Wood chips are small, thick-cut pieces of hardwood that provide a quick burst of natural flavoring or smoke to the food you are cooking. Elders grill food to impart the natural flavor of wood to their meat and poultry. When wood chips are added to the heat, smoke begins to form. This process allows the food to capture all the natural aromas produced by the smoke.
My family and I have always loved the taste of smoky-flavored roast beef. Thanks to Cameron’s stovetop smoking technique, the convenience of using it has allowed us to come up with new recipe ideas, as if we ever wanted to marinate meat before immediately smoking or smoking it. I don’t even have to take the meat out of the refrigerator to get it to room temperature; my Cameron stovetop smoker can smoke everything.
When using wood chips, moderation is the key to best results. Don’t stack too many tiles right away, you can always add little by little. To control the heat, light the fire with just a small amount of charcoal. In this way, the potato chips will produce a significant aroma in the air. Never add dry smoker wood shavings to the heat source as this will cause the dry wood to burn suddenly and result in a bitter taste in your food.
You can experiment with mixing different woods to find an exceptional flavor. Soaking wood chips before use also allows the chips to burn and create smoke, rather than creating a source of heat. For something unique, dip the wood chips in wine, whiskey, beer, or whatever flavor you want to impart to your food. Here are the most available wood chips that I find the most enjoyable to use:
- Alder provides the most distinctive strong nutty flavor and best for meat and tofu.
- Apple comes lighter but very fruity and nutty which works well for fish
- Cherry It is also lighter and more fruity that can be used for fish, poultry, and vegetables.
- Hard nut not very smoky but best for wild birds and turkey too
- Maple has a woody aroma and a light tobacco note is fabulous for seafood such as shrimp and lobster
- Mesquite It is the southern favorite with a strong flavor that is mainly used for ribs
- Oak It can be spicy and is best for smoking salmon and dark meat fish.
- Pecan It is nutty with a slight coffee flavor and is the best option for long smoking
- Is it is similar in flavor to oak. It is considered a medium to intense flavor that is best for all types of meat.
These wood chips have slightly different flavors, but I find apple, cherry, or plum to be the lightest, while walnut, mesquite, and alder are the strongest. Mesquite can be bitter and spicy. Hickory is best for pork, but some people find it too strong and it can occasionally taste bitter. Fruity woods tend to add sweetness.
