An Idea for better smoked meat came to me a while back, and not finding it mentioned anywhere else, I’ve decide it is either unique, or a closely guarded secret. 

I’ve held onto this BBQ tip for a while, keeping it secret, even after I felt it was usable, with the thought that there might be a way to capitalize on it. 

I have decided that improved race relations is a form of personal profit, and I am using the race angle to promote this BBQ tip, 

to challenge the notion that all whites dislike all blacks. 

I have several articles about race relations, from my white perspective, in this website: www.the32112020.

I hope you will read through them during the downtimes of smoking meat. 

Perhaps the most interesting article is my theory on the origin of skin colors, at; https://the32112020.com/1_39_melanin.html 

OK, I don’t claim to be a pit-master by any stretch. I am mostly self-taught, and pick the brains of others. 

Yet, I think I have come across one technique that produces better smoked meats. 

This technique is based on two reliable sciences: 

1) Pressure treating wood to make it rot-resistant. 

2) The old, old science of using salt to glaze pottery in the kiln. 

In the beginning of learning to smoke meats I was told to soak the wood chips in water for an hour so they won’t burn up so fast when put on the coals. 

I did that for a while and watched how the water vaporized, moisturizing the smoker, and then the chips would dry out, heat up and then put off smoke. 

Water is flavorless (unless you live in Flint, Michigan and other select cities), 

so why do we soak chips in just water, 

when we could soak them in something that might add flavor to the meat? 

Here is what I do: Put the wood chips in a covered cooking pot or small pressure cooker. 

Add: 1 can of soda pop, I prefer root beer.

Various amounts of : 

   Hot sauce 

   Worch-sauce 

   Vinegar 

   other sauces and spices as you see fit. (my recipe varies from batch-to-batch) 

Turn on the heat. 

The purpose of the heat is to drive liquid into the dry chips that will then return flavor during smoking, not just create steam. 

Pressure cookers are more effective for preparing these chips, if you know how to use them. 

But they can be a safety issue and should not be used with alcohol, either in the pot or in the person using the pressure cooker. 

Cook the chips in your custom sauce. Stir often. I actually pour out the juice out of the pot, into a pitcher, and then repour over the chips to be sure all chips are saturated. Cook until there is only a little thick gravy left. Let it cool a bit and put chips in a coffee can, then spatulate the remaining gravy over the chips.

Use the chips as you normally would. 

When smoking one batch of meat with the last of your spiced-chips, you can make the next batch of chips, to use your time efficiently. 

Boiling the wood in spices is like pressure treating wood, injecting flavor into it. 

Then, when the wood chips heat up on the charcoal, they send out vaporized flavors and spices. This is similar to salt-glazing pottery in the kiln. 

Store chips in the refrigerator or freezer, so they don’t spoil. The spiced-chips are now a food-type item and can spoil. 

I THINK this makes my food takes better. 

Try it for yourself, BBQ- Bro. 

Eric J. Rose

May 1, 2020