How to Choose Wood Chips for Your Stovetop Smoker

Choosing the wood chips is one of the most important steps in using your stovetop smoker, because the chips you choose will create the wonderful smoky flavor that infuses your food. There are many different types of wood chips available, and they all add subtly different flavors to your smoked food.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wood chips in various flavors
• Stovetop smoker

1. Mild wood chips include apple, alder and cherry.
   Medium include oak, pecan and maple.
   Strong include hickory, corncob and mesquite.

2. Alder is mild and a favorite for fish and vegetables.
   Apple and cherry are both mildly fruit-flavored, and are excellent with pork, fish and vegetables.

3. Oak is stronger, and blends well with other chips to create a smoky, woodsy flavor. Try blending it with cherry chips for smoking poultry.
   Pecan and maple blend well together too, and are excellent for poultry, fish, and pork.

4. Hickory is one of the strongest flavors, and is used usually for beef, like ribs or steaks.
   Mesquite is also quite strong and is usually used for beef as well.
   To cut the strength of these woods, try blending them with maple, pecan, or another wood chip of your choice.

Resources

• Camerons Stovetop Smoker