Cooking with Wood

Just in case cooking with charcoal isn't tasty enough for you, you can always add certain kinds of wood to enhance the flavour.

Several varieties are available (hardwood) and are very good for cooking. These include hickory, mesquite, maple, apple and other fruit woods.

Most people will have heard of hickory, and this is one of my own favourites. Its pretty easy to cooks with the wood - the hard part can be tracking some down!

The cooking method is simple, finding the wood is another matter. Woodchips are usually fairly easy to find, which are okay, but really you need to be looking for the bagged chunks of wood. Wood chips usually need to be soaked in water before cooking, which can affect the temperature of the charcoal. They also don't provide as much of the smoky flavour as chunks.

If you are looking to add a hint of a smoky flavour to your meat, I'd suggest a small chunk or two of hickory - probably around 5cm (2inch) square.

So, how do you add the wood? Well, its pretty straightforward. Simply add the wood to the charcoal before placing the food on the cooking grate. Once the wood is added, the cooking grate replaced and the food place on the grate, close the lid. Open the air vents to get the wood smoking, and after a few minutes close them again to keep the smoke in.

Let the food cook for about 30mins, by which time your meat should be a mahogany colour, which will have sealed the meat keeping the juices within. When serving the meat, cut away the outside "skin" - it won't be pleasant. However, the inside will have a nice smoky edge to it.

Whilst you can use the wood on an open grill, you'll really notice the difference if you have a lid. If your grill doesn't have its own lid, place the wood in one area of the grill, and place a metal bucket or an old pan over the meat you want to flavour.

Just remember to have your meat to hand once the smoke starts a coming!