Grilling with wood instead of charcoal

[SCUMFROG]

I was thinking of using those wood chips instead of charcoal, has any one done this?

[Surface Tension]

I use dry maple and alder. Just build a fire and let it burn down till you get a good bed of coals.

[nitefisher]

any fruit baering tree like oak,maple,apple,plum, ect as long as it bears some kind of fruit berry or nut is a good wood to grill with. get your fire going and burn down to coals. and if you can have some green wood of the same to put on while grilling for a good smoked flavor.

[SCUMFROG]

What about the wood chips you buy at like Gander Mountain? Are those just for smoking?

[IFallsRon]

One of the local Ace Hardware stores sells a wood briquette that are designed to use with the green egg-type grills. The bags are a bit spendy but a former coworker said that's all he uses.

[Surface Tension]

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What about the wood chips you buy at like Gander Mountain? Are those just for smoking?

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Chips are to small and thin. You need something large enough to get a bed of coals that will last long enough to cook over. Chunks would be better.

[nitefisher]

i would have to say yes that chips are for smokeing. you need to use chunks of wood, any wood will work but be careful because some wood will make your food taste funny. most resturants use oak and maple that is what i use. any fruit bearing tree your food will be very tasty.

[SCUMFROG]

Can I buy this wood pre-cut or do I have to cut it myself.

I had a gas grill for ever and I'm sick of it that's why all ?

[Surface Tension]

Well you can't throw a long on the grill so yes you'll have to cut and split your wood. If the store has chips then they might have the baseball size chunks too.

Basically you use your grill two ways. Grilling over direct heat and barbecuing with indirect heat. If your looking for flavor from grilling then you'll need the coals. If your barbecuing then you could use the chips in a pan over the direct heat of your gas grill. Use a loose fitting cover to smoother the flames or soak the chips in water first or you'll get black soot.

[SCUMFROG]

WOW, I didn't know there was this much stuff involved in grilling out. I guess I'll just have to do some trial and error cooking with hamburgers..

[nitefisher]

i live in the country so i have an abundance of wood around me all the time. but i always keep my eyes open for dead apple, plum ,oak, trees and cut them myself.

[BLACKJACK]

If you've been cooking with a gas grill, rather than trying to jump to wood, buy yourself a charcoal grill both for the convenience of just dumping the charcoals out of a bag and to get practice over a 'wood' fire, because thats really what charcoal is, wood that has been burnt and pressurized into nice little cubes. Learn how to cook over the hot part to sear the meat then move off to the side to finish the cooking. Learn how to control the top and bottom vents to regulate your heat. If you try to learn wood barbecuing by using wood chips as you were talking about, you'll either end up with burnt food or not done food and you'll say to heck with it and go back to gas. I have both a gas grill and charcoal grill, I use the gas grill on the weekdays for convenience and the charcoal on the weekends for the flavor and ambiance.

Now this weekend when we go camping, I will barbecue over wood, but I'll start my fire at two and by five when I'm ready to grill, I'll have a nice bed of coals - kind of like a charcoal grill. Thats when you can throw on that fruit wood that the other guys mentioned, but just a little for flavor. It really doesn't matter what kind of wood you use to start with because all you're shooting for is a bed of coals.

[mylineswet]

I agree with blackjack and do the same thing. It is amazing how fast and additive it can get in mixing charcoal,wood and campfire cooking to get your own personal taste. Have fun with it and keep experimenting.

[SCUMFROG]

Thanks blackjack. I have used charcoal grills before but not much. Is there a grilling web site? There would have to be some thing out there..

[nitefisher]

blackjack is right but if you want to cook with just wood i would go with a hard wood such as oak or ash till you get a bad of coals, then for the real flavor in your food use a little fruit wood. i have cooked with wood for many years both indoors and out mostly out and every thing has a differant flavor. so exsperement and you will get the hang of it fairly quick. good call blackjack with starting out with charcoal and add wood for flavoring.

[Rugbyguy]

There are a variety of places that sell charcoal style wood chips. I know Menards has them right next to the regular charcoal. I would recommend trying it as the flavor is really good. Just cook with them the same way you would regular charcoal.

[icehousebob]

I run a small tree service and I try to keep all the wood from fruit trees like apple and cherry. I don't like to use oak. I run the fruit wood through my chipper and spread the chips on a tarp to dry. Then I bag the chips in a mesh bag so the don't mold. When its time to cook, I soak the chips in water(or apple juice) for a few hours before cooking. Then build a fire with charcoal, ash, or maple and when you have a good bed of coals, put a panfull of soaked chips above the coals, put on the meat and cover, closing all the vents. Cook slowly and let the flavors soak into the meat. Gooood eating.

[smoked perch]

i would recommend buying some 'cowboy charcoal' which i think rugbyguy was referring to. it's made from wood, but you use it like regular charcoal. but it's just pure chunks, no petrolium additives, like you get with kingsford type briquettes. i know menards has it, and i believe lowe's carries them too. it's in a brown bag, and called 'cowboy charcoal.'

and here is the ultimate grilling/bbq site. will answer all your questions, and has a huge archive of recipes, marinades, brines for when you get addicted to grilling and smoking... barbecuenom

good luck.

[SCUMFROG]

I seen that stuff last night. Didn't get any though I still have some stuff left that I got at gander.

[BLACKJACK]

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no petrolium additives, like you get with kingsford type briquettes

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Thats why you start your barbecue fire 30-60 minutes early, so you get a nice bed of grey coals, its nice and hot, and any smell from the charcoal or boy scout water (charcoal lighter fluid) has burned off. Read the directions on the bag.

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and here is the ultimate grilling/bbq site.

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[DigitalFisherman]

Check out bbqu dot net; pretty good site.