How To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips

How To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips? It is critical to know what fuel to use when grilling. Gas grills are convenient and easy to use. Grilling over charcoal is an excellent option if you have the resources, and you like that chargrilled flavor.

However, you have to choose the right type of charcoal. You have to decide first what type of grill you want to use. Do you want a quick, hot sear and charred flavor? If so, how long do you want to cook it? When grilling food, you have to decide whether or not you want a more intense smoky flavor. Which kind of smoky flavor would you like if you wanted that extra flavor? Moreover, how can you even begin to consider the various methods of getting it?

You may feel overwhelmed by answering these questions, but don’t worry. The following information will help you decide how to grill with charcoal and woodchips.

Charcoal – Lump To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips

Lump hardwood charcoal is produced by burning logs of hardwood in a kiln. The charcoal pieces have irregular shapes and sizes. They resemble chunks of charred wood. It can be oak, hickory, mesquite, maple, or beech, or it can just be a generic hardwood. Lumps of charcoal burn hot and clean. 

The temperature drops rapidly after its first burn, and the burn time is relatively short, which means that you will have to keep adding charcoal during long cooking or smoking periods. Adding lump charcoal straight to the grill does not cause an undesirable taste since lump charcoal burns so cleanly. Lump charcoal is ideal for faster grilling.

Charcoal – Briquette To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips

Briquettes are made from wood waste, coal dust, and a variety of additives. When cooking for a long time, these stay at a constant temperature, unlike lump charcoal. As a result of the various chemical additives, the briquettes give off a bad-tasting smoke when they are first burned. 

To prevent your food from becoming contaminated with the smoke initially released from your briquettes if you decide to use briquettes, start the briquettes separately if you need to add more charcoal to your grill during the smoking process. For those long grilling and smoking sessions, briquettes work best for things like whole chickens, shoulder of pork, ribs, and any type of smoking.

Choosing The Right Charcoal To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips

You can experiment with lump hardwood charcoal and see if you like it. The fire starts quickly, doesn’t emit a bad-tasting smoke, and burns at a high temperature. 

As far as the type of lump charcoal goes, do not be concerned with the type of hardwood it originates from. Instead, use generic hardwood lump charcoal such as Cowboy, Woodstock, or Royal Oak.

The synthetic chemicals added to briquettes are too much for you, so stay away from them. Briquettes are definitely the more convenient way to go if you want to do barbecue or other types of smoking over charcoal since they burn at a consistent temperature for an extended period of time. When it comes to briquettes, choose Kingsford.

Wood chips To Grill With Charcoal And Wood Chips

Once you have figured out what type of charcoal you want to use, you can start thinking about how to enhance the smoky flavor of your food. Wood chips are the best way to do this.

A wood chip is a small piece of seasoned hardwood. With a wooden chip box, you can use wood chips in your barrel smoker, eclectic smoker, or kettle grill to add smoky flavor. A barrel smoker or kettle grill can be started with a pile of hot charcoal and a layer of wood chips on top. When charcoal slowly burns wood chips, it produces a pleasant, clean smoke.

Woodchips – Soak Or Not Soak

There is a debate about whether or not wood chips need to be soaked in water before being used. According to my experiments as well as the opinions of chefs and barbecue experts, soaking doesn’t make much difference.

Smoking the chips may appear to generate more smoke, but what you’re experiencing is more steam. Depending on what you are smoking, steam can have its own advantages; it can generate more moisture, which can counteract the drying effects of smoke and temperature. 

In order to prevent sausage casings from drying out too much, this can be beneficial. If you are worried about the meat drying out, place a water pan on the grill or in the smoker, as well as spraying it with vinegar or water occasionally.

There is often strong opinion about what sort of wood to smoke with, and also what cuts and types of meat work best with what type of smoke. Having said that, each type of hardwood has its own distinctive qualities. You should explore different options to see what works best for you. Also You can try smoking cherry and oak separately to see if you can find a difference and if you have a favorite.

You will enhance the authenticity of your BBQ by using genuine wood on the grill. Whatever you’re cooking will be infused with a true-to-life smoky taste that’s tough to duplicate.

Also You may also try out other taste combinations by using wood chips. Because they’re made from various woods (see Types of Wood Chips below), you may pick the one that goes best with your chosen components.

Aside from the taste and adaptability, there’s something incredibly rewarding about cooking with genuine wood. In a society where tradition has been lost for the sake of convenience, grilling over an open flame allows us to reconnect with our ancestors.

Conclusion

There is no need to choose between charcoal and smoky flavor. You can combine the two. To achieve the best results, use both charcoal and wood to smoke your food. Cook over indirect heat using charcoal as the heating element and wood to provide the flavor. A grill can be turned into a smoker in no time. Begin with a few pieces of wood, adding more as required.