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For Better Grilling, Try BBQ Wood Chips

Take a tip from the experts: use BBQ wood chips to spice up your grilling. If you are an avid griller then you already know the reason for using barbecue wood chips. But many people have no idea what the big deal is about this product.

Wood chips are very small pieces of wood that are added to your BBQ to create smoke. If you are not using a wood fire to cook your food, then the only way you are going to get a true smoke flavor is by adding wood to your fire.

BBQ wood chips take your grilling to a whole new level. Whether you use a charcoal, gas or electric grill, wood chips will give you authentic barbecue flavor. There are special smoker boxes that can be placed in your gas and charcoal grills to add that special wood smoke flavor. Make sure you read the instructions for your grill before trying this.

The key to using wood chips is to not let them burn too quickly. The resulting heavy smoke will spoil your food with an acrid taste. If you soak wood chips in water for about 15 minutes before you use them, you’ll slow down their burn and make them smoke more. Make sure you let the wood drip dry for a few minutes before you add it to the fire. You want the wood moist, not dripping wet.

When using a small smoker in your grill you don’t necessarily have to soak your BBQ wood chips first. Although soaked wood chips burn longer, if you are cooking a steak you might not need them to burn for that long.

Wood smoking chips or BBQ wood chips are available in a wide variety of flavors. You can try cabernet, hickory or mesquite. The stores that sell BBQ wood chips will have flavor guides to help you wade your way through the new age of wood chips.

In general, the lighter the meat, the milder the wood chip you need to use. You can also try “heavier” flavors with lighter meats, though, such as using mesquite with chicken, but start with fewer wood chips.

With its more delicate aroma, alder wood chips best accompany lighter meats like fish and poultry. The flavorful fruitwoods go best with veal, poultry and pork. These types of woods include cherry or apple.

Maple and hickory BBQ wood chips have a strong flavor and are best used with beef, pork and poultry. Lamb, duck and beef also are great meats to use with mesquite wood chips, while beef or ham go well with oak wood chips, which is another strong flavor.

When you barbecue, your first focus should be the meat. Your fancy wood chips will just be going to waste on an inferior piece of meat that no amount of grilling expertise can retrieve. Make sure your meat or chicken is fresh and from a reputable butcher.

So the next time you decide to grill a great piece of meat consider using some of these BBQ wood chips and savor the great flavor and aroma coming off your grill.