Besides charcoal, firewood is one of the most popular energy sources for grilling. It is a traditional fuel in thousands years providing important heat for human life

Firewood and charcoal

The most frequent type of fuel used in charcoal grilling is charcoal. There are many types of charcoal such as: mangrove, oak, sawdust, khaya, coffee, halaban, and longan,…. All of these charcoal come in lump wood and briquette form and burn fiercely to sear the outside of foods. Because charcoal is used popularly, some experts believe they must only use charcoal for a perfect grill. But cooking with firewood has several other clear benefits over using charcoal. 

The Benefits of Firewood for grilling

Although you can always BBQ with charcoal, utilizing the perfect firewood will boost your food taste. Flavorful compounds will be released as smoke when the firewood burns down. Your food will then absorb some of these substances, which will improve the flavor of your meal. That’s why traditional Chinese chefs always use firewood for cooking, especially in grilling such as Peking Duck.

There are numerous kinds of firewood, and each one provides a distinctive flavor. While some barbecue masters favor the distinctive and powerful flavor, others choose the sweet and fruity flavor for their cooking. The common firewoods are pear wood, peach wood or apple wood,…

Even better, you may combine different types of firewood to produce varied flavors. Of course, burning charcoal prevents this. If you want complete control over the flavor of your grilled food, you should use firewood as the fuel source.

Plus, firewood is more convenient to light than charcoal. When you ignite your firewood, you do not need to use fire supporters such as lighter or other kitchen accessories because firewood is very easy to burn. It should work as a fire starter if it’s dry. On the other hand, charcoal is more difficult to light, therefore it needs a long time to burn. You could burn through an entire matchbook trying to light it. That is why you need lighter fluid or other accelerants.

Although wood starts burning at a lower temperature than all types of charcoal, it still provides more than enough heat to sear the outside of your foods. Once lit, the temperature created by firewood quickly rises and cooks you delicious food. 

Can You Grill Using Both Charcoal and Firewood

Although they are two different energy sources, you can use charcoal and wood in your grill. That is a perfect idea to combine them so you can optimize their advantages. It is advised to utilize wood chunks for smoking rather than logs when utilizing either form of fuel. The charcoal will create the heat required to cook your food deliciously, while the smoking chunks will add a better flavor associated with high-quality cooking wood.

Plus, you should keep charcoal and smoking pieces apart while grilling. First, you should avoid dumping your smoking chunks on top of your charcoal to put it another way. Then you place your burning chunks next to the charcoal which will cause them to smolder more slowly. 

Having an offset smoker-grill combo is perfect, so that you can put the smoking chunks in the smaller offset compartment instead of forming a ring of chunks around your charcoal. They will not burn quickly if you separate your charcoal from your smoking parts. Allow them to smolder at a lower temperature to improve the flavor and enjoyment of grilling.

Conclusion: Firewood is a good selection for grilling needs. It can create a good calorific content, a high temperature and boost food flavor. Moreover, you can combine firewood and charcoal for a perfect cooking experience.