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Best Type of Wood for Smoking?

K

kc5hwb

Guest
I got a new grill about a week ago and have cooked on it every night since then, almost. Last night I did my first smoking and I have some quesitons. I have grilled for a long time and am very familiar with grilling, but smoking I am not.

Here is what I did and if you can give my pointers, I would appreciate it.

I took a brisket and soaked it overnight the nigth before in some marinade. I started the fire in the smoker at 6pm Fri night and smoked it for about 8 hours, until 2am. I used 2 bags of small wood pieces that I got at the grocery store. The instructions on that bag said to NOT soak the wood, but to light it, let it burn till black, then put it out and let the smoking commence. I did this the first few times, but found that the fire in the wood would go out after 30-45 min or so. So eventually I started soaking the wood and lighting it, letting it burn down to small flames, then shutting the fire box and letting it go.

The meat tunred out very well, nice flavor, perhaps just a bit tough, but briskets are a bit tough anyway. I took it off the grill when it was a nice 150 degrees and soaked all the way thru.

My main question is about the wood I used. Hickory was the type, but should I get better quality wood? Should I get green wood? soak the wood? buy it somewhere in larger logs that will burn longer?

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Hickory is widely used for smoking because it's plentiful and thus cheap. Better woods would be apple wood, and apricot wood. You can find these online, but a local orchard wood be better since they may give it to you for taking it away.

If you're cooking for a long time, get bigger chunks instead of those little chips. The chips are for people cooking on barbecue for a short period.

There's a place called the Sausage Maker that sells professional equipment for preserving foods with smoke and they may have some other tips for you on their site. I've ordered sausage making supplies from them. I found them through the Frugal Gourmet series, before the Frugal Gourmet got in trouble and vanished.
 
These aren't chips that I used. There were chunks of wood, about 4x4x4 inches are larger. What I wanted to know was if I should be using larger logs, about the size of fireplace firewood, maybe chopped down a bit and soaked. These chunks that I used said not to soak them....but I did anyway after I burned a few of them up real quicklly.
 
When they said not to soak them, maybe they were the type of chunks used to grill on instead of using charcoal. I've bought those kind in the past to bbq on.

For smoking, you definitely want to soak the wood because you want it to smoke and smolder instead of burning. Even with something more substantial like logs would need to be soaked. I've used green wood for exactly this reason. It's naturally wet so it will smoke instead of burn.

This is assuming you have another source of heat to cook the food.
 
Perhaps these were for cooking instead of smoking, I am not sure. It works fine to use them, I just had to babysit them the entire time to make sure they kept going.

The smoke doesn't cook the food? Or is it just not warm enough if you burn green wood?
 
Oh yes, apple wood, how could I forget. Apple wood smoked bacon is so delicious. I should add that to the list of woods to use when we smoke.
 
Yea, I am gonna have to get some apple wood for sure. I really didn't even think about that. I wa stuck on Hickory and Mesquite. ;)
 
Acacia similar but not as heavy as mesquite.

Alder gives a mild, sweet taste; good for fish, pork, chicken.

Almond is sweet; good for anything.

Apple gives a fruity flavor; good for chicken and pork; can be used with mesquite when smoking ribs.

Ash is good for red meats and fish.

Birch is close to maple; good for chicken and pork.

Cherry give a mild fruity flavor; good for pork, beef or chicken.

Crabapple is similar to apple.

Grapevines are tart - good for most meats.

Hickory for pork, ham and beef.

Lilac is light; good for seafood or lamb.

Mesquite gives a smoky flavor; use dried wood - green wood can give a bitter taste to your meat.

Mulberry is sweet - similar to apple.

Oak give a heavy some flavor; red oak gives a sweet flavor; white oak burns longer.

Pear is similar to apple; good with chicken and pork.

Pecan is very sweet and is best used mixed with hickory or mesquite.

Walnut has a heavy smoke flavor; should be mixed with almond, apple or pear to prevent bitterness.
 
Never smoked food with walnut, but we burned it once in our woodstove. It produced alot of coals and burned hot. Definitely would soak this wood. This is eastern walnut, and not the variety grown in California that produces the chopped walnuts we put in our cookies.
 
So do most of you use dried out wood that you soak in water first, or do you use green wood?
 
I wouldn't call myself an expert in wood smoking but I'd use green wood for smoking if I had access to it. I've had good success using green hickory limbs as smoking fuel when I've gone camping. My thinking is that the water is already in the wood, and is throughout the wood, so the wood will smoke longer without burning.
 
I've heard several others say that as well. I am going to have to check some places locally to see where I can get some.
 
I like Hickory myself. I dont use green often (though I have in the past). I normally just let the chips soak in water for a while then add them a little at a time...since they tend to burn up over time.
 
How long do you soak them? We've struggled with how long is appropriate.

I guess several hours wouldn't be out of line, the better to make sure they don't burn up before your food is done.
 
Just rinse and then soak in water for at least an hour and up to a day - the longer the better. You can use a camping cooler for the large planks and weigh it down with a pot of water. You can also soak in other water-based liquids, apple cider, white wine, etc. depending on the recipe and the meat or fish you will be cooking - just for added flavor. Then brush the smooth side of the plank with a bit of olive oil so that your foods won't stick. Add your food(s) and place over medium-high heat on a covered grill which has been pre-heated.


If you are using your oven for plank cooking, be sure to soak your plank for at least an hour. Place it in a roasting pan to soak. Be sure to keep at least 1/4 inch of liquid in the pan at all times and baste with the drippings for a great flavor.
 
We weren't talking about cooking planks, we were talking about wood to smoke with, but still this is a very good idea. Thanks for sharing.

I think that I would soak the wood for 1-2 hours if I used old wood, but I want to try to find some green wood somewhere that I can buy for this type of cooking. There are several BBQ shops in my area.
 
Lol....well, growing up in the country, we had LOTS of mesquite trees. I would just cut off some branches. Now, I just buy the chips in the store and soak them for a few hours.
 
I have a cousin that runs a shop that makes and sells a delicious smoked Polish kielbasa in a small town in Pennsylvania and they smoke with hickory because it's so readily available.
 
I have to say hickory is my first choice, just based on the flavor.

However, with its being summer we plan on trying a lot of new woods to experiment with new tastes.
 
I've cooked chicken a couple times on a plank of cedar wood. The plank is a smooth flat piece of wood almost like a cedar shingle, except it's smooth. It takes a little longer to cook usining the plank when compared with straight cooking on the grill. What makes this great is that while cooking on the plank,the top gets hot like a pan, and the bottom burns and produces smoke. The final result is amazingly tasty. This really is well suited for chicken that needs to cook for some period of time.
 
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