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Can you burn wood instead of charcoal?

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Ed
Ed Posts: 123
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Is it possible to burn only wood in the egg, rather than charcoal + wood for smoke? A friend uses only wood in his smoker and basically inferred that charcoal is for whimps. Since I hate not having the last word, I was wondering if anyone had experience cooking with wood in the egg?[p]Ed
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  • Bobby-Q
    Bobby-Q Posts: 1,994
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    Ed,
    You can use all wood in the egg. It is not as easy to maintain the temperature and it imparts a very bad flavor sometimes due to the extra stuff that making charcaol gets rid of.[p]It sounds like your friend has never cooked on an Egg before.
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Ed,
    You probably could burn wood in the egg if you pre-burn your wood down to coals and then add the coals to the egg, like you really should do for authentic barbecue (that ought to get him going, LOL!). But you would find yourself having to take the food and grid out repeatedly in order to keep a constant supply of coals going. (At least that is how they do it in authentic NC barbecue restaurants.) Charcoal just makes a heck of a lot more sense in ceramics if nothing else. One load of charcoal and you are good to go for the whole night. [p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • QBabe
    QBabe Posts: 2,275
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    Ed,[p]Does your friend understand the difference between lump charcoal and briquettes? [p]Tonia
    :~)
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  • Steve
    Steve Posts: 94
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    Ed, "Lump" charcoal IS burned wood. It's best NOT to use briquettes because of all the ash created.

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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Ed,
    ask him how his steaks come out.
    or his turkey...[p]or just a couple racks of ribs.

    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Wise One
    Wise One Posts: 2,645
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    Ed, if "wimpy" is being able to put your food on just as soon as the fire is started and if "wimpy" is not having to constantly add a new supply of material to the heat source and if "wimpy" is not having to watch the variations in temperature due to material igniting, then yes "charcoal is for wimps" and I'm a wimp. As someone said, charcoal is wood, just preconditioned so you don't have to put up with the negative aspects of a wood fire.

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  • rex clingan
    rex clingan Posts: 57
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    With modifications to the draft door and firebox, an Egg could be made into a stick burner. Google on primitive stoves for some insight on this. The Thai Bucket Stove is set up to burn sticks below the fire grate or charcoal above it. To avoid the bad flavor mentioned earlier, it is necessary to only burn the tips of the sticks, and push them into the fire as consumed. You would probably also want a narrower bore for the first few inches above the fire grate to completely burn the combustion gases. [p]Not sure you'd be able to do this with the flexibility you have with charcoal. The literature seems to suggest that the geometry of the stove should vary with the output. Might need a different firebox layout for high temperature cooking vs. that for low and slow.
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  • ranger ray
    ranger ray Posts: 812
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    Ed,
    i tried it.... don't bother.... just get charcoal.... trust me!,,,, i went down the wooden road....try making your own charcoal if your a frugal sort like me...( i recently bought a whole pallet of wgc).... does that tell ya something???
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