BBQ

When grilling or BBQing, some people prefer using all-natural wood instead of charcoal. While both have their advantages, there is nothing like the aroma of natural wood smoke on your food.

Wood Smoking Flavors

Cooking with wood fire is essentially going back to the roots of cooking. Mankind’s first ever cooked meal was most likely fueled by natural wood and that first meal would have included the tasty smoky flavors we can all relate to.

Different flavors can be extracted from different species of wood.

For example, Kiawe wood is robust and stands up well to large cuts like beef brisket, pork butts and whole turkeys.

Woods like Ironwood are milder and more suited to things like fish, particularly salmon, and shell fish. 

Whichever wood variety you choose, they all have something in common. Due to their density, all these woods are in the category of hardwoods. Hardwoods burn slowly so they are well suited for smoking food as they do not need to be replenished very often.

It is important to open your smoker or grill as little as possible to keep the smoke trapped and maintain those smoke flavors.

Most of us have heard the term “we eat with our eyes first.” Natural wood smoke can also add an appetizing color to your food.

How to Use Wood instead of Charcoal

Using wood when grilling or BBQing instead of charcoal is easy. Simply add your wood to the grill, light on fire (We recommend you use all natural firestarters and kindling, like our Huli Husk Fire Stater and Kiawe Kindling for example). Once the wood is on fire and it starts turning grey, restrict air flow to force the fire to die down, so your wood coals are smoldering instead of on fire. Once ready, just add your food and cook as desired!