Inspiration, Kitchen

How To: Easy Food Smoking at Home

Smoking food at home is a perhaps daunting, but actually simple technique that can transform your culinary creations with rich, smoky flavours.

Using wood chips and shavings is a simple and effective way to achieve this, bringing professional-grade smoked dishes right to your kitchen.

But if you haven’t tried this before, it may seem complicated. And you may be thinking “where do I even start?”

This guide will walk you through the basics of selecting, preparing, and using wood chips and shavings to smoke your food to perfection, ensuring each bite is infused with aromatic, smoky goodness:

What Equipment Will I Need:

Apart from the wood chips or shavings of course, you will need a heat source on which to burn/your chips and to cook your food.

Using the different techniques we will be sharing with you in this article, you can use any of the following with our food smoking wood chips or shavings:

Gas braai
Charcoal braai (like a Weber)
Professional outside smoker
Stovetop smoker
Or even a stovetop steamer

A meat (food) thermometer is also recommended, to get your food coocked to the perfect temperature!

What Flavour Wood to Use:

Wood flavours are a personal choice of taste, but to help you make your choice here is a brief description of the most common flavours out there (which we also stock in our online store):

Beech Wood: a light, mild hardwood with a hint of nuttiness, making it a perfect match for more delicate flavours. It’s ideal for smoking red meat, fish, nuts, and cheeses, adding a refreshing touch to your dishes.
Cedar Wood: traditionally used for smoking fish, but it is also excellent for fruit and seafood. In the US, cedar is often used for cooking other meats like chicken. However, use it sparingly, as cedar imparts a sweet, spicy flavour that might be too intense for some tastes.
Cherry Wood: offer a subtle, mild, fruity flavour, making it perfect for poultry, fish, vegetables, and fruit. It imparts a fantastic colour and a delicate, sweeter smoky taste to your food. Ideal when you want to enhance, not overpower, your dishes’ natural flavours.
Hickory Wood: Hickory wood smoke creates a sweet yet robust bacon-like flavour. The smoke can be quite pungent, but it adds a strong, appealing taste to nearly all meat cuts, while especially popular for pork and ribs.
Maple Wood: is perfect for smoking fruits, cheeses, and pork, offering a mild, slightly sweet flavour. It’s also excellent for poultry and small game birds, adding a subtle sweetness to your dishes.
Oak Wood: provides a robust smoke flavour, making it ideal for red meat and game. It’s considered one of the best choices for smoking steak, offering a lovely colour and deep, smoky taste. Oak is a popular choice among smoking enthusiasts for its rich, hearty flavour profile.
Walnut Wood: delivers a heavy smoke, making it perfect for strong-flavoured red meat and game.
Wild Olive Wood: is great for poultry, imparting a fruity aroma that adds a touch of sweetness to the meat.

Food Smoking Wood Chips Beechwood Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Wild Olive Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Walnut Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Oak Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Maple Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Hickory Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Cherry Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Chips Cedar Shavings

Food Smoking Wood Shavings - 8 Flavours

Food Smoking Wood Chips - Beech Wood

Food Smoking Wood Chips - Oak Wood

Food Smoking Wood Chips - 2 flavours

How to use your Food Smoking Wood chips & Shavings:

Our manufacturer recommends the following basic method/s for using their Food Smoking Wood Chips & Shavings.

But we have also included some super helpful videos from different sources that show their tried & tested methods as well as some helpful tips, that will have you smoking your food like a pro in no time:

Soak the wood shavings in liquid (water or other beverages) for 30min-1hr.
This will ensure that steam is generated when the soaked chips/shavings are used, which will add moisture and heat to the smoking process. This method also prolongs burning time. The key with wood chips & shavings is to deny the wood of oxygen so it smoulders and smokes.
Create a tin foil tray and place shavings in the centre of the tray.
Place the tray directly onto coals in your charcoal braai, add food to the grid and close the lid.
If using a smoker, follow the instructions of your specific smoker.
If using a gas braai, you’ll need a smoker box to use the shavings.
Or use a stovetop steamer, with the soaked shavings in the bottom with all the water drained off.