wood chips for short cooks ?

LoisLane

Is it worth it to use wood chips for items that cook very quickly (i.e. scallops, shrimp, asparagus, sliced tomatoes, thin sliced zucchini etc) ? Meaning- are the food items on the grill long enough to truly pick up any of the wood chip smoke flavor ? I realize w/ example food items I mentioned- they would all need a mild wood like apple or cherry, right ?

Or is it better to just enjoy the regular lump charcoal flavor on quickie cooks and is there a certain time limit (i.e. say "20 minutes +" ) where using flavored smoke begins to pay off ?

Hope this question makes sense. :S

Grandpas Grub

 
Love flavor wood when cooking. Fish & fowl will take smoke much quicker and stronger than beef or pork.

I try to use chunks rather than chips if I can find chunks.

 

Dookie Jenkins

Absolutely! Use wood chips for every cook if you want to. I would recommend for extremely short cooks, to get the smoke going 3-5 minutes before you put the protein on.

LoisLane

So do you mean to get the coals heated up good / have no "bad" smoke... and then just 3-5 minutes b4 the food goes on the grid, throw some chips on top of the coals through the grate(or lift up the hot grid & per GG's post above add in a chunk) ? As opposed to putting the chips layered in the coals to start with ?

Grandpas Grub

 
There are a lot of different ways to load the flavor wood.

If you are doing a short cook you will need to put the flavor wood where it will smoke rather quickly.

Always make sure you lump is lit, stable and has clear smoke (non acrid smoke).

 

Dookie Jenkins

Exactly. I would recommend lifting up the hot grid and use either chips or chunks. Within 3-5 minutes, you will have the smoke to flavor the meat.

Grandpas Grub

 
Here is a nice article to review. When you have time go to the home page and look over the site. It will be a great use of your time.

The Wood Pile by thrideye

Here is a link to his home page for the blog and he also has a website you should visit. Playing With Fire and Smoke

GG

LoisLane

Thanks GG and Dookie for the pointers.