How to cook with wood...


 
Tony R

Tony R

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I need advice on how to cook with wood....

I heard people say I only cook with wood but have never asked what kind of wood....

So how do you do it on a weber kettle? What's kind of wood?

Burn wood until I only have coals? Or can I start cooking if 75 percent of wood is turned into coals?

Thanks guys.
 
Tony R said:
I need advice on how to cook with wood....

I heard people say I only cook with wood but have never asked what kind of wood....

So how do you do it on a weber kettle? What's kind of wood?

Burn wood until I only have coals? Or can I start cooking if 75 percent of wood is turned into coals?

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Technically charcoal is wood? I don't know if its doable on kettle as far as burning logs. I've done it one time on an offset but I still started with a chimney of lit lump to get things going. In my case I had some seasoned hickory logs that I still wound up cutting in half to fit my offset. I also bought some oak splits from a place in town that sells smoking/fire wood. Unfortunately it wasn't seasoned enough and only caught fire if I had the hickory next to it. Low temps seemed to be out of the question. If I didn't have the temp around 275 the fire would die.

Some people may be burning wood chunks but I still think you'd need charcoal to get it going. Its going to burn down to coals anyway. You'd need something like a Santa Maria grill to make cooking over burning wood feasible I would think.
 
When I cook with wood, I cook when it's flaming, not when it's reduced to coals. I've cooked pizzas, wings, tri-tip over flames, but I have to use my WSM so that the flames aren't burning the food. I take about 20 lit coals, and set a 10" X 5" piece of wood or two on the coals until the wood catches fire. Soon as the wood catches fire, I start to cook over the flames. I love Oak, but Hickory works good too. I have not successfully cooked over flames in my kettles, but then they're only 22" maybe if I had a 26" it might work out? I also have a folding rack that I put over our fire pit and cook on it. The only problem with it, is you have to be careful not to bump it, or your food will end up in the fire :(

What you need (as do I) is a good ol' Santa Maria :) Mr. Lampe has a few threads cooking over flames using his Santa Maria, very cool
 
Some flaming cooks in my WSM. I can't get them to display in the tread, even when I click the insert video thingy

http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/B3AA3160-F8EF-4345-BBA4-E4CB39C151EC_zpsdukz4p8b.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/07628DD9-41AA-476A-BB6C-B0777B74AA1B_zpscf7xlrsj.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/8854E9B2-B4C1-44D4-BA6E-2D429900C1C7_zps46p8fbnp.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/F1098FEB-A088-42EA-872B-B0C04DF8BECF_zpsmnxbwofv.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/13F87DC0-4BD2-4168-901F-01FE1254B459_zpsitriugix.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/89A283B0-5276-45B3-B731-54C4345FA779_zpsn6edqt7s.mp4
http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/chaz28o/2FAF2821-0B8B-4D79-B061-B514352AE5CA_zpsqv9qtzca.mp4
 
On my Santa Maria pit I cook with mostly red oak/oak because its the most readily available. I have also used almond and apple. Anything you would smoke with should be good to cook with too. I like to put the wood on a grate rather than on the bottom of the grill. Let the wood burn a bit get some nice coals going and then start cooking. When I add more wood I put it on the outside of the coals and let is slowly burn. There is a show on RFDTV, Cooking Outdoors with Johnny Nix and he cooks with wood and mostly dutch oven cooking. I have picked up a few tips watching that. I don't know what day or time the show is on, I record it and watch it later.
 
I have cooked with wood, you have to cook over the flames, I waited until they were coals and it seemed like they were to used up way then. I use red oak because I have a lot of it.
 
On my old offset I would burn splits down to coals in a fire-pit than shovel the coals in. Kettle add some brigs in the bottom of the chimney than top off with chunks, add a starter cube and let that go till the white smoke/flames stops. Flames will happen when you lift the lid but that's the fun.:)

Tim
 
It is a great way to recycle oak hardwood flooring. I sand the finish off the wood and cut it into small pieces about 2 inches long.
Its good to use apple chunks as well that I pick up from a friend with a seemingly endless supply. No charcoal, just a nice wood fire.
Flames go out when you put the lid on, leave an indirect area if needed. Its a nice way to cook.
 
What I'm curious about is smoking using mequite. It seems to be a big no-no and yet its very common in West Texas. I would think you'd need extremely seasoned wood. Obviously burning it down to coals works, but some use it in offsets or very sparingly as wood chunks in a wsm.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
What I'm curious about is smoking using mesquite. It seems to be a big no-no and yet its very common in West Texas. I would think you'd need extremely seasoned wood. Obviously burning it down to coals works, but some use it in offsets or very sparingly as wood chunks in a wsm.
Click to expand...
I don't no that it's a no-no so much, but like you said, it's used very sparingly, typically burnt down to coals before going into the pit.

My WAG: The meat in Texas unique; "them ain't no kalifornia steers." The meat is much more "bold" largely due to habitat. As a result, so are the rubs & sauces, naturally so is the smoke (mesquite) That's my WAG...as a note: I've walked right up to a (kalifornia) Bull to recover a pheasant I shot quite closely to it, didn't give it a whole lot of thought. I've hunted down in Texas, and I've blown off hunts, cuz I didn't want to be anywhere near those monsters. They look at you like they've nothing better to do than stomp you into a pile of hair & snot for just being there :)
 
ChuckO said:
I don't no that it's a no-no so much, but like you said, it's used very sparingly, typically burnt down to coals before going into the pit.

My WAG: ... .

That's my WAG.. .)
Click to expand...



I give up. What does WAG stand for?

Personally, I think TSIS.

Thanks
 
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Interesting thread, always wondered how cooking with wood would work out. I can see the WSM but not the grill. Asked Barb about a Santa Maria grill and she said AGTHBNGBTW oh well.

AGTHBNGBTW = Ain't going to happen bucco now get back to work.
 
ChuckO said:
I don't no that it's a no-no so much, but like you said, it's used very sparingly, typically burnt down to coals before going into the pit.

My WAG: ... .

That's my WAG.. .)
Click to expand...


Rich Dahl said:
Interesting thread, always wondered how cooking with wood would work out. I can see the WSM but not the grill. Asked Barb about a Santa Maria grill and she said AGTHBNGBTW oh well.
Click to expand...

StanSulli said:
TSIS = talking shorthand is silly.
Click to expand...


SWIM (See What I Mean?)😁

Now, back to the wood question.😊
 
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