Can You Put Wood Chips Directly on Charcoal

If you want your grilled meat to pack a powerful punch of wood flavor, then you should consider all of the bachelor options. Can you put wood chips directly on charcoal, or do you need to invest in a smoker box? Nosotros're here to discuss the ins and outs of each method.

Why You Should Use Wood Fries on the Grill

When you lot're grilling, there's nothing better than that authentic smoky taste–and in that location's no ameliorate way to achieve those results than to use real forest. The technique also allows you to experiment with dissimilar flavors, since each type of wood that'due south available for these purposes (run into Flavor Profiles, below) carries its own subtle characteristics.

Ameliorate yet, it's piece of cake to add wood chips to your fire, even if the grill isn't outfitted with a divide smoker attachment. All you demand are some wood chips, a square of aluminum foil, and a few extra minutes. Considering charcoal fires take a while to heat up anyhow, you should have plenty of fourth dimension to fix.

How to Add Woods Chips to a Charcoal Fire

ane. The Foil Pan Method

This is the preferred method for larger grills. Disposable aluminum pans are cheap, easy to find, and invaluable if you're serious about grilling.

To use this technique, light the grill and wait until the coals are finely coated with a layer of white-gray ash. To start the fire, you tin use either lighter fluid or a chimney starter, or a small-scale pile of paper crumpled beneath the coals.

Adjacent, fill up the pan at least halfway with the wood chips of your selection. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and poke several holes in the foil earlier adding information technology to the hot coals. Replace the cooking grates, utilize a thin coating of neutral oil, and grill your food as y'all ordinarily would.

two. The Foil Packet Method

Can you lot put woods fries direct on charcoal? Aye, merely we wouldn't recommend information technology. The forest will burn down up earlier it can impart whatever real smoke flavor to the food, which would defeat the entire purpose of the do.

Instead, it'southward a good idea to create a foil packet to prevent the fries from combusting besides chop-chop. Only identify a few handfuls of wood chips in the center of a generously-sized sheet of aluminum foil, fold upward the edges so that the wood is fully enclosed, and poke holes in the foil to permit the smoke to escape. Here'south a video tutorial to give you lot an idea of what the process looks like.

When the dress-down are set, carefully set the parcel on top of the pile earlier yous start to cook.

3. The Smoker Box Method

This is the method to use if your grill already has a smoker box in identify for these purposes, or if you lot're willing to buy one instead of resorting to practise-it-yourself techniques.

Fill the smoker box with woods chips and place information technology on summit of the hot coals. Wait until yous showtime to encounter smoke coming out of the holes, virtually 10 minutes. At this point, you can add the nutrient to the grill right away, or whenever the coals take reached the desired temperature.

Read more: How to utilise wood fries on a charcoal grill?

To Soak or Not To Soak?

You might take noticed that none of the techniques listed above include the initial step of soaking the wood chips in water beforehand. That's because we don't think this step is necessary. In fact, it could actually hinder your progress.

Why exercise some people recommend soaking the wood chips in the commencement place? They believe that when the wood is wet, information technology will accept longer to burn, so you won't have to furnish the supply equally often. While they're technically correct, all of the water in the forest will have to evaporate before the forest volition really ignite. That means that any vapor you run across before that is really steam, not smoke. This won't make the food gustatory modality better, and information technology could even lower the temperature of your coals, leading to inconsistent results.

What'due south more, woods chips don't absorb that much water to begin with. In lodge for the moisture to penetrate the forest, the fries would need to soak for at least a day. Almost people just soak them for thirty minutes to an hour, which isn't long enough to do anything except slow downwards the cooking process.

Flavor Profiles

To help you understand your options, here's a guide to the nigh popular types of wood used for grilling. We've also included information almost which foods pair all-time with each type.

Apple

A great all-purpose smoking wood, apple gives off a mild flavor that pairs excellently with poultry and pork. It doesn't hold upwards also to red meat, just it can still be used on steak and lamb chops if yous're more than interested in showcasing the seasonings rather than the smoke itself.

Alder

This is another mild option with a subtle sugariness. Many pitmasters swear past alder when it comes to smoked salmon and other seafood.

Maple

If you've e'er had maple syrup, you'll have a basic idea of the flavors that this woods imparts. Try information technology with salmon, poultry, or vegetables. Be enlightened that the smoke from maple will tint the food a darker shade.

Cherry

This fruitwood delivers a gentle smoke flavor and a deep reddish hue. It's suitable for pork and beef, merely the color might be too off-putting for poultry.

Pecan

Pecan has a sweet, fruity gustatory modality that serves as a overnice counterpoint to pork roasts and chops. It can also exist used with poultry and seafood. Note that pecan woods fries burn down at a slightly lower temperature than the others.

Oak

Slightly stronger than the options listed above, oak is platonic for steaks and pork chops. It can be blended with apple tree or cherry to deliver an extra boost of flavor.

Hickory

1 of the go-to options for traditional barbecue, hickory has a strong, sweet flavor that tin be bitter if you're non conscientious. This wood works especially well with beefiness brisket.

Mesquite

The strongest of them all, mesquite is best when combined with milder woods to impart its bold flavor without overpowering the meat. Nosotros wouldn't recommend using mesquite for anything except hearty cuts of red meat.

Read more: Hickory vs Mesquite

Is In that location Such a Thing as Too Much Smoke?

While you lot desire the woods flavor to be noticeable, it isn't really necessary to create a billowing cloud of smoke. A thin stream of light blueish-grey smoke should issue regularly from the holes in your foil package or smoker box. If the smoke is thick and white or black and sooty-looking, the fire is either suffocating from lack of oxygen, or it's merely not hot enough.

Likewise, make sure your air vents are open at least partway to allow some of the smoke to escape. You don't desire to trap as well much smoke in the grill, or information technology will give your food an acrid, bitter aftertaste. On the other hand, don't be tempted to lift the chapeau too frequently, or the smoke won't have a chance to penetrate the meat.

Finally, equally we mentioned in a higher place, stronger wood like hickory and mesquite should be used sparingly to avoid overwhelming the other flavors.

If you cull to make your own wood chips instead of relying on commercially prepared ones, make sure they're made of hardwood and non softwood similar pine or bandbox. Softwood contains besides much resin, which volition create an unpredictable fire and brand the food gustatory modality bitter. Finally, when buying commercially prepared chips, wait for all-natural brands with no chemicals or other additives.

Alternatives to Wood Chips

Wood Chunks

The but difference between wood chips and wood chunks is the size. Chunks are larger and have longer to fire, so they work well when you're cooking large cuts of meat like whole chickens, beef brisket, or pork shoulder.

Woods Pellets

These ingenious inventions are modest cylinders of compressed hardwood sawdust. They tin burn slowly while maintaining a high temperature, which makes them an platonic choice for grilling as well every bit smoking. If yous're interested in cooking with wood pellets, we would recommend investing in a pellet grill.

More articles about wood pellets:

• How to utilise wood pellets in a charcoal grill?
• How long do pellets final in a pellet grill?
• Are forest pellets prophylactic for grilling?

Liquid Fume

Some chefs rely on this additive to impart smoke season to their nutrient, fifty-fifty when they're not cooking outdoors. It's been effectually since the 19th century, and the technique for making it has remained largely the aforementioned.

To make liquid smoke, the manufacturers burn hardwood sawdust and allow the smoke to condense until it's in liquid form. The resulting liquid is then processed to eliminate whatsoever residual ash or other impurities. Commonly, there are other ingredients added to act as preservatives and round out the flavor. Some common additives include vinegar, molasses, saccharide, and salt.

If you're grilling the food anyway, we would recommend staying abroad from liquid smoke. Information technology's but non an adequate substitute for the existent thing, no affair how much idea goes into its production.

How Many Wood Fries Do You Need?

When using the foil method, use nearly ii-3 handfuls of chips per packet. Each parcel should fume for almost ane hour, which may be enough, depending on what you're cooking. For longer cooking applications, add together an additional packet every half hour or so to keep the smoke flowing at a steady step.

Techniques for Smoking Meat

Depending on how serious you are about grilled and smoked foods, you lot may have heard about the unlike ways of smoking meat. There are three basic options: cold smoking, warm smoking, and hot smoking. Here's what you need to know about each i.

Cold smoking doesn't cook the food, but imbues it with that unmistakable woodsy flavour. The process takes place at temperatures of 66 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and is the go-to technique for smoked cheeses and pre-cooked meats.

Warm smoking is mayhap the least mutual, just it'south oftentimes used on bacon and other smoked meat products. To achieve the proper results, the fire needs to exist kept between 80 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

The last method, hot smoking, is the most prevalent. This technique actually cooks the nutrient in improver to improving the flavor. Once the temperature is in the range of 150 to 225 degrees Fahrenheit, you've entered hot-smoking territory.

Last Thoughts

Tin can you put forest chips directly on charcoal when grilling? It depends on what you mean past directly.

Using a foil packet or some other type of barrier volition slow the combustion and permit the wood to smoke at a slow, even stride. Since y'all're looking for flavor rather than flame, this is the technique we would recommend.

Related manufactures:

• How long does a charcoal grill stay hot?
• Lump charcoal vs. briquettes
• Lighter fluid substitute

All-time of luck, and happy grilling!

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