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Summertime is approaching, which means it's time to break out the barbecue. However, did you know that barbecue can take on a whole new dimension if you use BBQ wood chips? Wood chips are used in your grill in addition to charcoal or gas. They may be sprinkled atop coals or placed within a small smoker box in a gas or electric grill, and the smoke they create lends a distinctive aroma and appealing taste to all of your grilled meats. Whether you use a charcoal, gas or electric grill, wood chips will give you authentic barbecue flavor. You can also buy a special smoker box to place in your gas or charcoal grill so that you can get that "wood smoke" flavor. Read the instructions for your particular grill before you try doing this. When you use wood chips, take care to keep them burning quite slowly. What you want is slow, steady smoke. Intense bursts of smoke will simply make your meat bitter. If you soak wood chips in water for about 15 minutes before you use them, you'll slow down their burn and make them smoke more. Before you use them, though, let the wood chips "drip dry" for a few minutes before you add them to your fire. The wood chips should be moist rather than truly wet. When using a small smoker in your grill you don't necessarily have to soak your BBQ wood chips first. Although soaked wood chips burn longer, if you are cooking a steak you might not need them to burn for that long. Wood smoking chips or BBQ wood chips are available in a wide variety of flavors. They go from mesquite and hickory all the way to cabernet. The stores that sell BBQ wood chips will have flavor guides to help you wade your way through the new age of wood chips. In general, if your meat is lighter, you'll need a milder wood chip flavor. You can also try "heavier" flavors with lighter meats, though, such as using mesquite with chicken. If you're going to do this, try using a few wood chips instead of a lot to see what this does to your flavor. With its more delicate aroma, alder wood chips best accompany lighter meats like fish and poultry. The flavorful fruitwoods, including apple, cherry, peach and plum, go best with veal, poultry and pork, and they also lend an interesting taste to grilled vegetables. Maple and hickory BBQ wood chips have a strong flavor and are best used with beef, pork and poultry. Beef, duck and lamb go well with the strong mesquite wood chips, and oak, another strong flavor, is good with beef and ham. Just remember that BBQ wood chips are a flavor enhancer and not the meal itself, so don't skimp on your meats! Make sure you have a good cut that is fresh and well prepared. Otherwise, your fancy wood chips will just be going to waste on an inferior piece of meat that no amount of grilling expertise can retrieve. So the next time you decide to grill a great piece of meat consider using some of these BBQ wood chips and savor the great flavor and aroma coming off your grill.
Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com
Ashley King loves to barbecue, and is editor of the Home and Garden Section at i-KnowHow | Information for Life, where you'll also find ideas and tips on family, hobbies, personal finance, technology basics and much more.
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