I saw someone on a TV show soaking their offset smoker's wood in vinegar and even saying they add 'spices'...WTF?
Hey guys, been a while. I had to come and post about this one as it totally flawed me. As guy who's been smoking in various formats basically since this site began, I've seen, heard, and tried plenty of things. But more importantly, followed the science here and many times used it to defend against some of the nonsense you see in places like FB BBQ groups. Anyway, I'm watching this general cooking show piece from here in Australia and the host goes and visits this guy who makes offset smokers down here. He looks like he builds nice stuff, right up to a massive competition trailer pits. First red flag was his use of multiple dial thermometers, I mean why bother when you can't trust them. But what really got me going was him first quoting using vinegar and water mix on his smoking wood and more out there, he quoted adding salt and pepper or 'spices' to the wood. I've honestly never heard of this one is all my 20 or more years being into BBQ. Anyone heard of this/got real world feedback? To me this sounds as useful as worrying too much about what your exact spritz spray when using one or worrying whether you use mustard vs oil as a coating when prepping meat prior to rub say.
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Last edited by OzCueLuv; May 25, 2026, 10:40 PM. -
Soaking the wood in something isn't new, but the TikTok crowd has taken it to a different level. On a base level, humans have been adding aromatics to bbq wood for eternity, but I think it only works on certain things like quick hot cooks with poultry or fish and some.sort of herb... but long brisket or pork cooks? I don't see the point.
Charcoal and Pellet companies recently jumped on the wagon and offered herb infused product that seems to just be sitting on the shelves. But the liqour barrel wood products have been around for a while.
I would love to see some science on it honestly. -
but is it artisanal wood? What do you think Panhead John?Comment
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Is great for smoking baby seals and seaturtles Panhead John
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Originally posted by ItsAllGoneToTheDogs View Post
Yeah I mean in smoking, I've certainly done soaked woodchips on my coals in my weber smokey mountain, but soaking definitely never thought about doing it with both water and vinegar, then chucking spices in. I've used plenty of combo pellets for my pellet grills, but they've always been based on wood mixes, not flavourings. Sure, I've seen and had things like the little packs of Jack Daniels pellets to throw onto a BBQ when you're doing steaks and rarely bothered with them much personally over nornal wood chips. But on a full size offset smoker, putting salt and pepper etc on your on fuel logs feels pretty bizarre. Mind you, trust TikTok to foster some of these trends lol.
Think it's definitely a great potential article here on the site for testing the science as well!
If anyone is curious and can be bothered, you can see this segment in the show on free streaming -you'll have to VPN it from the US and create a login. But it's at the 9 min mark (8 if yout want to see the guys smokers) of the show.It's actually very old show (from 2014) that gets repeated a lot.Last edited by OzCueLuv; May 25, 2026, 10:40 PM.Comment
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Camping in the redwoods back in the 70's, someone would usually toss a pepperwood branch (Umbelarus Califorinicus on the fire right after the steaks were put on the grate. Fifty years later, I don't remember the flavor one way or the other. I remember the flare-up, though. Other substances may have been involved.
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I suspect hype like soaking in vinegar is more to attract attention and trying hard to "be different" from the crowd in this case the plethora of chefs and cooks that frequent the TV channels rather than any scientific or culinary advantage. Vinegar is basically dilute acetic acid, when it heats the water will evaporate and concentrate the acetic acid and I cannot for the life of me see how even an apple cider vinegar used in this way would bring any benefit?
Also remember that damp wood increases that creosote like build up and over time and in extreme circumstances could even be a fire hazard... not for me!
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If soaking wood in vinegar doesn't give the smoke results you are looking for, maybe try injecting vinegar into the wood.Comment
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There was a barbecue joint in Texas that threw onions in the firebox. But that's not the same as soaking wood, I don't think, anyway.Comment
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There’s your answer right there. Debunking of the soak has been going on for a while, but didn’t really take off until recently. Raichlen still recommends smoking chips (but not chunks). I think he just doesn’t like admitting he’s wrong, and because he has a huge back library that recommends doing it.Originally posted by OzCueLuv View Post
No comment on the spices, vinegar, etc.. I haven’t tried it. It doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know. I like spritzing with apple cider vinegar and apple juice, but if I don’t have any of those I’m not going to the store. I’ll just spritz with water. I use the other stuff because it makes me feel like I’m doing something.
The repeat of the episode is just a cheap way for the station to fill time and sell ads.
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Burning things in your fire certainly can affect the flavor of your food when smoking and/or grilling direct. It depends on the concentration of the substance and its composition, as well as how long your food is exposed to the smoke generated from incinerating those substances. Frankly, most of us aren't going to notice a few herbs burned for a few seconds on a fire when the cook takes hours to achieve the flavors we want. In reality, the question is, how MUCH of that would need to be added in order to actually add enough flavor of that substance that we would taste it, aaaaaaaand... would we like the taste of that substance when it was BURNED, as oppose to roasted, boiled, soaked or otherwise incorporated into our food, as in a stew, sauce or braise?
But I guarantee every single one of us on this website believes wholeheartedly in our soul that this actually DOES affect our food and its palatability. For real. I bet I can prove it to you in one line. All of you. US, I mean, all of US - me included. I'm not kidding. I can PROVE to you that you DO believe this affects your food. You may say you don't think it would have ANY effect - but we all believe it would. Don't believe me? Next time you fire up the grill or smoker - add this:
COOKING FIRE ADDITIVE.
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It might make a difference if you ate the wood.
K.Comment
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Back in the day, I'd soaked chips, wood chunks, even thrown some onions in the fire before, and I'd seen shows that did a variety of those things, but after finding AmazingRibs.com, reading all the articles I could, I've settled on no soaking (that was an easy one to give up), and not bothering to throw anything else, like spices or veggies (or crap) on the fire (and learned quite a few other things as well).
I'll echo what others said, older shows, especially the big TV celebrity chef shows, ran through all kinds of "niche" cooking ideas, and those get recycled on reruns, online content, old cookbooks on BBQ, you name it.
I'm sure, most of those guys/gals don't necessarily go back over their vast library of content and correct it. Knowing it's old or outdated advice and it's an older show, I just ignore most of it.
Now, in my area, they're running ads for the new season of "BBQ Brawl". I like Bobby Flay, but when I've watched this show, it's literally an entire chef's kitchen under a gazebo... Deep fryers, blenders, you name it, with full electric, all out there on the counters. It really doesn't give me BBQ vibes. Sure they've got live fire cooking going on, but the recipes and plating they make them cook and do remind more of what you'd find in an upscale restaurant.
I may watch just to see what goofy stuff they end up doing, I dunno.Comment
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I'm just going to say that I'm glad this kind of nonsense gets put out there. Without it we might have never had amazingribs.com to set people straight.Comment
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Closest thing to that ill do is when I steam shrimp ill add just a tiny amount of water to a foil pan, then a handful of bay leaves, the a wire rack to elevate the peeled shrimp. Cover with foil that has slits in it and add to grill. The water will quickly steam the shrimp and evacuate through the holes, then the bay leaves burn and "smoke" it.Comment
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