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I have read that Mesquite is a very strong smoking wood. Is there any meat that is good with mesquite or should I toss my mesquite samples from Cookshack and stick with Hickory?

I am almost finished with my first brisket in my 08 (13 pound brisket almost 22 hours at 225 now with target of 190 for internal temp). That suckers puts out a ton of grease. What is the best way to dispose of the grease? Should I call out the hazmat team? Smiler

thanks!
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exit stage left Smiler For the last 5 years or so I have been inter changing mesquite and hickory. Whatever was available. To be honest I would have to taste both side by side to see what kind of difference there is. They are both strong. I have only recently started using apple and cherry. I'm still learning. As far as your question keep the mesquite. Most of the negatives comments I have seen where dealing with seafood.
I used mesquite once on brisket and it was bitter so I have stuck with other woods. Now I must admit that my only source of mesquite is the big sacks they sell at Home Depot. Those pieces do seem to have a lot of bark and I definately agree it could be low quality. I used the rest of it in my Weber kettle where it is not such a closed system and that seems to work well.
When smoking started people used local woods. They learned which ones they liked and worked from there. In today's world you can get almost anything from anywhere for a price. My best advice would be to experiment with all of your woods. Maybe 1 oz of mesquite will give you a comparable flavor to 2~3 oz of hickory. That doesn't mean mesquite is bad. Just use less. Keep and open mind, have fun and enjoy.

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