Smoke Flavor Without a Smoker, Made Easy

How to Add Smoke on a Gas Grill

Gas grills are where many backyard cooks miss smoke flavor most. The method is straightforward: create a hot side for the wood and a cooler side for the food.

Preheat the grill with the lid closed. Once the grates are hot, set up indirect heat by leaving one side on and reducing or turning off the burners beneath the food. Place your hardwood cube directly on a heat diffuser, burner guard, or grate over the active burner, following your grill manufacturer's safe-use guidance. Close the lid and there's no wait, the smoke to starts instantly rolling.

Put the food on the cooler side and cook with the lid closed as much as possible. For thicker cuts, rotate the food occasionally for even cooking, but resist the urge to constantly move it around.

If the wood catches a flame, do not panic. A brief flame can happen when wood first heats up, especially near strong direct heat. With the bar-b-qube® you want it to light. With regular wood you might need to panic. Lower the burner slightly or shift the Bar-B-Qube® to a less aggressive hot spot if your grill allows it. You want the cube heated enough to smoke, not roaring like a campfire. A gas grill can put a beautiful sear on a steak, but that first bite can still feel like something is missing. The answer is real hardwood smoke. Getting smoke flavor without a smoker does not require buying another big piece of equipment, soaking chips, or building a foil packet that burns out before dinner is ready.

It comes down to putting dry, natural hardwood where it can heat up and smolder steadily while your food cooks. If you havent seen the product Mojobricks Bar-B-Qubes now is the time to check them out. It's a natural hardwood, compressed. Incredibly dense and dry, easy to put to the test.

Smoke Flavor Without a Smoker Starts With Real Wood

Smoke is flavor, but not every kind of smoke tastes good. Wet wood, poor airflow, and a pile of fuel that flares up can create thick, bitter smoke that sticks to food in all the wrong ways. The goal is a clean, steady stream of light smoke from dry natural hardwood.

Hardwood adds character that a gas flame alone cannot. Hickory brings a bold, classic barbecue edge. Apple is milder and slightly sweet, a natural fit for pork, poultry, and vegetables. Cherry adds a soft fruitwood note and gorgeous color on chicken or ribs. Mesquite is stronger, faster, and made for cooks who want a true Texas-style punch on beef.

The best choice depends on the food and how long it will cook. A delicate fish fillet does not need the same intensity as a brisket or rack of spare ribs. Start lighter when you are unsure. You can always build more smoke flavor on the next cook, but you cannot take an over smoked bite back.

Choose a Wood Format That Matches the Cook

Traditional wood chips dont work. What? Of course they work! But at what price? They are often short-lived. They may need soaking, and soaking creates a time lapse. First you have to soak the chips for hours. Then you have the "MESS". That means opening the grill while you cook, adding more mess to the grill. Then on top of the mess of wet wood, dealing with a messy pile of ash afterward. Is it worth it? Why do we have grills that work with the turn of a knob in the first place? Convenience! We love outdoor cooking, alone at the grill. This isnt rocket science, this is freedom!

Forget about wood chips, forget about wood chunks and the pellet tube? Well the pellet tube is a toss up. It certainly is convenient. But I would argue as I should but never have, that the Bar-B-Qube is a more natural method. I would argue thru experience that the Bar-B-Qube provides less guess work. David Boska of Butcher BBQ, In Ponca City, The winiest competition cook in Oklahoma once told me that after using the mojobricks bar-b-qube for one season of competition, he started messing around with a pellet tube. Eventually, he went back to the Bar-B-Qube. So the pellet tube is an option but you'll come back to the bar-b-qube if you like continues smoke, less likely to go out during the cook, less likely to over smoke the meat, if that interests you you'll be cooking with a bar-b-qube for life. Dense hardwood Bar-B-Qubes® offer a simple middle ground. Because they are tightly compressed and super dry, they can begin producing smoke immediately. Nothing smokes as fast as a bar-b-qube, and nothing burns as long as a bar-b-qube of the same moisture. Mojobricks® FIRE Bar-B-Qubes are designed for exactly this job: place one directly on the heat, then let it deliver award-winning smoke flavor without soaking, foil, smoker boxes, or tubes. You may need a metal lid or a flat metal tray and depending on the grill you may want to use a smoker box but either way its convenient and it works.

Cube size should follow cook time. A mini cube makes sense for a quick cook, such as burgers, chicken breasts, shrimp, or grilled vegetables. Use a larger medium size or largest size when you are cooking ribs, whole chicken, pork shoulder, or anything that benefits from a longer stretch of smoke. Cooking pork shoulder in a gas grill? I'd like to see that! I havent tried it. Cooking ribs in a gas grill, that I have done and it works. Add two large cubes to a smoke box or to the lid of a smoke box set the ribs next to it or just over the top of them.

Get Better Smoke Flavor With a Few Small Moves

Clean smoke needs a clean grill. Scrape the grates, empty old grease, and clear ash before cooking. Old grease can burn and create harsh flavors that have nothing to do with good barbecue.

Temperature matters too. Low to medium indirect heat gives smoke time to work. For quick foods like burgers or wings, add the Bar-B-Qube let it catch fire, let it burn for five or more minutes. Then reduce the heat to the wood, blow out the "qube" and add the meat at the beginning and let the first part of the cook carry the smoke. For ribs or whole chickens, maintain indirect heat and let the hardwood do its job over time.

Ventilation is not optional. On gas grills, do not crowd the grates or block the grill's airflow. Gas grills are built with ventilation in mind. Fresh smoke moving steadily around for the entire cook is what we are shooting for. Don't worry about opening the lid on a gas grill. Yes, we want to keep the temperature steady but we also want to make sure the "qube" is rolling steady smoke. So, if you can't tell, open the lid and look, then close it. Just do it sparingly.

What Not to Do

Avoid treated lumber, construction scraps, painted wood, or random wood picked up from the yard. Food deserves clean, food-safe natural hardwood. Skip lighter fluid once you are cooking, too. Its chemical smell has no place near your brisket, burgers, or chicken thighs.

Do not soak your wood just because an old grilling tip says to. Soaking often delays smoke while the wood steams and can make the process more frustrating. Super-dry hardwood aka a "Bar-B-Qube" is ready to get to work right away.

Finally, do not chase huge clouds of white smoke. More visible smoke is not automatically better smoke. A lighter, cleaner flow and a closed lid will give you a more balanced result.

The next time your grill is heating up for a weeknight dinner or a full backyard spread, give the Bar-B-Qube https://www.barbqube.com/ and a little time. One and done can be the difference between food that is simply grilled and food your guests keep talking about.