On the subject of cooking outdoors, there are a few unique cooking methods you could opt for. Many grills that you can buy come with built-in smokers but for individuals who have grills without smokers, they can be ordered as a stand alone.

Needless to say, if using the smoking method, you must add wood to the fire to have the smoke flavor while you cook. Regardless of whether you’ve got a gas, charcoal or wood smoker, it doesn’t matter. You can still achieve the genuine barbecue flavor of smoked meat when you add wood.

When you initially get a smoker you’ll discover that both wood chunks and wood chips can be purchased already packaged, for added convenience.

You will discover advantages to using either wood chunks or chips but there may be times when you prefer one over the other. Wood chips are smaller pieces of wood that can be used when you are trying to create small, fast bursts of smoke.

Regardless if you soak them in water, wood chips will burn rapidly, make smoke and then disintegrate. If you’d like only minimal smoke flavor or are merely planning to smoke something quickly, wood chips are the best choice. Of course, some smokers can only be used with wood chips so be sure to read about your smoker before choosing your wood supply.

Wood chunks, alternatively, are fragments of hardwood that are usually less than two inches. If you wish to create smoke for an extended time frame, wood chunks are better than wood chips.

The period of time you’ll be smoking is often the determining factor between wood chips and wood chunks since you can achieve more smoke over a longer period of time with one and not the other. If using chips, chances are you’ll need to replenish your supply every half-hour.

Regardless of whether you are using wood chips or wood chunks, you should avoid allowing them to burn away too quickly. When they burn speedily it creates intense bursts of smoke that can actually defeat the reason for the smoker since it may make food bitter.

In order to increase the length of time for smoke creation and slow down the combustion you can soak wood chips in water for 15 minutes and wood chunks for a half-hour. Before you add the wood to the fire, you need to let it drip dry for several minutes. It simply needs to be moist not dripping wet.