FOOD NEWS
If You're Smoking Meat, Are Wood Chips Or Wood Chunks The Best?
By Tom Maxwell
If you have a smoker or a grill with good temperature controls, you might wonder if it's better to use wood chips or chunks. The answer depends on the amount of smoking time.
Wood chips soaked in water for at least an hour are suitable for any smoking job under 30 minutes. Wood chunks are better for larger cuts of meat that take longer to smoke.
Wood chunks are larger pieces of hardwood that don't need to be soaked and last much longer than chips. They're considered a source of smoke, aroma, and flavor — not heat.
Wood chips dry out after a half hour or so, then they stop smoking and burst into flames, which can deplete your smoke source and raise the internal temperature of your smoker.
This could ruin the smoking process, which relies on maintaining a consistently low temperature, well below 300 degrees Fahrenheit.