4 Reasons To Grill With Wood Instead of Charcoal

If you’ve only ever grilled using natural whole-lump charcoal, you’re missing out. While there’s nothing wrong with charcoal, and most people stick to it, cooking wood has a way of taking your grilling to the next level. Here are four reasons to BBQ with wood instead of charcoal to show you how.

Improve the Flavor

The cooking wood you use can significantly affect how your meat tastes. Unlike natural whole-lump charcoal, wood has organic compounds released as the wood burns – creating incredibly flavorful smoke. Grilling with wood vs. charcoal is a great way to make your meat and veggies taste richer and bring out the qualities you want most from your food. For instance, applewood makes your meat taste sweeter while hickory creates a more robust flavor – think bacon, as bacon is most often smoked with hickory wood.

Aroma and Fragrances

Smell and taste go hand in hand, so you can expect the aroma of your meat and veggies to improve as well, becoming even more enticing. While natural whole-lump charcoal’s scent is inoffensive, it doesn’t smell the best, nor does it do anything to improve the quality of your meat further. For instance, if you’re a big fan of smoked meat, mesquite cooking wood will provide your food with a rich smoky fragrance for you to enjoy.

Burns Longer

A more practical reason to BBQ with wood instead of charcoal is that it burns so much longer. This is ideal for meat like brisket that needs hours and hours to reach perfection, so it’ll be a far less stressful endeavor with wood. Typical charcoal burns for about half an hour, while wood can burn for an hour or more before you need to refuel.

Easier To Handle

You’ll even find cooking wood to be much more convenient to handle vs. charcoal. Natural whole-lump Charcoal can get extremely messy as it’s covered in a dusty black residue that is incredibly hard to clean up and is more than likely to stain anything it touches. This is because charcoal creates a carbon residue that wood does not, making wood the much cleaner option – literally and environmentally.