Where I live, on the east coast of Canada, it's rather expensive to get wood chips or chunks. I've paid over $20 at times for small bags of chips at the local hardware stores, just madness. I'm already spending exorbitant amounts on the meat itself, I would like to save some money where I can! I will do a low-n-slow BBQ at least every weekend of the summer, and regular weeknight BBQ's for the family supper.
I also come from a long line of woodsmen. Grandpa's Grandpa who settled here from Ireland, all the way to my dad. I, of course, spent one summer in the woods before I figured I better learn how these computer things work if I ever want to get out of these woods! My dad just got himself a fancy new chainsaw, and while he's not much of a BBQ aficionado, he definitely knows his way around some woodcutting. He tells me that he's got access to an essentially unlimited supply of maple trees in the forest behind his house, so I suggested if he can find some way to chunk that up, I could use it on my BBQ (Weber kettle) and even pay him for it! He is quite certain the wood would have to be dried for at least a year before it could be used for something like BBQ.
So here I am, trying to find recipes on the internet for how to properly make your own BBQ wood chunks, but damned if I can find much out there! Any pointers for how you'd take your standard logs of maple wood, chunk them up, and presumably dry them for some period of time before use? Is there a method of storing them, either during drying or after, that makes more sense than just filling up buckets and leaving them in the shed? Should I be concerned, as mentioned in the "Zen of Wood" article, about the wood itself coming from our lovely east coast of Canada vs wherever companies like Weber are sourcing their hardwood?
I also come from a long line of woodsmen. Grandpa's Grandpa who settled here from Ireland, all the way to my dad. I, of course, spent one summer in the woods before I figured I better learn how these computer things work if I ever want to get out of these woods! My dad just got himself a fancy new chainsaw, and while he's not much of a BBQ aficionado, he definitely knows his way around some woodcutting. He tells me that he's got access to an essentially unlimited supply of maple trees in the forest behind his house, so I suggested if he can find some way to chunk that up, I could use it on my BBQ (Weber kettle) and even pay him for it! He is quite certain the wood would have to be dried for at least a year before it could be used for something like BBQ.
So here I am, trying to find recipes on the internet for how to properly make your own BBQ wood chunks, but damned if I can find much out there! Any pointers for how you'd take your standard logs of maple wood, chunk them up, and presumably dry them for some period of time before use? Is there a method of storing them, either during drying or after, that makes more sense than just filling up buckets and leaving them in the shed? Should I be concerned, as mentioned in the "Zen of Wood" article, about the wood itself coming from our lovely east coast of Canada vs wherever companies like Weber are sourcing their hardwood?
Comment