Well I’m preparing for a couple of BBQ’s this weekend so am thinking smoke….
All I can get here in Sydney (that I’m aware of) is smoking chips…. Now I know you can get decent results using smoking chips but I’m dissapointed that so far I’ve in not been able to find a good source of chunks.
Anyway I mostly use the little Barbecues Galore cartons filled with smoke chips which they currently sell in blended wood variety packs “Seafood”, “Poultry” and “Beef and Lamb”. I’m not sure why they stopped selling them in just the wood varieties (Apple, Hickory, Mesquite).
So how do I use them… Just soak them for about half an hour to an hour wait for my BBQ to light up and dump a couple of handfuls of chips straight onto the coals. This is usually closely (a few minutes) followed by whatever I’m BBQ-ing at the time. Now if I do an overnight cook I start of with a handful at the start followed by another handful of chips after an hour or two.
I also use the Jack Daniels pellets however use them in a foil pouch (as directed on the packet) and have had some good results using these. All you have to do is basically throw half a handful on some aluminium foil, fold the foil into a parcel and poke some small holes in the parcel. It will smoke for about 30 to 45 minutes and gives of a mild smokey taste.
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Paul, I have been told by Phil Hartcher that soaking your woodchips in hot water makes the wood soak it up almost twice as fast. I haven’t tried it myself yet but will next cook-up.
Also, if you can get hold of some redgum or any of the usual woods that are used for heating, they are quiet good in the weber for smoking foods and have that great Aussie wood taste.
It’s a bit difficult for us to get woods like applewood or cherrywoods unless you live near an orchard and of course we can’t buy natural hickory or mesquite unless out of a packet from a bbq store but I reckon our own woods are pretty good.
Oh by the way, Thanx Paul for your contact and direction to this site, I haven’t come accross this one before.
Cheers
Davo
Hi Paul, I to have an interest with ceramic cooking I like your KK very much. Head at one stage 3 big green eggs I also had a lot of problems with them. They cracked all the time. Then i came across PRIMO grill .com I liked them a lot because of there indirect cooking, like fire on the left of the fire box and cooking on the right through a firebox divider no other cooker can do that as far as I know. I also bought a Caldera tallboy from the BBQ Guru a very nice unit indeed and plenty of room. Plus I ordered a ProCom4 and a DigiQ 2 with all the cables. Any way you are not the only fanatic in Australia I wished there were more of us. It is a lonely hobby . I live in Victoria ,Raymond Island in the Gippsland lakes. I like your website. Frans
Hi Frans, thanks for your comments. Sounds like you love your BBQ’s and gadgets as much as I do. I’m going to follow up my request for a postage quote from the Stoker people as I have a BBQ guru but want another blowe and the PC connectivity/monitoring on the stoker seem very very cool! (using the ‘ol blackberry to connect to my BBQ!!!).
I have some mate that BBQ but as you said not to the extent/enthusiasm that I have..
Hope to see you on the forum as well!
hi, am curently searching for markets for kanuka sawdust, wood chips etc for smoking food. in new zealand kanuka is the equivilant of your tea tree. we has good stocks of this product at very good rates. if interestd please let me know. thanks owen.
Hey there,
Where can i find either the Jack Daniel smoking chips/pellets im in Mebourne and cant seem to find them anywhere!
Aaron you can get them at Bunnings.
Hi all,
looking for smoking chunks (not chips) other than Hickory or Mesquite..prefer apple or similar. I am on the Gold Coast. Any ideas?
Just found this site and am quite interested in how you “Aussies” do your BBQ. I am born and raised here in Texas and have to ask if you have any access to Pecan wood for smoking down there?
Rocky
hi there would anyone have aplan to make a smoke house from an old fridge ?thank you
Hi there,
I use a webber (kettle BBQ, I have found that Australian hardwoods give you a great taste and you can get them anywhere I go to my back yard and use the Yellow Box Gum braches soaked for half hour and add directly to the coals just before I put on a roast beef or lamb, Also try using bark from a Silky Oak no need to soak just drop straight onto the coals before puting on the meat, Silky Oak is great for Beef, Pork, Lamb and even fish,
Another tging I have come accross is using paper bark to cook fish, although this is not for smoking,
My favorite is Flathead or Snapper
You need a reasonbly big sheet of paperbark at least 3mm thick you wrap the fish similar to how you would with Alumninium foil with your usual favorite fish flavours (lemon, chilli etc) and drop it on your BBQ hot plate spray the bark occasionly with a water mist to stop it from burning but allow it to smoke and cook the fish as you regulary would do but allow an extra 10 min to cook to allow for the thickness of the bark to get the heat in
Guaranteed you will not find another taste like it for your fish
Dave
Hi Paul,
Cool site and great sentiments. Good info, too. But with regard to smoking woods, don’t forget about vine clippings. Any local winery should be happy to part with as many as you want. Soak the bare, drive cuttings, concentrating on the thicker wood, use on charcoal, and the smoke will produce brilliant steaks, a la Bordeaux, which you should then serve with, naturally, a Bordelaise sauce. Bon appetit!
And to Rocky, yes, we do have pecan trees, but it takes a bit of digging to find them, and then to persuade the grower that you are deserving of his wood! Do the shells also work? I love Texas barbecue, incidentally – especially the mesquite-smoked brisket at Coopers in Llano, in the Hill Country – my favourite barbecue joint in the whole world. Wish it was closer! I’ve also visited Galveston, but didn’t find any barbecue. Did I miss something?
Bob
I have a very large mature 60ft pecan tree that I would be delighted to be rid of. Only thing is that it will need to be professionally dismantled as it cannot be felled where it is.
All you need to do is remove it from my place at Galston (NW edge of Sydney). Come and get it – no charge!
John
0428 441 845