[gonefishin]

Hi all,


As usual, thanks so much for allowing me learn how little I know


I recently fell into a decent size cherry tree. I may get an opportunity to get a few more trees but I got to wondering what the rules were for picking trees for smoking wood.

I've heard that any fruit or nut tree is a good pick for using it's wood to smoke meat. But are there any exceptions? are there any other rules?

just to take the oak tree as an example. The oak tree can vary soooooo much in characteristics from each variety. Which will work? will they all work?

What about walnut? dark walnut. Peach trees? etc.

thanks,
dan

[Pete]

Most all hardwoods can be used for smoking, from what I know. There may be a couple of exceptions, but they would be rare. Of course, some are more sought after than others. The big thing is to stay away from softwoods, such as pines, firs, etc. Their tars and saps create nasty, off flavors. Of course there are even exceptions to this rule and I have heard of (but never tried) some older smoking techniques using these.

[phatch]

You want to let your cut wood cure for about a year before you smoke with it. Otherwise it's too green and can taste off. I've seen a lot of oak used, even the local scrub oak (quercus gambeli). The temperate fruit and nut woods should all be fine. Once you go tropical I have no idea.

I'm told a lot of the Jerk flavor comes from the allspice wood they often cook over but I've not had that experience yet.

[KYHeirloomer]

Any hardwood can be used for smoking. Some highly aromatic ones, such as mesquite, can actually flavor the foods. Most of the time this isn't so, however. The final flavor is a function of what brine (or dry rub) or other flavorings you use and the length of time the food spends in the smoke. The time-sequence of the smoke can also affect final flavor.

Many will argue that this isn't so. But I challenge them to take a blind taste test and then tell me which wood was used.

Your cherry wood is fine, as are all fruit woods. Hickory is traditional for smoked pork products. No reason not to use oak and other nut woods if you have a supply of them.

A less known source of great smoke is dried corn cobs. Another, seemingly little known approach, is to save the woody stems from herbaceous herbs such as rosemary, and drop them on the coals. Because they contain aromatic oils, they can add a unique flavor to the food.

[MaryB]

With a few exceptions any tree that has nuts or fruit can be used to smoke. Cherry is good but use it in small quantities because it can be over powering and will turn the food very dark. My favorites are oak, hickory, apple, and pear. Walnut is another that can be over powering. Best bet is to burn a bit and smell the smoke, if it smells powerful it will put that same smell/flavor into the food.

Do NOT soak the wood, all that does is create steam and possibly creosote that will stick to the food leaving a very nasty bitter taste. A small clean burning fire is better than a large smokey fire. In this picture look closely at the left end of the pit. The smoke is barely visible coming out of the door above the steam table pan of beansand this was about 2 hours into the cook.

[hippysandy]

Cherry can darken the color of the meat and give it a sweet flavor. You can also prefer to use Hickory. Hickory wood is popular for making barbecue.

[chrose]

Any thoughts on Maple? I picked up a bag and haven't used it yet, because frankly it seems like an odd wood to use for smoking.

[MikeLM]

Maple-smoked bacon, to mention one meat, is widely esteemed.

The best barbecue I have ever eaten, made by "Uncle Will" - a black guy with a roadside stand in a dubious neighborhood in Houston, is smoked, according to Will, over a mixed fire of pecan and white oak. His products - ribs, brisket, hot links, shoulder - are sensational. His sauce, though thoroughly competent, is hardly needed - it's entirely middle of the road; not real sweet or real spicy, and doesn't distract attention from the meats.

My son was so enchanted by this discovery of pecan that he smoked a family Thanksgiving turkey with lots of pecan. He took one bite and threw it away. He said "it tasted like a tree!" So take it easy, pecan-wise.

Alder is de rigeur for salmon in the Northwest, and available from Luhr Jensen & Sons in Hood River, Oregon. I got a case of 10 1-3/4 pound packages about five years ago, and am still going strong.

Mesquite is also available in chunks for grilling. (not from Oregon, though ) Mesquite is also exquisite for furniture, but not available in very big pieces, as it's a small, knarly tree.

I've read that traditional Vermont country hams are smoked over corncobs... never tried one. I'll stick with Missouri country hams and hickory.

Hoppy smokeeng! as Jacques might say.

Mike

[gonefishin]

Thanks all


Yeah, I'm wondering about maple as well. I've obviously seen maple smoked bacon...but what type of maple?


When I made the initial post I had left out that my inquiry was toward what woods will work well for smoking. But in the context of what trees would be good for smoking wood.

We do have some alder trees in our area, but I don't have any immediate access to them. I may be able to get a few more cherry trees, which I may be able to barter for some hickory logs from another guy. There are alot of red and white oak trees in the area too. I would imagine I should come across one of these in the future. When it comes to maple I would think that the harder maple like the crimson king, which keeps deep red leaves thru summer, would be better for smoking. Another option in the maple category would be the autumn blaze type, which has green leaves during summer turning to blaze orange/red in fall. These aren't as hard as the red leafed varieties but still much harder than silver maple and other soft maples.

thanks all!
dan

[Suzanne]

I've been playing with a stove-top smoker -- hot-smoking only, alas, but still pretty good for smoke cooking -- and have used alder (pretty traditional in the U.S. Pacific Northwest for salmon), pecan, oak, cherry, and still have to try maple, hickory, mesquite, corncobs (not wood, obviously, but usable for smoking as MikeLM points out; I suspect it will be on the sweet side), apple, and one more (sorry, I forget).

And according to a forthcoming book from the CIA, contrary to what KYH said upthread, any smoke does add flavor, provided the particles of smoke can cling to the surface of the food. Which is why the surface of the food should be dry, preferable with a pellicle (a skin formed by the drying of the brine or marinade). Anyway, that's what a chef-instructor at Culinary said.

[MaryB]

white and red oak are excellent BBQ smoking woods and really good for a steak over hardwood coals. I have 1/2 cord or so that I was using in the old BBQ pit.

[oldschool1982]

IMHPO So many woods are good.

Personally.......

I like a mix of Oak and Hickory maybe 60/40 respectively for most of my standard stuff.....Ribs, Brisket, Butt even veggies and cheeses. However and this is just personal preferance.....I started finishing things with apple. It really made a nice over-tone for the meats (pork) and the cheese. Not a big fan of apple with beef and for chicken I will go straight apple.

Pecan works well for some seafoods like scallops and salmon as well as some game birds like Pheasant. I have also done an apple/pecan mix for Pheasant.

Cherry is good, small amount of alder thrown into the mix with oak and hickory. Mesquite stands alone mainly for beef.

I have used maple in many cases....again in a mix wih a small amount of Oak (white). Black oak is great too.

Lamb I use strictly cedar and not in a hot or full smoke. Basically it's a half, cold smoke and then roast in the oven to Rare

[KYHeirloomer]

>And according to a forthcoming book from the CIA, contrary to what KYH said upthread, any smoke does add flavor, provided the particles of smoke can cling to the surface of the food.<

That's not quite what I said, Suzanne. Of course the smoke adds flavor, otherwise why bother?

What I said was that, with the exception of a very few aromatic woods, that the smoke flavor imparted is indistiguishable, one wood to another, if everything else is help constant.

I've been playing with smoke---both for smoke cooking and smoke curing--- for about 40 years and stand by my statement. I've met many people, professionals and just plain folks, who are very contentious about the choice of wood and how it flavors the food. In each case where I could convince them to take a blind taste test they could not tell which sample was cooked by which wood, because they tasted the same.

In short, as so often happens with culinary matters, conventional wisdom and in-the-mouth testing yield totally different conclusions.

The problem is, often, that different dishes are cooked using different woods. For instance, a lightly seasoned fish might be smoked with apple wood. Then a heavily spice-rubbed brisket is smoked using hickory. And the conclusion is that the radically different tastes are from the wood. But it's just not so. Or, in a similar vein, two dishes might be prepped the same, but one dish is lightly smoked, the other deep smoked. And, again, the type of wood is said to be the cause.

Another aspect is the age of the wood. Relatively green mesquite, alder, and the stems from herbacious herbs will add their flavors to the food as their aromatic oils volitize then recondense on the food. But even those woods, when well aged, contribute little if anything because their oils already have evaporated.

> Which is why the surface of the food should be dry, preferable with a pellicle (a skin formed by the drying of the brine or marinade).<

Absolutely correct. Without the pellicle you're pretty much spinning your wheels. Although there's more involved in the formation of a pellicle then just drying the brine or marinade.

It's also why dry rubs are so preferred over brines, nowadays. It takes considerably less time for the pellicle to form with a dry rub. If you're interested in why, I'll be happy to explain.

Still another aspect, btw, is the time-shedule of the smoking. Much has been made about how the food can only absorb X hours of smoke. Just this week one of the celebrity chefs made a big deal about there being no use smoking for more than two hours because that's all the smoke the meat he was making (a pork shoulder, for pulled pork) could absorb.

In one sense that's correct. At the start, two hours of smoking is about max (it varies, naturally, based on factors like the type of protein, seasoning used, strength of the pellicle, etc.). However, if you then let the food rest with no smoke for a half hour, then start smoking again, it will happily absorb more. The more you alternate smoke/no smoke on a 30 minute alternation the smokier the food will taste, and the deeper the smoke ring will extend into the food.

To be sure, scheduling of smoke is more a concern with smoke-curing than with smoke cooking. But it's another instance of "experts" making categorical statements that are not borne out by the facts.

[gonefishin]

Thanks all! I've got some good ideas of the trees I'll keep an eye open for

I'll keep my chainsaw sharp and fueled
dan

[jerkseasoning]

I hope this post is OK I have only joined recently, there was a lot to read in the answers to your question and admit have not read them all so this may already have been suggested, but my late father who owned a fresh fish shop in London here in England, smoked all of his own fish in a Smokehouse, and produced kippers, buckling, smoked cods roe, smoked sprats, smoked haddock etc. etc. and always used Oak dust, which was probably oak sawdust, hope this helps. iI once tried smoking using uncooked rice, and tea it was awful.