Disclaimer: While I have successfully used the techniques described below, some grill or barbecue manufacturers may not approve of the way I use their equipment. Remember we are using fire and every cook is responsible for their own safety as well as their guests or companions when cooking. It is always recommended when cooking with open flame to never leave your fire unattended (especially if there are children nearby!) plus have a fire extinguisher and/or a generous source of water nearby in the event of a mishap.

While experienced in cooking with wood, I claim to be knowledgeable but do not claim to be an expert. You can ask 100 barbecue chefs about technique or recipes and each will tell you theirs is the only way and everyone else is wrong.

I personally like to simplify the way I do things, and use a minimal amount of wood product for my cooking sessions. Even when I used charcoal, I always tried to keep the amount of coals to a minimum as to better control the heat and flame.

Keep in mind I also exclusively cook on a Weber grill or gas grill. I probably do majority of my cooking on a gas grill for the simplicity of lighting a fire and flame control, plus I live in a rural high risk fire area and Weber grills are prone to dropping ashes and hot coals down through the lower vent holes. I encourage experimentation in technique as I have done personally as each cook will develop their own methods that best suit them.

If you own a kettle smoker (other than the standard Weber) or you cook in a pit ( a hole in the ground, not an open pit), you might know more than me and don’t even need to be reading this page, after all it is for beginners. I will eventually be adding a section to this site where the public can send in their own tips and recipes. Also, in the near future I will be doing more experimentation with smoking techniques and barbecuing in a pit. This site will be updated at that time.

More notes on safety! I discuss using a glass of water to douse flames from time to time in my information. Keep in mind you are pouring water directly onto a red or white hot source of heat and the water often vaporizes rapidly putting off steam. This can cause a burn so be very careful to do so rapidly and move your arm away so you don’t get burned or startled and drop your entire glass onto the barbecue. I also discuss moving hot coals around when using a Weber or kettle style grill. Never touch a hot coal with your bare hand, nor use your bare had to remove/replace the cooking grill that sits above the coals. You will get burned! When grilling or barbecuing I recommend purchasing yourself a pair of welding gloves from your local hardware store. They are made of thick, padded and/or insulated  leather designed to handle high temperatures and they are long going almost up to the elbow. Secondly I would purchase a small hand trowel or shovel (it’s ok if it has a wooden handle as it won’t be over the flame for very long) or look around some thrift stores to see if you can’t find yourself a cheap used fireplace shovel or poker to use for stirring or moving coals or your wood in your Weber or kettle style grill.

To soak or not to soak?

If you are going to be using wood chunks or sticks for smoking and not your actual source of flame/heat, there are varied schools of thought on soaking the wood before you put it in your smoker box or above the flame.

Some always recommend soaking your wood so it lasts longer and doesn’t catch fire. To some extent this is true but if your heat source is hot enough, the water will quickly evaporate from the wood and it will start to char or eventually turn to ash.

Some say never soak your cooking wood, as the water will turn to steam first and coat your food with water thus blocking the smoky flavor from penetrating the meat.

Not soaking the wood makes the most sense to me. I generally preheat my grill, only adding the wood less than 5 minutes before putting the actual food on. I keep a large glass of water or a spray bottle on hand to deal with the occasional flareup from the wood or fats melting from the meat.

Using a smoker box.

I used to use a smoker box, or wrap my smoking wood in tin foil but that’s also when I followed the rule about soaking my wood for cooking. Basically a smoker box limits the size of wood or chips you can use for the job, and keeps the wood away from direct flame. Whether I am using my Weber grill or a gas grill, I never use a smoker box.

If I am using a gas grill, I simply set my chunk or stick of wood “near” but not directly over the flame, and I only put the wood on the grill several minutes before I put the food on. I also keep a glass or spray bottle full of water nearby as eventually the wood will catch fire during the cooking session, usually only when I lift the lid to flip the food and I douse the wood to kill the flame. I also use the water to completely extinguish the wood when I am done cooking as I can reuse it for my next meal.

When cooking on a Weber or kettle style grill, my technique varies depending on whether I am using the wood as my direct heat source (in which case you would also NEVER use a smoker box) or just using the wood to accent the flavor in combination with charcoal. If you are using the my cooking wood directly for your heat source, you will want to center your wood and place your food on the perimeter of the coals/wood or move your wood to one side of the grill after ignition and place your food on the other side.  Once your skills are more advanced in the art of barbecue, and you are more comfortable with using wood for cooking, then you can experiment with placing your meat directly over the coals. Whether you center the wood or place to one side, you make sure the wood is well ignited with a good flame to begin with, then douse it lightly with water so it is jjust smoldering as you want the smoke flavor more than you want the flame/heat. After putting the food on the grill you will control the flame by adjusting the vents at the top and bottom of your grill, only using the water when you open the grill if there is a flareup, or if the meat your cooking has a lot of fat that starts a fire inside the kettle.

If you are using a kettle style grill with charcoal and wood for an accent flavor, you will use your usual technique for starting the charcoal, then once you have your white hot bed of coals move them to one side of the grill and place your chunks or stick of cooking wood on the other side several minutes before the food. Place your food on the grill above the side with the wood and once again keep some water nearby for the occasional flareup when opening the lid of your grill. When I first started using wood for cooking on my Weber, this is the technique I used.