Grill Maestro

When it comes to grilling and wood, the rule of thumb is to soak the wood in water for thirty minutes to an hour. Whether it’s wood chips and chunks for the smoker or cedar planks for when you want to grill up some fish, you should always soak it for more than thirty minutes and it’s best if you do it for an hour. Anything shorter and the wood doesn’t retain enough water. Any longer and you’re really just wasting your time, you pretty much get as much water as you’re going to get after an hour.

The idea, in both cases, is that you want the wood to smolder and not actually burn too quickly. With the added moisture, the wood will begin smoldering but not catch fire. Burning is actually the worst thing that could happen because it consumes the wood too quickly for the smoke to work its magic as effectively as it can.