eucalyptus chips

I love the smell of Eucalpsis but I'm not sure if I would like the smoke of it in my food. Perhaps you can enlighten us as per your technique?

same as any wood.
dry, in broken down form. some blokes just get a campfire smouldering. fair dinkum, this stuff is really good. as you here are all cooks of sorts, trying something new should be interesting to you. i hope you all don't have the attitude that "if it aint from the ol US of A it aint worth a damn". that would be really sad.

there was a bloke on the tele the other day (i was told about it i didnt see it) and he has won huge export markets in asia, as he is using some type of eucalypt to smoke fish with. asians are discerning people, espessially where money is concerned. and they don't care if it comes from the "good ol US of A" or not.

i think it is an OPPORTUNITY for some of you to try it.

just like the yanks exported our macadamia nuts and now you are the biggest growers , producers and exporters in the world, maybe as this would be a new thing , an accidental secret, and may prove to be popular?

all im saying is give it a try. im not trying to attract bad jokes.

Since the wood isn't readily available it's not really easy to try, but maybe someone will find a source and try it.

Me, I actually tried it when I lived in Oz since I had to use local woods. Ended up using charcoal for fire as I couldn't find a wood I really liked (but I didn't have but a short time to try a few different ones).

Too me, it was a light almost imperceptible flavor. It also give the food a very strong "smell". Smelled good burning, but not good on the food, that smell overpowered.

If it works for you great. You're just like us, using the local woods. Just happens that we have a large variety of local woods. Pecan grows in my backyard and it's also my favorite.

dundee,
maybe I am thinking of the wrong wood.The only tree I have actually seen (in person) was a friends' in Florida.It had those branches with the small round leaves that are dried out,colored and used for fragrance like incense is... it is almost mentholated.That is why I used the menthol rub analogy. There are some sweet gums over here and in OK.I don't know if that is in the Gum family as your trees are or not. We have pecan in the yard too.But I think the smell Smokin' mentioned is what I am foreseeing.I am not afraid to try anything and I don't think anyone on here has the only if its from the US attitude when it comes to food.Can't speak as to on any other subject..LOL I guess we need a Botanist's opinion and research to find out. Kathy

i wouldn't be afraid to try any australian native eucalypt. we call them gum trees. weather they are an actual gum or not i dont know.

goannas are australias big lizzards. iguanas are simmilar but from south america. you would think that goanna is an aboriginal word. you'd be wrong. it is the shortening and twisting of the word iguana.

perhaps gum tree is a slang. because at first we had no other word for them. just like the goannas!

My question is, have you tried it.. and with what kind of meat? We have a plague of eucs here in Calif, originally imported from Oz as a fast growing source for pulp. Lt is like a weed here. But, they imported he wrong species. Very pungent.

I'd think it too strong for chicken or pork.. maybe ok to try on a cheap cut of beef.

i have smoked litterally thousands of trout with just sawdust from a sawmill. i didn't know what combination of species went into the mix but it worked great. all the sawdust was from a bush mill cutting eucalypt (gum) only. i used some iron bark some months ago before i got the cs and its supply of hickory , beech, and oak (a novelty) for some veges, and they turned out fine. as i said before. blackbutt was and is a favourite for hams and bacon in oz. you must remember that the vast majority of smoked food in oz is done with our native timbers. i havent heard too many tourists complain about the tucker here!! i have used brush box which IS really pungent and found that by using a lesser ammount it was great. i guarantee that any gum youve got there will do a satisfactory job. i think it will be a great addition to your variety of smoking timbers . the exciting bit for me is that you are all so experienced that youll find the best application for it. like i said, i was using gum blends from a mill and didn't know exactly what i was using most times but it is such good stuff it doesnt matter. i have always thought that which woods are best for smoking is a bit of a "beat up". i could lay 10 different plates of ham out all smoked with different timber and no one would know which timber was used for what ham , or even tell that they were smoked with different wood. eucalypt is great for smoking. the hardest part is getting someone to try it.

Heck, if it's good with trout, oughta be good with yardbirds. I'm willing to try.. but, I'll definitely start with only an ounce of wood.

youre a pioneer smokenque.
forward hoooooo!


sorry, but i watched too many john wayne movies and read too many louis la'mours!

Heck, anything's worth a try ONCE
Only Euc we have here, except for the kind you buy for landscaping in the yard is Eucalyptus globulus

eucalyptus globulus.
its victorian eurabbie.
ask any victorian and theyll tell you victorian is best. (eg; shane warne.)


however the wood will be ok for smoking.

Hahaha, the vics think they're the best footy players too, but we've had two consecutive years with NO Victorian clubs in the AFL Grand Final!!!!

Too bad the Eagles lost, but Sydney was due, cuz they haven't won the premiership for 78 years.

Cheers,

Micah

VB stands for Victorian Best right

Real aussie for Beer!

has anyone tried smoking with eucalypt yet?

Well, I hiked up my shorts and tried it. Rubbed a yardbird with Pappy's and smoked it at 250�F for 2 hours w/ 2 oz of branch wood. I finished it on the grill. It was good.. just a hint of what I expected from the wood. Wife liked it too.

I had expected it to have very pungent overtones as one would expect from the oils.. but barely a hint of it. I think I'll try it again.. but, this time I'll simply rub it with olive oil and use salt and pepper. That way, I'll get a better idea of flavors that are imparted by the wood.

Thanks for the idea.. I'da never thought of using Euc.