Do different woods really make a difference?

I'm doing my first Brisket tonight with Hickory (pretty much all I use). The Pecan might not be bad with a Brisket though.

Well, let's get this thread going.

Really good question and since we haven't had a good controversial discussion in a while, let me throw in my 3cents.

I'm not sure the average smoker, including many competition cooks and judges and the public could tell a difference once the product is cooked.

However, I think, like wine and beer and other things that hit your taste buds, with a little experience and practice you can train yourself to pick them out.

I do think, in broad groupings, that woods have a different effect. Oaks, Hickory, Mesquite are pretty strong. Fruits; Apple, Cherry, Pecan are lighter. Now, having cooked a long as I have, I've trained my sense of smell and taste pretty well. That's also how I pick my wood. Do I want a strong or lighter smoke. For now, I'm using Pecan, probably 50% and Cherry/Apple for 50%.

Given the amount of smoke that gets into whatever you're smoking, I don't think, enough really adheres to give the average user enough sensory input to get enough flavor.

And of course our sense of smell makes the biggest input into this. We all start salivating as we smell the smoke from the smoker and that's what lingers with us -- and on us. But take your finished product out of the smoker, how does it smell to you?

And if you really want some fun. Try sitting at a table with 6 certified experienced judges and asking them to tell you what wood the item was cooked with. Needless to say, it's usually totally different answers.

Yes, I know, a lot of people will disagree.

Great, let the discussion begin.

I agree with Smokin' that to my mildly trained palate the woods fall into families: Fruit, light woods like Pecan, and then the heavyweights Mesquite and Hickory.

I find the difference is most evident when cooking poultry, especially chicken. I do not like hickory and mesquite on chicken - they are too bold and it's easy to overdo it (as I have done before). However Pecan has a more subtle flavor of a similar nature - definitely distinguishable from fruit.

I can also say the same for pork, but that's ribs specifically. I find butts are much more 'forgiving' since there is so much mass that simply doesn't get smoke. All my pork gets fruit and occasionally Pecan.

I do not do a lot of beef, at least not so far, so I can't really comment too much on that.

One way in which I really do distinguish the woods each individually is the smell. A big part of Qing for me is just being outside with a beer and smell that gorgeous smell of slow cooking and sweet smoke. When I'm done I'll often just pick a flavor of wood and let a chunk burn in the smoker to keep the smell around!

I would have to agree with what smokin' said in light of how most people I know eat their Q. This is also reinforced by commercially produced Q. My point, it seems the majority of Q is swimming in sauce. If the focus is on the meat and the sauce is used as a condiment only, I disagree with the theory that different woods pretty much taste the same. I beleive it is similar to the person that uses half a bottle of ketchup on their french fries. Can they actually taste the potato?

Now, on to wood. There are in my opinion definate differences in wood. For example, you will most definately taste the difference in salmon smoked with alder vs. hickory and alder highly complements the fish. I find that fruit trees, especially apple impart a sweet smoke flavor on pork that is much more suttle than hickory while still having a great smoke flavor. Pecan to me has basically the same flavor as hickory, only milder. I tend to like the hickory, pecan and a little oak with beef.

Anyway, just my opinion.
Richard

Well,Smokin' is more in the heart of brisket country and probably has a little better feel.

If I am using something that puts on really heavy smoke,I like about 70%-80% oak with some flavor.

Cookshack doesn't have that problem on long cooks,so I like more than half pecan with something like apple and a little oak.

I have tried heavy cherry and gotten very dark brisket.

Jack's Old South,a top MIM team ,has been beating all our brisket cooks-using just peach.

I have a hunch its Myron's cooking ,not the wood.

Bodacious, they say that alder wood is good for salmon. But, maybe that's just because alder grows where salmon swim. I got some alder in the mail, but now salmon, of course. Very nice campfire odor to that smoke.

Smokin, my brother tells me the SouthernPride manufacturer says one wood, and one wood only for that big cooker: green blackjack oak. How 'bout that for being specific.
The greeness is to help it not burn up so fast.

Yep i2,but go outback of all those FL chains that use Southern Prides and look at the wrappings on the woodpile.

Soutern Hardwoods,which is a mixture.

Up here in the back woods there are dozens of little smoke shacks around. It seems that quite a bit of the fish smoked in this area is with sugar maple. It does give a nice flavor and not as strong as hickory.

I have tried numerous woods over the last few years and have generally settled on apple with my ribs, and occassionally a little cherry mixed in for the fun of it.

The one thing I have noticed is that every once and again someone will mention putting a corn cob in for smoking. I have never tried this and am curious what effect that has even though it is not a wood as per this discussion.

I agree with RPM. Most of the people I know drown their meat in sauce. Doing this does not allow you to taste the smoke. If you lightly sauce the meat, the flavor of the meat, including smoke flavor can be enjoyed.

Looks like your stirring the coals to ignite a controversy is falling flat, SmokinOkie. And nothing I can add will change that because I agree with you right down the line.

That said, I'll smoke with whatever seasoned hardwood I have on hand, but if given a preference I'll use hickory, oak, mesquite (sometimes)and alder for red meats and mixes of them with lighter woods for pork and chicken, and then alder, cherry and other fruitwoods for fish and seafood.

But in the end, good smoke is good smoke and they'll all do a nice job.

quote:

Yep i2,but go outback of all those FL chains that use Southern Prides and look at the wrappings on the woodpile.

Sooooooooo, that was Tom I saw sneaking out back to the woodshack. Gotta watch them ole Kentucky/Florida boys...

My brother went on and bought a whole palate of semi-green black-jack oak for the smoker.

wood blending is a tedious thing. density of wood chunks and greenness is key. balance of flavors depends on this. i use three flavors in different ways to achieve different effects. fruit, nut, and bold. although it would seem that the bold wood is dominant, its not always the case. sometimes i can mix one chunk of hickory in a pile of mesquite and still have a strong hickory smoke...depends of greenness of both. so its different each time i smoke. alternative method is to start out with bold flavor, follow up with nut, then polish with fruit. every slight change will make a difference. its just a matter of wether you can detect it or not. so.. for butts i like to start out with mesquite for an hour or two. then pack in some hickory for good nutty additive.
when the butt hits about 130 i crank it out with apple. nice combo....
mixing all three together at once is more tedious as you have to predict the strength of each chunk. you cant rely on weight alone.
wood should be a study coarse all by itself.......

Yeah it seems like a lot of these Florida boys use good ol' black jack oak...or red oak in some parts too.

PrestonD

Well, first of all, I ain't going to use no green wood. I like muscadine for fish, apple for pork, mesquite for beef, just a dab cherry or hickory for poultry, lots of oak and mesquite for deer. On big butt cooks, I usually use alot of everything mixed together and include some lump charcoal.

drbodkin: Corncobs seem to me to be pretty similar to light flavored woods like alder or birch. Judge for yourself, they're worth a try if there's a cornfield handy.

tjr, thanks for the information. I'll give one a try some time. Now I just have to remember not to use any from out by the little shed.

tjr - Could you please describe the corb cobs you use? Are they cooked first? Boiled? Roasted? Just curious.

Thanks...

I used cobs from field corn - the dried stuff used for animal feed, corn meal, corn syrup, etc. - so they were about the texture and dryness of balsa wood.

Bet you're thinking of sweet corn - the stuff people eat as a vegetable. Seems like somebody, Peartree maybe, described drying out cobs from sweet corn and using them.

Interesting note on corncobs: we visited My Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown, a really well-preserved house museum, yesterday. The smokehouse display explained that corncobs were often used to smoke hams in the 19th century and sort of hinted that it was a way to get rid of piles of corncobs from shelling corn, which would have gone on at the same time as hog butchering. Their smokehouse was about 10'x10' - that's a lot of ham.

tjr, I may be getting a little off topic here but,... Would corn cobs from the stuff hunters use to lure deer work? I mean it just field corn. Do you soak it in anything or use it dry as is? How many cobs do you use for a smoke, say 1 6# butt? Just curious. Always looking for something different.

Thanks!

Always remember, two brown cobs for wiping and a light colored one for checking.

Ya'll are bringing up memories from my childhood. Now I will have to go see my mental health counselor again.

Sure, deer corn, squirrel corn, any of that stuff. Even cobs from Indian corn or popcorn should work. I've not corncobbed a lot, so can't claim great expertise. Using my Smokette, I just put 'em in the woodbox dry after removing the kernels. Used the same weight of cobs as regular wood. They're light, so it takes a fair amount for a couple ounces.

I suspect you could also smoke with dry kernels, altho I've not tried it. People do burn shelled corn in their pellet furnaces with good results.

Just a thought on Q with Oak.
There is a lot difference in the amount of tannic acid, which is very bitter, in the different varities of acorns. Usually the bigger the acorn the less the amount of acid. Thats why deer perfer the white oak acorns over red. Also, Oak trees have such a varity of bark types. I would think one oak's smoke would be really different from another variety's??????

I like Mockernut Hickory.

One of my relatives in California on a recent visit brought me some Apricot chuncks from a tree that was trimmed,
She also brought some trimming from a
brown Fig tree , is the fig a wood that could be used for smoking in a smokette.??

quote:

Fig wood is weak and decays rapidly. The trunk often bears large nodal tumors, where branches have been shed or removed. The twigs are terete and pithy rather than woody. The sap contains copious milky latex that is irritating to human skin.

That buisness about the sap would give me pause. Whadaya think?

Fig Facts.

Thanks for the info I2BBQ.
I,ll try the apricot and throw the fig.
Thanks again.

OK, I finally have THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER (LOL). Yes, they definitely make a difference. I cook about 1 pork shoulder a week for my family, some who eat it for the first time.

I never tell them what wood I used. I ask them if they can guess. Some can, even with some of the lesser used woods ( like pecan and sassafrass, which most people in PA prpbably have never tried ).

Several people did not like my pork when done with cherry, including me.

I have tried pecan, sassafrass, apple, maple, oak, hickory, mesquite, pear, and a few others that I can't recall. Funny thing, with all of these "exotic" woods, by Pennsylvaia standards, the one I like best is good ol' hickory. And I hate mesquite. I can't ever imagine cooking with it again.

BTW, this is my 100th post, the most I have ever posted anywhere, any topic. A testament to good food and the good people found on these boards.

Funny, cherry is a common wood for pork, I use it all the time.

Key being what your family likes.

And congrats on the 100th post.

Haven't found much use for mesquite in smoking, either. Seems like its real purpose is for building a really hot fire for grilling.

Does sassafrass taste "special"? Like root beer? Or more like other woods?

Has anyone used wood from citrus trees such as orange, lemon, etc? Also, how about nut shells?

Though I've never used either, I've heard some people have with good results.

quote:

Originally posted by tjr:
[qb] Haven't found much use for mesquite in smoking, either. Seems like its real purpose is for building a really hot fire for grilling.

Does sassafrass taste "special"? Like root beer? Or more like other woods? [/qb]

No, not root beer LOL. It was nothing special as far I thought. So far my favorites are apple and hickory.

The citrus wood is mild and not real distinctive,to me.

Pecan shells will work well,if you are out of pecan.

Mesquite can be overpowering on most meats. It is a good smoke in it's place, used sparingly in a CS. It is good with brisket and especialy strong flavored wild meats. I think the best use for mesquite is over an open campfire with wild game on a spit. Generally, I think we should use strong smoke on strong flavored meats, and mild smoke on mild flavored meats. Hickory and cherry are alot the same and both strong smoke. Apple and pecan would be milder smokes.

Bodacious, I'm with you, I like Hickory better than anything else. It is all I use.

I have access to butternut and grapevines. The butternut is from a tree that died last year and was cut down two weeks ago. I saw on the web site that you can use grapevines, but it didn't explain how. Prunings from grapevines are about one-half inch in diameter with kind of a shaggy loose bark. Has anyone experience with these two kinds of wood. Also will prunings (three-quarter inch) from fruit trees work. Can I use them green or dried, with or without the bark.

Thanks for any and all help , Tom

By the way I guess I should say hello, as my name indicates I don't know squat about smoking. Just some basic ideas from trying to make pulled pork in conventional oven, with fresh ham. The results were not half bad. With a CS this is going to be a lot better. I took delivery of a CS 55 Friday. Tried to cook an eye of round, it was good, but I have done better. I think a CS will shine on meats that are not as lean. By the way the last post was No. 1 (my Cherry) I expect it will not be my last. I have been accessing the site for a few weeks, and found all to be very friendly and helpful. Looking forward to great eating.
Thanks,Tom

Welcome

Fruit tree prunings will work fine.

Dry would be better.

i2 and some folks use some grapevines,I believe.

Real mild and can't hurt anything.

Ribs cooked with oak were pretty strong. I prefer the pecan and maple which is easy to get for me. I haven't cooked a brisket yet but I will use oak when I do. Thanks for the interesting thread on woods. It helps me as an amateur quite a bit. al

yall killing me by bashing mesquite. i use it everyday and it is awesome! i do admit it is a wood to be reckoned with. but once mastered, it produces the best smoke flavored foods i ever had.