Tried soaking wood chips in apple juice for 6 hours before smoking

Saw it on a random YouTube comment and figured why not. Threw a handful of soaked apple wood chips on the coals during a pork butt cook last Saturday. Instead of that nice thin blue smoke, I got a big cloud of white steam that killed my temp for 20 minutes. The bark came out bitter and tasted more like burnt juice than smoke. Learned my lesson: dry wood only now. Has anyone else had better luck with this method or was that guy just messing with people?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_hayden4d ago

Patricia nailed it with that steamed meat comparison. The water has to boil off before any real smoke happens, which just ruins your cook temp and adds a gross steamed layer to the bark. Dry wood is boring but it actually works, no need to overthink something that's been figured out for decades.

the_patricia4d ago

Oh man, I did almost the exact same thing last summer with cherry wood and ended up with pork butt that tasted like someone burned a fruit roll-up on top of it. I stood there staring at my smoker like "what did I do to deserve this" while my neighbors probably thought I was starting a small industrial accident. The whole "soaking wood" thing sounds smart in theory but in practice you're basically steaming your meat instead of smoking it. I figure those YouTube comment guys are either trolling or they've never actually tried it themselves. Sticking with dry wood and letting the meat shine on its own feels way safer now, even if it means I can't pretend I'm some kind of mad scientist in the backyard.