Grilling over wood chunks? Any tips?


 
L

Laura D

TVWBB Fan
Hello Everyone - I love to grill (made steaks & veggies tonight! Delicious!). Depending on what I'm making, I either use hardwood lump or briquettes. And I am really interested in trying some cooks where I use only wood chunks as opposed to adding them to my existing briquette/lump fire (they say on the bag, "Use instead of charcoal!"). Say, oak grilled salmon or mesquite hamburgeres or steak. I'm going to start pouring over my recipe books and the internet to see what I can find.

I've got several Steven Raichlen books on my shelf and he has some thoughts about cooking over wood. I just thought I'd see if anyone has grilled over wood chunks and has any advice or thoughts about it.

Thank you!

Laura
 
My experience with cooking over wood has been using a German swinging grill as was discussed in the recent thread. My swinging grill allows you to move the entire grate up and down as well as keeping the food moving by swinging. An open fire is so much more inconsistent and unforgiving than even lump charcoal so being able to make adjustmentss and move things around is very important. Not sure what grill you are going to use, but based on what I know from that I would offer you a couple of things. Don't be in a hurry. Let the fire settle down and develop a good bed of coals. Closely monitor your food because the heat is much hotter than what we normally get from a grill.

I fished around and found this video from Steve Raichlen using the same Argentinian grill that Bobby Flay uses sometimes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Mb1nU5q64

Looking forward to hearing how it works out for you.
 
Personal opinion.

I won't grill over raw wood. I feel that there's too many volitales that produce gases and soots that I just don't want all over what I'm going to eat. Basically, if it produces an open flame, I don't want it under my food. Since charcoal (lump or briq) has already been burned, the volitales are already gone.

The smoke wood I use in the cookers doesn't produce open flame as there isn't enough oxygen to support it. It will smolder/smoke but not actively flame.

Russ
 
Laura

i saw a bbq university show where steven reichlen used wood chunks and just lit them in his charcoal chimney and let them get red hot as you would charcoal. i say give it a try on some burgers or steaks. as long as you let the wood get nice and hot so its like embers and not open flames you should be fine :)

make sure and report back to us how it goes with pics!
 
Great! I do want to try this out. I've been so adventurous in BBQing lately I want to bring it to my grilling. :)

I will probably use the wood chunks in my Smokey Joe and do a small grill. For shorter grills I find that my grills get stinky with the wood smell (I don't really have that problem with my OTG 22.5 kettle, it usually burns out the smoke smell since I only smoke the first two hours). So I can just stick my Smokey in the sink to clean up if I really have to.

I'd like to do two of them unless one of them is just horrible tasting - oak grilled salmon and mesquite burgers or steak. I'm heading into a long work streak so it'll be a bit before I can do it. But I will! I'll definitely post pics. Fun.

I'll check out more Steven Raichlen, too, thank you!

Laura
 
Laura you need to burn the chunks first like RGleason said so basically you are cooking with expensive lump charcoal. Don't get me wrong it will probably taste great.

I grill steaks and chops over lump and I put a handful of soaked chips on the grill just before grilling my food. Great taste and it doesn't cost me nearly as much as burning down a chimney full of wood chunks.

I've done lots of grilling over campfires and it always involves burning down the fire so you have a bed of coals
 
IMHO save the hassle and use a good quality lump charcoal. It produces the same result as letting oak burn down to coals. But what the heck... do the oak thing so you can mark that off your list of things to try. Then try the lump and see if it isn't the same. Have fun and good luck!!! Grilling is always an experiment.
 
I love grilling over hardwood lump. So that's a great idea. I just tend to use ones that are don't really add tons of flavor but bump up the heat. While I was excited by the idea of grilling over wood chunks, I think instead I'll go grab a small bag of Lazzari hardwood mesquite. And I've got Royal Oak hardwood lump (but actually, I don't think it is made of oak, is it?). I'll research some good oak hardwood lump and add my oak chunks to it.

I will come back and let you know how that goes. But I like that idea a lot plus I'm super saavy with the lump. Thank you!

Laura
 
Cooking over wood is far superior than lump or charcoal IMHO but you need the right equipment and a lot of time. I also feel you don't need the wood to turn into coal either as long as the wood is dry. You see people throwing logs into stick burners and they cook over oak in the Santa Maria area all of the time. Again just my opinion YMMV.
 
Russ Sylvester said:
Personal opinion.

I won't grill over raw wood. I feel that there's too many volitales that produce gases and soots that I just don't want all over what I'm going to eat. Basically, if it produces an open flame, I don't want it under my food. Since charcoal (lump or briq) has already been burned, the volitales are already gone.

The smoke wood I use in the cookers doesn't produce open flame as there isn't enough oxygen to support it. It will smolder/smoke but not actively flame.

Russ
Click to expand...

My personal opinion. (Don't take offense please) You are missing out man. I grill over open flames/real wood that has turned to embers any chance I get. Not only do I get the extra flavor without adding chunks to charcoal, it's just fun.

To each their own though!
 
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Rob_Fox said:
My personal opinion. (Don't take offense please) You are missing out man. I grill over open flames/real wood that has turned to embers any chance I get. Not only do I get the extra flavor without adding chunks to charcoal, it's just fun.

To each their own though!
Click to expand...

I agree 100%, Rob. My main grill is my Genesis EP-330 (before that, an E-310). I almost always use wood chunks regardless of what I grill (pizza, meat, veggies, quesadillas, portobellos, anything). People have been cooking over wood since the first fire -- charcoal needed technological development (no not briquettes, learning how to burn airless to create charcoal). As long as there is good airflow, there are no issues with using wood. Ever seen the ads for "wood fired" whatever?

I normally use wood chunks from about 1" to 2" on a side resting in an uncovered "smoker box" right on the flametamers under the grates. In my experience, soaking or using wood chips is just a waste of effort. (To each his own.) Set the appropriate burner(s) on Hi and heat untill the wood starts smoldering, then turn it(them) down to prevent the chunk from flaming and for your grilling. Each grill will have its best positioning of the chunks and heat to get them going and continuing -- you just have to experiment some.

I've also had success just wrapping the chunks in a piece of HD aluminum foil with holes punched in it.

As far as the woods, avoid any use of evergreen woods like pine, spruce, etc. (Using cedar planks is a totally different method of grilling.) Mesquite can be good if you like it, but can be too strong for small pieces (even burgers) or light flesh (chicken and fish). I personally like oak and cherry best. Most nut or fruit trees are good, but avoid black walnut.

As a woodworker, I cut my own. Find a friend willing to keep you supplied -- it beats those expensive bagged woods. Some criticize old, dry wood, but I haven't found any problems or lack of flavoing.

Rich
 
Yesterday I went and bought a small bag of Lazzari's mesquite hardwood lump. I can't find oak wood chunks where I live so I order them online and have a ton of 'em. So I will probably use the Lazzari mesquite for a steak grilling and then try an all wood oak grill for salmon.

Not sure when I can get to it, but I hope soon!

Laura
 
If you want a lump with good flavour try Wicked Good. It's more expensive than RO but it does have a nice flavour to it.
 
I almost bought it this last time but got the RO instead. I think I'll splurge and try it next, thank you. :)

Laura
 
Done right, cooking over wood is unbeatable. If you can get to Seattle try to eat at Ivar's Salmon House: salmon cooked over an open alder fire. Wow! Done wrong, throw the whole deal away. Jamie Purviance talks about smoke in his new book. He advocates thinking of smoke as though it were a seasoning or spice. A little bit is good, too much ruins everything. It is easier to control the amount of smoke if the base fire is either gas or charcoal, then add some water soaked chips in a foil pouch for the flavor effect. Use a light touch and enjoy.
 
Hey Everyone - so I know it isn't the same but I grilled steaks and vegetables over the Lazzari Mesquite hardwood lumps. Very subtle flavor. Still going to have to try the mesquite wood chunks I think to measure the difference. But it was delicious, at any rate.

Laura
 
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