smokin' on the grill

[buffett1]

I was wondering how much using these smoker boxes on the gas grill alter the taste of food. Anybody ever try one?

[AJ]

I always use wood chips/chunks when grilling steaks or tri-tip on the charcoal lumps. Set your grill up with hot and medium spots for cooking (searing and cooking) place some wood chips in a pouch of aluminum foil and poke some small holes (not many and you will get the same results. You can also use wood pellets. You can give an overpowering taste with too much smoke while grilling steaks.

Different woods will give different flavors.

Hickory - Hickory produces a strong sweet hearty taste. Great on beef and pork.

Pecan- Like a mild hickory, pecan has a similar flavor but not quite as strong as hickory. It is great on all meats.

Apple - While Apple is an excellent Wood for smoking red meat, it does an exceptional job on poultry.

Cherry - Cherry produces a delicately sweet flavor. Great for poultry, fish and pork.

Mesquite - Great tasting but very strong. This uniquely flavored wood is as potent as it is tasty. Mesquite is actually used more for direct cooking than smoking. Be carefull, too much or too long can produce a bitter flavor. OK for grilling, but be careful for smoking.

Oak - Most versatile of the hardwoods blending well with most meats. Oak is a milder smoke than hickory, works well with pork, chicken, or beef.

Maple - Produces a light sweet taste recommended for poultry and ham.

Alder - Native to the Pacific Northwest, alder is a mild sweet wood. Great for almost all meats, used mostly for smoking fish (salmon in particular).

Peach - Another sweet wood, good to use with other woods such as oak or hickory. Works well mixed with Alder when cooking salmon.

Plum - Similar to Peach, but make sure to use only the fruit bearing varieties.

Pear - Slightly sweet, woodsy flavor. Good with pork and chicken.

Walnut - A very heavy smoke, best when used with milder woods. Good with beef. Like a heavy hickory.

Almond - A nutty and sweet flavor, and fairly mild. Good with most meats.

Acacia - From the same family as mesquite, but a bit milder. Good with most meats.

Ash - Fast burner, light but distinctive flavor. Good with fish and red meats.

Grapevines - Becoming increasingly popular in California, does well on fish and poultry.

Citrus - Becoming increasingly popular especially in Florida, is the use of the wood from Orange trees, Grapefruit trees, and Lemon trees. Citrus wood imparts a mild fruity smoke which works pretty well on almost all meats.

Australian Pine - The folks in South Florida are starting to use a wood called the Australian Pine. This tree is not from the Pine family but gets its name more so from its needle like leaves.

[longislandhunter]

I have a heavy metal smoker box that I always use when I barbeque. My favorite woods to use is cherry, but whatever wood you use will surely impart that special smokey flavor to the meat. Enjoy......

[HarvDog]

Man AJ...you are just full of information! Is there anything you don't know?

[buckee]

Important Note
I'd also like to add to your great info AJ, that if your going to cut your own wood for smoking or BBQing, make sure you remove the bark. The bark contains creosote with will taint the flavour you are trying to achieve and make it bitter. This goes for all woods.