Using wood on the grill

[deepfryerdan]

Has anyone done this? I think it sounds like it could add a lot to your outdoor cooking but I wonder what downfalls this could have. I've used lump charcoal but that's not what I'm talking about here.

[Rocklobster]

I use a smoker box with my grill often. Mainly when I slow cook something like chicken or pork. Very easy and effective. It is fun to try different woods. A little goes a long way, IMHO.

[Andy M.]

Given the size of most grills, you'd have to use smaller pieces of wood. It would be cumbersome to try to build a bed of coals using logs. That said, if you have the time and the right-sized dry hardwood wood pieces, you sure could.

You'd have some different problems to manage. The wood and the resulting coals would be larger in size and you could have a problem with too much heat too close to the cooking surface.

It's worth a try.

[Rocklobster]

Commercial wood chips are fairly small and fit well into my smoker box, which is only about 8x3 inches. You can also use the tinfoil method, but that can become messy.

[justplainbill]

Seems the biggest downside is that it is more time consuming and, for many, this type of fuel is not as readily available. It can also create a greater fire hazard. In comparison to the volume of ash, a fairly large volume of wood is required.

[roadfix]

I use wood from time to time. Here I placed a couple of red oak splits over a small bed of charcoal briquettes.

[deepfryerdan]

Originally Posted by Rocklobster

I use a smoker box with my grill often. Mainly when I slow cook something like chicken or pork. Very easy and effective. It is fun to try different woods. A little goes a long way, IMHO.

I've used the smoker box before.. I just wondered if anyone had tried using wood as their sole fuel.

[Rocklobster]

Originally Posted by deepfryerdan

I've used the smoker box before.. I just wondered if anyone had tried using wood as their sole fuel.

OH. Right. Sorry. I just did that last night. I have a small barrel smoker/bbq. It takes me about an hour and a half to get the wood into coals. It is a bit more labor intensive, with chopping the wood into smaller pieces for kindling and such, but, definitely worth it, IMHO. I also throw a few different wood chips on while the meat is on to give it a bit more flavor. I have a mixed hardwood woodpile and burn maple, oak, birch for the most part. I would recommend it.