Best Woods for Cooking Steaks

If you’re planning to grill steaks, you need to know what kind of wood is best for this purpose. Hardwoods are the best choice because they burn cleaner and produce hotter fires. Other suitable choices are cherry, maple, and alder, but you should avoid cedar and pine. They have a fruity flavour, which can be overpowering. If you’re unsure what kind of wood is suitable for steaks, you can experiment with different combinations.

Cooking With Woods

Charcoal is an excellent heat source when grilling or smoking, but it has no flavor. Charcoal is a good grilling fuel since it is almost entirely pure carbon. Once lighted, it can reach incredibly high temperatures, allowing you to sear meat at temperatures ranging from 500 to 800 degrees.
Many people believe that cooking wood can’t get as hot as charcoal. However, this is only true if the wood is of poor quality. If you use Cutting Edge’s hickory cooking wood, for example, you can cook over highly high heat! If you use damp and decaying wood, though, you may find it challenging to get the fire as hot as you desire. In reality, long before charcoal was utilized for this purpose, people had been cooking over wood for ages. We recommend starting with wood pieces if used to smoking with charcoal because they’re the closest in size and function to charcoal. Another good alternative is cooking wood splits, which are 8 inches long and 1-2 inches wide, making them ideal for smaller barbecues.

Best Woods for Cooking Steak or Meat

Here are the some best wood for cooking steak or meat:

Cameron’s Gourmet Hickory Smoking Wood Gourmet Blend Chunks

Camerons Gourmet Hickory Smoking Wood Gourmet Blend Chunks

buyonamazon

Features:

  • Smoking Wood Chunks – Works with gas grills, charcoal grills, and smoker boxes.
  • Barbecue Smoking Chunks – Made of 100% natural raw timber kiln dried.
  • Hickory Smoker Wood – Ignited quickly and com-busts completely to create a delicate smoky flavor.
  • Hickory Coarse Cut Wood Chunks pairs well with poultry, beef, pork, game, and cheeses!
  • Made in the USA. 1800 cup. in. (1.04 m³)

Mr. Bar-B-Q Apple Smoking Wood Chunks 

Mr. Bar-B-Q Apple Smoking Wood Chunks

buyonamazon

Features:

  • Smoker chunks give your food the most delicious Smokey flavor. You can smoke any food! Ranging from fish to beef, to vegetables, to beans!
  • Wood smoking chunks last way longer than traditional chips. They are thicker and therefore burn for longer.
  • Because of the large size, smoker chunks produce more smoke and flavor than chips. Chunks burn/smoke for a long time while giving off more flavor.
  • A popular myth is that you should soak your wood chunks when in reality, wood chunks never need soaking. Soaking wood chunks can delay flavor release, cool down your fire, and even add a bitter taste.
  • Mr. Bar-B-Q Smoking Chunks are made from 100% natural wood in the USA, and there are no added chemicals.

Kiln-Dried Oak Cooking Wood 

Kiln-Dried Oak Cooking Wood

buyonamazon

Features:

  • Our wood is cut to 6-inch lengths and is extra split to get the perfect length for smoker trays, smoke boxes, offset smokers, wood fire stoves, clay ovens, BBQs, portable pizza ovens, and even backyard campfires!
  • The resalable Hot Box contains 350 cubic inches of oak wood that is kiln-dried to achieve a denser and drier wood, so it burns hotter and longer
  •  This cut of wood is designed to fit the most popular brands of portable pizza ovens such as the Grozny Rocco, Omni Pro, Omni Kaur, Alfa One, and Bertillon Wood-Fired Oven
  • Hot Boxwood is sustainably sourced and is a natural way to make what you cook taste better
  • Only properly heat-treated firewood like Kiln-dried Oak Wood from Hot Box can be transported safely across the United States

Weber 17137 Pecan Wood Chunks

Weber 17137 Pecan Wood Chunks

buyonamazon

Features:

  • Pecan wood chunks
  • Provides a rich & Sweet flavor
  • Use with fish, Port, poultry, lamb, & beef
  • 350 cup. in. (0.006 m^3) sized bag

Smoking Wood Chunks (Cherry)

Smoking Wood Chunks (Cherry)

buyonamazon

Features:

  • Smoking Wood Chunks – Works with gas grills, charcoal grills, and smoker boxes.
  • Barbecue Smoking Chunks – Made of 100% natural raw timber precision cut and kiln-dried.
  • Cherry Smoker Wood – Ignited quickly and com-busts completely to create a delicate smoky flavor.
  • 420 cup. in. (0.006m³) Cherry Coarse Cut Wood Chunks pairs well with poultry, seafood, beef, pork, lamb, vegetables, and cheeses!
  • Made in the USA. (may receive in a box or bag)

Advantages Of Cooking With Wood

Cooking and Grilling with cooking wood offers several advantages:

  • Cooking wood has a more flavorful flavor than charcoal, which does not always produce a foul taste. However, most people will agree that grilled food tastes better when cooking wood rather than briquettes or lump charcoal is used as the fuel.
  • As the cooking wood burns, fragrant smoke is released, absorbed by your food.
  • Cooking with wood is also all-natural, which means your food won’t be exposed to any potentially dangerous fumes or toxins. For example, certain charcoals are pre-soaked with lighter fluid.
  • If you use pre-soaked charcoal like this, your food may taste harsh and bitter. Even unsoaked charcoal may include chemicals that emit a foul odor when burned.
  • Briquette charcoal, for example, is made up of sawdust and wood scraps linked together with a filler such as cornstarch. On the other hand, Cooking wood is made entirely of natural wood with no additives or fillers, making it a safer and more attractive grilling fuel.
  • Let’s face it charcoal is a sloppy substance. You’ll undoubtedly get black particles on your hands and clothes while preparing your grill with charcoal, and charcoal may permanently discolor your clothes if left unattended.
  • On the other hand, cooking wood may be handled without staining your clothes. All high-quality cooking wood is free of stain-causing chemicals and is clean.

When cooking wood is burned, you’ll undoubtedly notice that it emits a lovely aroma. Each type of wood has its particular scent. The aroma will permeate your patio or outdoor living space, making grilling more enjoyable. Just be aware that if your neighbors smell the delicious food you’re preparing, they might come knocking!

Disadvantages of Cooking With Wood

What are the drawbacks of using cooking wood as a fuel source? If you use high-quality wood, there aren’t any drawbacks at all. Dry, solid wood burns hotter and longer, producing incredible flavor. However, moist wood will be difficult to work with. Pit masters struggle to light their cooking wood because it is moist, and once lighted, the wood produces a lot of dark smoke with a musty flavor. That does not sit well with anyone. If you try to barbecue with seasoned wood, you can wind yourself cooking with mold and fungus in the wood. That’s revolting!

Conclusion

Hardwoods are better for grilling and cooking. Its sweeter and milder taste than apple wood makes it the best wood for cooking steaks. It’s also the best wood for grilling fish. But the suitable wood depends on the type of food you’re cooking. You can use cherry, pecan, hickory, or apple wood for your grilling needs. While softwoods are okay for grilling, hardwoods are ideal for grilling steaks.