Pecan and Hickory combo

Pecan is nice but much milder than hickory so the hickory might take over. If your doing beef and butts, I would go with hickory/oak, cherry/hickory or maybe apple/oak if you have it. Pecan/cherry is nice too.

quote:

Originally posted by iowahawks77:
Was gonna make some brisket and porkbuts and wanted to throw in at the same time.

Has anyone used Hickory and pecan for flavor? Does that work ?


Anyone else have any other ideas of good wood combos?

Thanks

I never mix fruit woods with hickory. If you like the bold 'ham-i-ness' that Hickory lends, go with Hickory. If you like the flavor Oak imparts, go with oak. If you want a fruit wood, go with a pure fruit wood (all cherry, all pecan, all apple, etc.). It takes a lot to impart fruit wood taste, but when done well, it's magic. Brisket and Pork are big meats, and only the exterior gets 'smoked' flavor and then pulled or sliced. So you want as much smoke flavor as you can (unlike chicken, which needs very little). For shoulders and brisket, we always use Hickory to get the most bang for the butt (pun intended).

For smaller meats like ribs, they can really take on the flavor a fruit wood such as cherry or hickory.
We've done apple and cherry ribs, and they definitely took on the flavor. However, most folks commented 'they good', but wanted that rich Hickory flavor.

If you do decide to use a fruit wood for flavor, and a bold wood like hickory or oak to add more 'smokiness', you may want to consider 80% of the fruit wood, and 20% of oak/hickory.

I know folks who mix like 40% oak, 40% Hickory, 20% Pecan. I will say that I could absolutely not detect that pecan was used.

Just sharing, your mileage and experience may vary.
Rick

When I mix woods, my flavor buds aren't suffisticated enough to pick up each of the distinct flavors. If I mix pecan and hickory, I notice a flavor milder than hickory and stronger than pecan. Since pecan tastes like a milder form of hickory, you'll still pick up the hickory flavoring in that combination.

quote:

Originally posted by astronorick:

quote:

Originally posted by iowahawks77:
Was gonna make some brisket and porkbuts and wanted to throw in at the same time.

Has anyone used Hickory and pecan for flavor? Does that work ?


Anyone else have any other ideas of good wood combos?

Thanks

I never mix fruit woods with hickory.

Just sharing, your mileage and experience may vary.
Rick

I use a lot of cherry blended with other woods. Cherry imparts a red color that the others don't. 100% cherry pellets have a lower BTU and are more likely to smolder out.