At Smoker Wood Chunks we provide Northwest Red Alder wood chunks and Cedar planks to barbecue and smoker fans throughout the United States.  Natural wood smokers have become the fastest growing segment in the outdoor barbecue industry as people begin to understand the many benefits of cooking with natural wood smoke versus charcoal briquets or propane.

When you prepare your favorite ribs in your smoker, you not only enjoy the benefits of a slower, more even cooking time, but you can enhance the flavor of most foods with the choice of wood to burn.  If you have not had the pleasure of tasting a chinook (king) salmon filet coming right out of the smoker burning Northwest Red Alder, you are missing one of the greatest taste pleasures you will ever experience.

While most of our first-time visitors to www.smokerwoodchunks.com come here simply to purchase the highest quality Alder wood chunks you can find anywhere, many of our return customers tell us that they keep coming back to check out the recipe of the month, or to get advice from our team and/or our customers about anything that has to do with smoking foods through the participation in our online forums.

If you would like to learn more about Red Alder itself click on the "Alder Info" tab on the upper left of the site.

Whatever the reason you have landed here, we thank you for your visit and hope that we might be able to increase your enjoyment of food smoking.  Now back out to the smoker...

Chunks, Chips or Planks...is the most frequently asked question we receive here at Smoker Wood Chunks.  The real difference is found in what your needs are as you prepare to grill or smoke your meal.

Chips:  With that said, chips serve a purpose if you have a small gas grill and/or do not have enough space to store your supply of chunks out of the weather..Chips are a smaller form of the chunks and will burn quicker.  Our recommendation for chip use is to soak them in water for 15-20 minutes prior to use, then drain the water and place the chips into a small metal tin (a tuna can works great after taking off the label).  After your coals are heated and just prior to adding your meat or fish, place the metal tin directly on the hot coals.  Then add your food to the grilling surface.  This will result in the smoking of the chips, and the smoke will add  flavor to your food.  Please use caution and common sense when disposing of the spent chips.

Chunks:  We have found that chunks provide the overall best smoking fuel.  They can be used instead of charcoal briquets, are less messy to handle, and will provide the appropriate amount of heat and smoke.  The size of our Chunks makes them compatible in both smaller and larger grills, as well as single-purpose smokers.  Try and remember your first hamburger cooked over an open campfire.  The taste that comes from wood heat and natural wood smoke is unbeatable.  You owe it to yourself to give our Chunks a try.  We have experimented with many types of wood ranging from hickory to fruit woods like cherry and apple, to maple and more, and our favorite always comes back to Alder.  It produces a light to medium smoke flavor that satisfies the old smoke veterans, while not overpowering the smoking rookie.  There are times that we mix our Alder chunks with other woods to achieve unique flavors for foods like bacon and jerky.

Planks:  Cedar planks have been a favorite way to prepare salmon and other fish in the Pacific Northwest for over a century.  Traditionally, you soak the plank in water for an hour or two, then put your salmon on the plank and put it on the grill.  The heat from the coals will char the bottom of the cedar, creating some smoke and heating the plank to cooking temperature.  Cedar will impart a more pronounced bite in the smoke flavor than our Alder smoking chunks.  If you have used planks before, but found the flavor too strong for your taste, then we recommend that you try our Alder chunks.  Grilling whole trout with lemon and butter placed in the cavity is a family favorite here.

We have chosen to provide both Alder Chunks, Alder Chips, Alder Mini-Logs and Cedar Planks to our customers, we now also offer Alder Plates as well..  Your complete satisfaction of our products is our goal, and the products that we provide allow us to meet this goal.