Using a Smoker Box on Your Grill

Author: Ray Shank

Using a Smoker Box on your grill is an excellent way to give your smaller meals a great full, smoky flavor. You can find them in all sizes and prices.  They’re perfect for smoking fish, steak, ribs, chicken and more!  I recently got one and found it easier to get that great smoky taste on small meals than using my big smoker.  Of course, if I had a big cooking job, I’d elect to use the smoker, but for small cooking chores, you might find that using a smoker box is a great way to go.

To use your smoker box, get a bag of wood chips like hickory or mesquite chips (Don’t use chunks)

• Soak wood chips for approximately 20 minutes. (or a full day.)
• With the lid open or off and fill box with wood chips.
• Place smoker box on top of rocks or briquettes on one side of the grill.
• Light your grill, as you would normally.
• When smoke appears start the cooking process.
• Smoke will last approximately 15-20 minutes and will enhance the flavor of your favorite dish.
• Before reusing the Smoker Box, dispose of ALL the residue in the box, refill with FRESH and reuse.

TIP: What I do with my smoker box is that I go ahead and start cooking my meat as normal, making sure I sear the meat before the box starts smoking. Once the box starts smoking, I turn down or shut off the side of the grill opposite the smoker box and transfer all the meat to that side. (opposite the smoker box) The meat should be already seared and just about cooked by now, and now we are mostly just flavoring the meat with the smoke from the smoker box.

Woodstone's Smoker Tray

Different wood chips used for smoking:

Hickory is a great all-purpose wood, especially recommended for all cuts of pork and chicken.

Apple is exceptionally good for fish and fowl; the greener the wood, the sweeter the smoke flavor that will be imparted.

Other fruit woods, such as cherry, mulberry, pear and peach are good for fish and poultry, including any wild foul.

Grapevine is also good for fish and poultry, including any wild foul.

Pecan is another good all-purpose wood, recommended for all cuts of pork.

Use persimmon with beef or pork. It is also good for wild game.

The bark, roots and wood chips of sassafras are good for smoke flavor in fish and poultry.

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Tags: aroma, cherry wood, cooking tips, dishes, flavors, fruit wood, grill, meats, oven smoker, recipe, sizzle, smoker box, steak