as well as for generating smoke. Stay away from all processed woods like plywood or fiberboard due to toxic chemical content. Resinous woods like pines and eucalyptus may work OK for an outdoor bonfire, but leave a nasty taste with food. So, what are your choices? And what are their characteristics?

Following is a chart detailing most suitable woods that you can use as a guide. Some of these may only be sparsely available where you live, but the most common – hickory and mesquite – are readily available as chunks or chips (and in some cases, pellets) in many supermarkets, drug stores, home stores, and sport good outlets – typically anywhere you might buy charcoal. You may also find alder, apple, and cherry packaged as chips. If you can come by any of the others, give them a try.

So, how do you use these for cooking?

The woods that are commercially packaged for use in grilling and smoking are available in any or all of the following “formats”:

• Chunks – not full logs, but larger pieces that average 2-4” or more in diameter and length. Can be used as a fuel, but most commonly used for smoking with charcoal (briquettes or lump) as the fuel.

• Chips – smaller pieces, usually not larger than an inch. Most commonly available, and easiest to use in all types of grills/smokers with all types of fuel (including gas/electric).

• Pellets – ground wood fashioned into 1/4”x 1/2” pellets, bound with a non-toxic starch. Used in the same manner as chips.

• Planks – slabs of wood – ranging from 1/4-1/2” or more thick, and from 4 inch square “single-serving” planks to larger sizes up to 15-16”. Made from a variety of woods, but most typically western red cedar and alder. Food is placed directly on the plank and then on the grill surface.

• Papers – the same woods used for planks are now being marketed in very thin veneers. These are used to wrap around food (usually single-servings) then grilled.

Chunks	Chips	Pellets	Planks	Papers

In almost every case, you will want to adequately soak the wood you’re going to use to generate smoke. Minimum time for soaking in water is 30 minutes, and up to overnight. This applies to all the formats listed previously. While you can use the wood dry, it will not generate as much smoke and will be used up quickly. Soaking the wood allows it to slowly smolder and release lots of smoke for longer periods of time – the more smoke, the more flavor in the food. Keep the wood soaking in the water until ready to use. Drain before placing on the fuel or in a smoker box or pouch.

For wood or charcoal fueled grills and smokers, you can place the wet smoking wood directly on the fuel. For gas or electric grills, and for longer-lasting smoke on charcoal/wood grills, you’ll want to place the wood into some type of closed, but vented metal container. You can buy a smoker box, or make a smoker pouch very quickly and easily out of aluminum foil.

• Smoker box – remove or open the lid, fill the box with wet wood (typically chips or pellets), replace the lid, and place directly on the fuel in wood/charcoal grills, or as close to the heat as possible for gas/electric grills (on a burner shield or electric element or on the grate over a heat source). You generally want to have your smoke source below the food you’re cooking

• Aluminum foil pouch – if you don’t have a smoker box, a hand-made aluminum foil pouch will work just fine. Take a piece of aluminum foil double the size you want your pouch to be and fold it in half. Fold the sides (perpendicular to the fold) over about 1/2” and then fold over again to seal the sides. The opening to the pouch will be on the side opposite the fold. Fill your pouch with soaked wood chips, and seal the open end in the same manner as the sides. On one of the flat sides, poke several holes to allow the smoke to escape. Place on the grill as you would a smoker box.

Soaking Wood Chips	Smoker box	Foil Pouch

Give your smoke source a couple of minutes to start generating smoke, then place your food on the grill and close the grill lid for maximum smoking effect. If you’re cooking for a longer period of time (more than 45 minutes or so), you’ll need to add more soaked wood to keep the smoke flowing.

As with everything we do in cooking, it comes down to imagination and experimentation. Now that you’re armed with information, try different woods with different foods to discover YOUR favorites.