How to Use Smoker with Wood Chips

Instructions

• 1

  Firstly, start by seasoning your meat the night before the grilling. This will ensure that the flavour penetrates deep into the meat. Apply dry-rub seasonings, or steep the meat in a liquid marinade – wrap it in plastic, and allow it to stay in the refrigerator overnight, so that the seasonings can seep into the meat and cure it.
• 2

  Next, an hour before you commence the cooking, put all your wood chips into a bowl or bucket, and then pour in enough water, beer, or wine to cover them entirely. Let the chips soak in this for around an hour – this will ensure that they are infused with liquid, and will prevent them from burning.
• 3

  Now, thirty minutes before you start cooking, put four or five handfuls of lump charcoal into your smoker or in the firebox located on the side of the grill, and light a fire using an electric charcoal starter. The size of the fire should be fairly small, but you will need to make sure you maintain this size throughout the cooking and smoking process.
• 4

  After thirty minutes have elapsed, and the fire has been built, proceed to put the meat in the smoker’s chamber, or on the rack of your grill, and then, to create the smoke, add a fistful of the wet wood chips to the hot coals, to get the smoke going. Now, seal the lid tightly – this will ensure that all the smoke stays inside, and flavours the meat.
• 5

  The duration of the smoking process will depend on the thickness and the cut of the meat, but make sure you keep adding more wet wood chips after every 30 minutes, and more lump charcoal as and when necessary, to keep the fire going. The natural smoke from the wood will seep into the meat and flavour it, and once it is done, you can remove it and serve as desired.