It is very important to soak wood chips for 20 – 30 minutes before use. Adding dry chips to a hot grill will often cause unwanted fire. The smoke from fully burnt wood chips will add an acrid, bitter taste.

Add wood 5 – 10 minutes before putting your meat on the grill – raw meats take on smoky flavours much better than even slightly cooked meats. Having a smoky environment to start will enhance and deepen the flavours.

Once the outer portion of the meat has begun to developed a crusts, it is very hard to increase the ‘smokiness’ of what’s on the grill. For more info on choosing the right wood see our Smoking Wood Guide.