Need More Smoke Flavor for Turkey and Chicken

Man that just don't sound right !

Most complain their poultry is too smoky. I have the 008 and I get too much smoke on whole birds using just 1 ounce of apple or cherry. I am wondering if your oak is way too dry. Are you using chips or chunks ?

As far as dry goes, are you brining ? Slathering with mayonnaise ?

Oak is often called "the Queen of smoking woods".

It is used by steakhouses,as a light mellow smoke.

It is often used as the 70% of wood blend that provides the heat source.

It is used to round out/mellow some flavor woods.

The nut woods,or fruit woods,would provide the actual flavor.

As GLH says,since your Cookshack uses such a small amount of wood,and burns so efficiently,you may want to skip the oak and go straight to a flavor wood.

In the Southeast,hickory would be found in almost every smokehouse,for meats and poultry.

A couple ounces should give you all the smoke you desire.

Hope this helps a little.

Go with a lower temp, longer.

Vary the wood as you may just be used to the taste of the one type.

If you're starting with 6 oz, add more later in the smoke also.

If you go skinless, use the cheesecloth soak method from Turkey 101.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Go with a lower temp, longer.

Vary the wood as you may just be used to the taste of the one type.

If you're starting with 6 oz, add more later in the smoke also.

If you go skinless, use the cheesecloth soak method from Turkey 101.

You may very well be right about being used to the taste. However, I do vary the wood some. some. Some days its oak some days cherry, etc. Whatever I grab first from the woodpile.
Also, I always brine all poultry whether cooking in the 009 or the kitchen range. But in the end I think it is just me.

I think I got your huckleberry. Make sure you dry the chicken ifn you are brining it, then put it in the smoker. EG: Pat dry w/paper towels, then let sit @ room temperature for 10 minutes. Then put in smoker. Jamey

I'm not a big fan of having my raw chickies in room temp if I can help it. So, when I dry after brining I put them on a wire rack in a tray at the bottom of the fridge after patting with a paper towel.

Not trying to be a peckerhead. Just giving another way.

I started having a similar problem with ribs. Over time, they started losing the smoke flavor, even when I increased the amount of wood. This was with hickory, which isnt a real mild wood. I bought a new bag and the flavor is back. Im not sure if wood can get "too" dry or what, but after trying everythiing else I could think of, this did the trick.

Just a thougt.

You're on the right track! I use kiln dryed wood quite a bit to keep the smoke flavor down on some delecate meats.

Funny thing though. The lack of water will cause the wood to ignite sometimes. Especially if you preheat and open the door to put the meat in. Well, this screws with your temps for just a bit, but at times i'll give ya a smaoke ring due to the wood actually burning. However it will also scare the p!ss out of ya if you're standing nearby and it causes one of the famous "pops/whooshes".

Even with our excitement of wanting to cook everything,when we get our new smoker,a small cookshack just doesn't use much wood.

We often find ourselves using up the sample box,with our newfound enthusiasm.

We then scour the box stores for a couple different 20 lb bags of chunks.

We then have neighbors give us samples of several varieties that we want to try.

If the wood was a couple,three years old, when we got it,a couple years later it has dried a lot more,maybe developed some mold/mildew,etc.

Wood is CHEAP,and certainly worth the investment to throw some out and keep the best on hand.

Heating your home,or burning in an ornamental fireplace,you can utilize most things that will burn.

We might all think about tossing out old wood,and committing another HUGE $20-$30 in a fresh supply,when we look at the small dollar investment it is to most of us,in the overall cooking process.

Just a thought.