The word and method of barbecue is thought to have originated from the Caribbean word barabicu which means sacred fire pit and describes a grill for cooking meat consisting of a wooden platform resting on sticks. In the United States, barbecue usually refers to the smoking of meat using indirect heat at lower temperatures (about 240 oF) for long cooking times (hours). Grilling on the other hand refers to a cooking method that involves direct heat, usually over a hot fire (over 500 oF) for shorter times (minutes). Smoking can be done in a grill or using an apparatus known as a smoker with a separate fire box. The smoker allows hot smoke that is generated by heating wet wood chips such as apple barbecue wood chips or oak barbecue wood chips to be drawn past the meat by convection for very slow cooking.

Smoking is commonly used in US restaurants and can be done with any gas, electric, wood or charcoal grill. The heat from the fire helps cook the meat while the smoke from burning apple barbecue wood chips, mesquite barbecue wood chips or other flavored wood chips adds its unique and delicious flavor to the meat. The smoker door is closed during the cooking process to allow a dense cloud of smoke to engulf the meat and flavor it but it is also designed to allow the smoke to move freely and out of the top of the smoker rapidly to prevent the meat from obtaining a bitter flavor. A patented design of a smoker known as Sam's Smoker Pro™ has been developed to convert any gas, electric or charcoal grill into a wood-fired grill or smoker. The device covers 120 square inches of the grilling surface and produces a rapid smoking method and flavor process depending on whether you use apple barbecue wood chips, mesquite barbecue wood chips or plum barbecue wood chips.

The grill smoker device is effective in reducing flare ups and has been engineered to control the burn rate of the wood chips. A typical burn cycle within Sam's Smoker Pro™ includes a smoking cycle and then a burning cycle where the wood chips burn like charcoal. This allows the flavoring of food to occur for extended periods of time and cooking can range between 1 to 2 hours at 250 oF. Wood chunks or wood chips of about 1.5 inches deep are used to generate the smoke and flavor beef steaks and roasts, pork roasts, wild game, chicken, turkey and vegetables depending on what type of wood chips are used. Examples of wood chips available at www.samssmoker.com include pear, peach, mesquite, oak, alder, mulberry, grape, pecan, walnut, grape, cherry, hickory, maple, plum, persimmon and apple barbecue wood chips.

Different types of wood chips are used for different types of meats and a table of information regarding the types of wood chips applicable for use with certain meats is available at www.samssmoker.com. Apple barbecue wood chips can be used for beef, poultry and fatty fish such as salmon and trout. It is sweet, dense and lends a fruity smoked flavor to meat. Apple barbecue wood chips can be used alone or they can be mixed with alder barbecue wood chips. There is no other smoker available that can turn your grill into a wood-fired smoker like Sam's Smoker Pro™ can; visit www.samssmoker.com and read the customer testimonials for yourself!