Silly Question

I'm going to do my first smoke tomorrow (weather permitting) for a friend of mine. I have been reading the Low and Slow book by Gary Wiviott and will start with chicken (its cheaper if I get it wrong!)..

Not sure if my wood chips and metal box will have arrived so is there any point in just smoking with charcoal (Aussie Heat Beads) with a water pan? Do I need to add the woodchips or will I survive without?

Assuming that my missing parcel does arrive, what does one do with the wood chips? Chuck them into the metal box dry? soak them first? Is there a really simple "heres how to do your first smoke" post somewhere or should I take photos and start one?

Many thanks all! will let you know regardless...

Hi Toby

No such thing as a silly question.

You can use the smoker without wood chips, you'll be roasting and will still benefit from the low and slow, by using the water pan... this will result in a really succulent bird.

Wood chips, when they arrive, can be simply thrown on the charcoal (every 30 mins or so), I don't bother soaking them.

There should be basic instructions on how to do a chicken in the manual that came with the unit.
Otherwise, take a look at this one http://www.macsbbq.co.uk/Chicken.html

Ian

I soak my chips and then put them in a little parcel made of good old fashioned foil! Just poke some holes in for the smoke to get out.

I've given up on chips. Instead, I use offcuts from my recent woodworking efforts. I just make sure that everything I make is from oak or cherry

Just make sure the wood you're using hasn't been treated, else that's going into your food.

There's not much point soaking chunks as the water doesn't really penetrate that far, and all it does is cool the coals down. Chips, maybe!

Contact your local firewood or landscaping company... I got lucky and found a plentiful supply of oak, cherry and apple.... £5 for a huge bag of it.

Treated wood? No thanks. Not good to smoke with, and not good to make stuff out of either (unless all you are doing is a fence, or maybe a shed). I mostly use oak (damned hard on the tools, though) and cherry (which takes a nice finish). Chippings and sawdust are collected at source during operations like sawing, planing and routing, and larger bits come from the ends of planks and pieces that are left over but not big enough to use for anything else (usually 4" by 4" by 1/2" sort of sizes).

Suppose it depends what you're making as to whether it's treated or not!

Good to hear though... the local folks near me are a nice bunch. They sell firewood, but can identify oak, beech, alder, apple and cherry fairly easily for my smoking...