Take a tip from the experts: use BBQ wood chips to spice up your grilling. Connoisseurs know that good barbeque takes a lot more than just slapping some meat on a grill. Renowned experts in the field such as Bobby Flay, Dave Foley, Butch Lupinetti and many others swear by BBQ wood chips. With the summer grilling season upon us, here are some tips on how to introduce BBQ wood chips into your grilling and start cooking like the pros.

Wood chips are used in your grill in addition to charcoal or gas. They may be sprinkled atop coals or placed within a small smoker box in a gas or electric grill, and the smoke they create lends a distinctive aroma and appealing taste to all of your grilled meats.

Using BBQ wood chips can send your grilling into the stratosphere. Whether you use a charcoal, gas or electric grill, wood chips will give you authentic barbecue flavor. You can also buy a special smoker box to place in your gas or charcoal grill so that you can get that "wood smoke" flavor. Read the instructions for your particular grill before you try doing this.

The key to using wood chips is to not let them burn too quickly. This creates intense bursts of smoke that can make food bitter. By soaking wood chips in water for about 15 minutes you can slow down the combustion and lengthen the time in which the smoke is created. Make sure you let the wood drip dry for a few minutes before you add it to the fire. You want the wood moist, not dripping wet.

When using a small smoker in your grill you don't necessarily have to soak your BBQ wood chips first. Although soaked wood chips burn longer, if you are cooking a steak you might not need them to burn for that long.

Wood chips are available in a large range of varieties that cater to all tastes; your local vendor should be able to advise you on pairing a wood chip with a particular meat.

In general, if your meat is lighter, you'll need a milder wood chip flavor. You can also try "heavier" flavors with lighter meats, though, such as using mesquite with chicken. If you're going to do this, try using a few wood chips instead of a lot to see what this does to your flavor.

With its more delicate aroma, alder wood chips best accompany lighter meats like fish and poultry. The flavorful fruitwoods, including apple, cherry, peach and plum, go best with veal, poultry and pork, and they also lend an interesting taste to grilled vegetables.

Maple and hickory BBQ wood chips have a strong flavor and are best used with beef, pork and poultry. Beef, duck and lamb go well with the strong mesquite wood chips, and oak, another strong flavor, is good with beef and ham.

When you barbecue, your first focus should be the meat. A substandard cut of meat is not going to be improved significantly by the wood chip you use. Make sure the meat you get is fresh and comes from a reputable supplier.

So the next time you decide to grill a great piece of meat consider using some of these BBQ wood chips and savor the great flavor and aroma coming off your grill.