Your choice when smoking food...

[coltle6920]

My question to you is not what "flavor" wood chip you use but rather if the wood chips are dry or wet.

I've been using dry chips so far (sometimes too much) and see on TV where they soak the wood for maybe 30min. first.One guy said that dry wood offers a more intense smoking where the wet wood is a little more tame.

Do most of you have a preference or doesn't it really matter??

 

[JayCeeNC]

I don't think it makes any difference.
The amount of water the wood could absorb is minimal.
I'll refer you to this explanation on Amazing Ribs.com which is pretty much the definitive site for anything grilled.

Don't Soak Your Wood. This Myth Is Busted.

 

[coltle6920]

I don't think it makes any difference.
The amount of water the wood could absorb is minimal.
I'll refer you to this explanation on Amazing Ribs.com which is pretty much the definitive site for anything grilled.

Thanks for the link...I can't argue their findings.The "guy" i referenced in my thread is Steve Raichlen who hosts Primal Grill on Create TV.

Apparently soaking wood chips for the grill is about as useful as that piece of parsley on your plate at a fancy restaurant.Let's see what others have to say.

 

[nachogrande]

I USE ZIG ZAG PAPERS

Keep a lighter handy, they keep going out. Seriously 50/50 hickory/apple wood. Soaking would depend on how small the wood is cut, logs/chips/sawdust? I never soaked the wood, but did use a water tray, as steam seemed to mix the flavors & baste the meat better, IMO. NO not a true low temp dry smoking method.

 

[JayFramer]

Didn't vote but I love bbq it GOOOOOOD.

 

[kwselke]

I prefer chunks to chips. Soaking chunks is useless. Soaking chips will buy you a bit of burn time if the chips are applied directly to the coals. You are not going to turn seasoned wood back into green wood by soaking it.

 

[soFlaNative]

I prefer chunks, about 3 apple to 1 hickory but chunks or chips
only flare and burn quick when lifting the lid. Resist the temptation to keep peeking... a quick look does no harm and forget the myth of extending the cook time.
The above referenced Amazing Ribs is a good resource. Sort of like the America's Test Kitchen of BBQ.

 

[walkin jack]

Wood chips? I doan need no steenkeen wood chips. I smoke with WOOD. Red oak is my favorite but I sometimes mix with pecan, mesquite, hickory or one of the fruit woods.

 

[LostintheOzone]

I didn't vote because I don't use chips.

I cut down a small alder about 6 months before I smoke. Leave it lay where it fell and go back in the summer and cut it into rounds about 10" long. I then split it into pieces about 1" thick. Thats what goes into my smoker.

I use charcoal under the alder for heat and to get the smoke from the alder. Alder pieces last about an hour in my smoker. Rack of salmon takes about 4 hours to smoke.

Never bought a bag of chips. Been smoking salmon for about 15 years. Neighbor loses a few trees in high winds every winter. Sometimes I just use those. I don't know my neighbor as I've only talked to him once and he doesn't live anywhere close. He told me to take the windfalls.

The alder is what I would call fairly dry when I use it.

 

[mstem]

I soak my wood chips for a week before I plan on using them. That is where the most of my smokes comes from. I burn red oak until it has turned into coals then I put it in my smoker & add the soaked cherry, pecan, apple or hickory chips depending on what flavor I want that day.

 

[snubbyfan]

Timely thread. I gonna grill a coupla bison steaks and I have some hickory chunks I'm gonna add some smoke with.
I'll be smoking an Opus X cigar.
I'll add the chunks dry and after the charcoal's ready.

 

[ditrina]

Hmm lessss-see.

It take a good year for green wood to age dry.. not sure how 20 minutes, to even one day is gonna soak IN

Been doing " dry" for over 20 years..

 

[Bill Bates]

I use to have a Little Chief Smoker and I used dry chips.

Now I smoke stuff in a pellet grill so it is dry pellets.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Timely thread. I gonna grill a coupla bison steaks and I have some hickory chunks I'm gonna add some smoke with.
I'll be smoking an Opus X cigar.
I'll add the chunks dry and after the charcoal's ready.

I would also if I could afford a $10 cigar or whatever they cost. I have to smoke $3 cigars because I usually spend a few hundred bucks on the salmon and beer.

What ever happened to the good 5 cent cigar? Or maybe they never existed.

 

[LostintheOzone]

I use to have a Little Chief Smoker and I used dry chips.

Now I smoke stuff in a pellet grill so it is dry pellets.

My neighbor has a pellet smoker. Swears it's better than the brick smoker he built. He knows a thing or two about smoking. He's 88.

 

[snubbyfan]

I would also if I could afford a $10 cigar or whatever they cost. I have to smoke $3 cigars because I usually spend a few hundred bucks on the salmon and beer.

What ever happened to the good 5 cent cigar? Or maybe they never existed.

I wouldn't be smoking it either if a forum member hadn't sent it to me.
The best low buck cigar I've found are Cuban Rounds in Toro with a natural wrapper.

 

[djt17]

I used to always soak; haven't for a long time. Haven't noticed any difference.

 

[UncleEd]

OK, it's time.....

I tried smoking a hot dog but it wouldn't light.

 

[03hemi]

I would also if I could afford a $10 cigar or whatever they cost. I have to smoke $3 cigars because I usually spend a few hundred bucks on the salmon and beer.

What ever happened to the good 5 cent cigar? Or maybe they never existed.

$10, I wish, the cheapest I can find them is $13-20 a stick. I usually smoke Cubans because I can get them for around $7-8 a stick, but I do have one humidor filled with just Opus-X. They only get smoked on limited various occasions because they only get released twice a year.

 

[Whitwabit]

didn't vote because I use apple and cherry but neither wet or dry .. But green I cut wood from my own trees .. a blend of green and sometimes dry or partially dried branches ..

But I have found that dry wood should be used for anything that requires less then 30 minutes of cooking and wet for anything over the 30 minute cooking time .. the dry will burn quickly and be done in 10 to 20 minutes while the wet will continue to smoke if wet properly for over an hour giving deep smoke tastes to roast and other large meat items that require longer cooking times..

I also use bulk charcoal not the briquettes you can buy .. but large pieces burns slower and longer easier to regulate the temperature also ..