How To Turn Any BBQ Into A Smoker

Tired of your gas BBQ not giving you that smoky flavour you’re used to? Or maybe you just want your BBQing to have an extra distinct kick.

Either way, this guide will help you achieve full flavoured cooking! This is thanks to a handy gadget called a Smoke Box, which can be used with any fire that has enough room for it to fit above. Simply select the right wood to match the smoke flavours with your food, if you don’t know what to pick then our handy guide provides an easy to understand overview.

Next after selecting your wood, take it and add a handful to your smoker box and fasten it shut. Then place the smoker box directly over your fire or source of heat. The heat then spreads around the box, with the metal case helping to evenly conduct the heat. After a while the wood inside the smoke box will begin to smoulder and produce rich aromatic smoke, which means it’s ready to be cooked over.

And there you have it, using a smoke box is an easy and efficient way of smoking your food. But there are still a few tips and tricks that might help you, which we’ll go over below.

Choosing Your Wood

When choosing your wood it’s important to remember about the flavours of the food you are cooking. For example, if you are cooking a mild dish such as fish, then you don’t want it being overpowered by an intense smoky flavour, such as mesquite smoke. So if you are cooking something mild, then pair it with a mild smoking wood and if you are using something strong then pair it with a heavy smoking wood.

This can be alleviated somewhat by cooking your mild food for less time, or with less wood from a strong smoking wood. Although you can’t do the same with a mild smoke and a strong food, as smoke is better absorbed into the food during the first half of cooking and over smoking food can lead to a bitter unpleasant taste and texture.

What To Do If You Don’t have a smoke box

If you want to get as much smoke out of your wood as possible and don’t have a smoke box, then start by soaking the wood in warm water for around 30 minutes. Then place the wood directly on the heat source.

If you don’t have a smoke box you can make a bag out of foil and cut in an open top and then place the bag over the heat source. Although make sure the heat is not enough to melt or break open the foil.

Finally you can also sprinkle some wood chips into your BBQ for a quick burst of smoky flavour and an authentic BBQ smell. We do not advise doing this with wood dust.

Smoking with Wood Dust

When smoking with wood dust it is important to keep your dust dry and cool and it can absorb water from its surroundings. If your wood dust does get wet then it is important to dry it out, this can be done by placing it in a microwavable container and heating it in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

Using Your Own Wood

When you are smoking with your own wood, or wood you have gotten that hasn’t been produced for food it’s important to check a few things. Firstly make sure your wood is a pure hardwood, as softwood has more sap in it. Which when burnt contaminates your food with pollutants. Secondly avoid treated wood or wood that has been recycled from other sources, as this can also add contaminates to your food. Unless you know where the wood has come from and it has been suitably dried then we would not advise using it to smoke food.

Make Your Wood Blend Unique

If you are looking for a more personalised exotic taste then you can add your own chosen ingredients into the smoke box with the wood. Things like whole or crushed spices, tea, rice or fruit peel. Get creative and find out what fits your tastes.

Hopefully this guide has been helpful, all that’s left now is for you to try out some wood options for yourself and then getting to know your favourites. If you want to pick up your own Smoke Box, wood chips or combination kit then you can find them there or in store! We also have a wide range of other high quality articles that you can view at your leisure.