Can You Barbeque With Wood Instead Of Charcoal?

• 1

  Yep….. but!!!! The smoke given off from “green wood” will have a detrimental effect on you and the food. If its a metal plate rather than grill bars the effect is very different. Dry aged “untreated” wood. The key to a good bbq is moisture free fuel.
  Burn the wood until it very little smoke comes off it, and cook on the embers, and you cant go wrong. If you cant wait, wrap your food in aluminum foil and avoid the risk of yucky tasting food.
  

  Darrel H on June 3rd, 2009
• 2

  yes, but charcoal is sort of pre-burnt….. wood is not and will therefore take longer to attain the same temperatures charcoal would. You will find if you put food on at the same time you would with charcoal then it will cook more on the outside and take longer to cook on the inside because you’re achieving an outer flame faster than an actual heat.
  Hamburgers will cook faster than ribs because of the fat content. Ribs take longer, but will cook more evenly regardless of the fuel because the inner bone heats up and cooks the meat from the inside too.
  Yes, you just put wood in the same place.

  RIffRaff on June 3rd, 2009
• 3

  Just make sure the bark is peeled and you are not using pine at all. You would need to build the fire with kindling, as you would on a camping trip–more like a tepee–to get the fire kindled. After the flames build up you can lean a few larger pieces around the others, but a very large log might be a problem. I suggest you chop the larger ones in half or in quarters. Keep extra kindling near your fire in case the fire looks like it will extinguish itself.

  CarolSan on June 3rd, 2009
• 4

  Certainly you can – but don’t try it with great big logs and hunks of wood. Use smaller pieces of wood, and no pine! Use only hardwood like oak, hickory, walnut – and wait until the flames have died down and you have a nice pile of red-hot coals. That’s when you start barbecuing over a wood fire – even though there’s less smoke from coals, it’ll add a nice touch to the flavor of whatever you’re cooking on it. If you find your pile of coals is getting cool in one place or another, use a small garden spade to move coals around with and even out the heat.

  anoldmic on June 3rd, 2009
• 5

  Yes you can.. you just have to let it burn down a little.. for a good barbecue you want to cook with the coals of the fire, not the flame… Different woods will give your foods a different flavors.. Most people prefer to barbecue with a hickory for the flavor…

  LokoLobo on June 3rd, 2009
• 6

  Of course you can cook over an open wood fire just like the cave men and the boy scouts. Be careful that the flames aren’t too high or you’ll char your burgers. A big log will work but it’ll take a long time to become fully charred. I’d use smaller sticks to start the fire than feed it with larger ones until the fire is smoldering and not all aflame and smoking.

  CiCi on June 3rd, 2009
• 7

  yes
  tastes much better too
  especially if you get the flavored wood chips
  most places have wood chips for sell where they keep the charcoal.

  YouAsked on June 3rd, 2009
• 8

  As long as its not treated wood its okay. The best is dried pecan wood. Growing up in the country and spending alot of time at deer camp. My family has always used dried wood to barbecue and we still do. It has a different taste..better I think. We smoke brisket with pecan wood only. Its wonderful. You can also mix the two, charcoal & wood to give it that little extra flavor.

  Wooden Wind Chimes on June 3rd, 2009
• 9

  Make sure the wood is well seasoned or you will produce too much smoke. Dry wood produces better heat.
  Hickory and oak are real favorites for BBQ restaurants. Apple makes a distinct mellow aroma with a little peppery taste. Pinion and almond are very distinctive. Mesquite is so overused I am tired of it.

  youkillm on June 3rd, 2009
• 10

  For grilling you use gas or charcole. For BBQ, you burn hardwoods and just shovel the hot coals in. An actual BBQ is an all night event. But you can grill with hardwoods if you want to.

  cookr35 on June 3rd, 2009
• 11

  yes but you want to get the right kind of wood or you will be left with food that taste like a burnt house

  Richie on June 3rd, 2009
• 12

  You certainly can. It’s a lot of work, but you get tastes you can’t get any other way.

  Try building what we call an “Upside Down” fire. You put larger more flat logs on the bottom, medium sized sticks in the middle, then top it with kindling and paper. The bottom logs form a bed for the fire and also form nice coals after the smaller stuff on top burns down. For your first try, use Red Oak. It burns perfectly and is the traditional wood used by the open pit folks, especially in Texas, and California where this is a highly prized art form.

  Red Oak (not white oak)seems to taste best with beef or pork, but chicken works on it also.

  Good luck. You can’t screw it up. All barbecue is just varying degrees of excellent.

  Ron on June 4th, 2009