Soak wood?

ST1SSDV

My experience was similar to  BaysideBob's..

I tried it once with hickory chunks that were about as big as a chicken egg.  I weighted them down in a bucket of water for a day and half, completely submerged.  I split a couple of the chunks to make them a little smaller and found that the water had only penetrated about 1/16".

I think some folks feel that soaking might slow down the burning a little and generate a little more smoke.   Might work with chips in a gasser with a smoker box, but it's a waste of time with chunks.

1 or 2 chunks are enough for a turkey or a couple slabs of ribs.

Botch

Its interesting that, among Eggers, almost no one soaks their wood, and yet all the celebrity chefs (including those who are supposed to know what they're doing, like Bobby Flay and Steve Raichlin) all do... 

lousubcap

No one in the celebrity chef fraternity or sorority is gonna make that leap-Learned from the chips/chunks of the ol master; gotta be right...besides it's not like that level of detail concerns them.

Mickey

Having watched Flay and Raichlin around BGE's I would place lots of Eggers I have observed at Fests well above them in BGE mechanics of cooking. Understand I am in no way talking the act of being a cook ( these guys are top notch). But they are not in the top 25% of Eggers found cooking at Fests in cooking on the Egg. They have just not bothered to learn. To them the Egg is a ceramic Webber.

caliking

I was under the impression that folks with gassers soak their chips and make foil packets and such, but charcoal people just throw chunks onto the coals.

Soaking seems like it is more beneficial with chips, which burn up quickly when thrown dry on lit charcoal.

nolaegghead

Naw.  Even soaking chips lessens the quality of the smoke.  Take a piece of wood that's burning, throw some water on it.  Smell the smoke.  Smells like crap.  All those wet chips degrade the quality of the smoke by creating steam that chokes the burning lump that it contacts.  Smells like a wet dog that rooted through an old camp fire.

danv23

Waste of time to soak, and so is throwing your food on while the smoke is white. Wrecks your food real fast that way.

Kosko

nolaegghead said:

Naw.  Even soaking chips lessens the quality of the smoke.  Take a piece of wood that's burning, throw some water on it.  Smell the smoke.  Smells like crap.  All those wet chips degrade the quality of the smoke by creating steam that chokes the burning lump that it contacts.  Smells like a wet dog that rooted through an old camp fire.

Makes sense to me !

Rzeancak

H E L L    N O  !!!!!!!

Gasser = YES 

BGE = NO

pgprescott

To soak or not to soak? Truth is it doesn't really matter. Doesn't hurt either though. As stated the penetration is minimal and evaporate fairly quickly. The placement of the chips or chunks should be noted though. Depending on the desired amount of smoke. Remember, the smoke ring is a chemical reaction with the meat, smoke, and moisture. The smoke flavor is another matter. It can be overdone on more delicate cooks and while the ring is limited to developing at lower temps, the smoke flavor will continue as long as you add smoke. This is another reason some people wrap meats in their process. If younger doing a long cook with large cut of meat, then place chunks away from hottest coals to get max smoke. If less is desired, use less and place it where it will combust more quickly. What you are really trying to accomplish with the soaking of the wood is prolong the smoke, I think. You can do this better with your placement.