Wood for Smoking

[Thomas Andrews]

Greetings!

Are there any dos and don'ts when collecting your own wood to use for smoking ie which type trees to avoid and can you use the wood straight away or shoukd it be seasoned before usage?

Many thanks.

[1buckie]

Howdy Thomas & welcome here !!!!

Mostly, for the home cooker, you will want to find fruit tree woods (good for chicken, pork, fish & lighter fare) also nut tree woods are good & relatively lightly flavored..........
 
And perhaps oak, hickory or heavier hardwoods for beef & sometimes pork.....

freshly cut, it's best to split it open & allow to air dry for 6 months +

Some people will use freshly cut woods, but it's tricky & wet wood like that can produce a bitter taste in the food if not burned correctly............

Woods to avoid would be pine or most real sappy type stuff like that, quite often these are sold for firewood, but might not be good for cooking......
Also, good to avoid anything moldy, or if the mold can be easily cut away to dry wood you're OK...............

Don't know what area you're in precisely, but usually a map of common woods can be found for almost any area in the world......

[Thomas Andrews]

Thank you for the warm welcome, buckie!

I have a few apple trees in the garden so I'm going to see how they smoke my ribs after reading your comments. It's going to have to be fresh wood but it'll be interesting to see the taste difference from shop bought wood.

I would usually put big chunks of wood in dry and soak the smaller chips in water before placing them on the charcoal. I think I'll place it on the coals without any soaking as there will probably (almost definitely! ) be some moisture in the wood.

Thank you again for your detailed reply, buckie.

[1buckie]

"I would usually put big chunks of wood in dry and soak the smaller chips in water before placing them on the charcoal."

that's basically best.....I don't soak anything larger than shred (large sawdust) as it just makes the fire work harder to burn off the moisture before doing what it would anyway.....burn.....you don't really need to "see" smoke for it to be flavoring the food....as long as it's heated, be it full flame, a quickly smoldering burn or nearing charcoal stage still at a high heat.....what you don't want is a sluggish, slowly puffing smolder.....too much creosote will build up  in the cooker & on the food......

Thinner flow of smoke :



Blocks for a big piece / long smoke :




Here's an interesting read on wood for smoking & BBQ :

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking/wood

and :

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/barbecue

[1buckie]

Oh, had another possible thought, if you'd like to try it out.....

maybe just "bake" the fresh wood on the cooking grate first, then use it the next time around for cooking....that would take the moisture down quite a bit, sort of like speed curing the pieces.....I've never done that, but have thought about it & seen some people heat or "oven" cure wood like that......like kiln drying........

[Thomas Andrews]

This is great. Thank you again, buckie.

I've barely scratched the surface of the knowledge of wood for smoking!

[1buckie]

You bet, Thomas.....

Where I learned a lot was from reading & listening to the people that run the large offset smokers.....a small, hot, clean burning fire is what to aim for.....we're using charcoal as the main fuel, but a lot of the logic still applies..............

[mirkwood]

Hi Thomas, go grab a copy of this guy's smoke wood chart Smoking Flavor Chart it has a ton of info in it and welcome to the WKC. Food and Kettle Pron is always encouraged here..

[1buckie]

That's a great one Lance !!!


talks about what not to use down near the bottom, too............

[Thomas Andrews]

Much obliged, mirkwood!

I enjoyed the whiskey barrel description:

"Whiskey Barrel: Made from whiskey barrels - Nice!"

That chart makes it pretty clear on what to and what not to use.

One question though, Weber wood, like Cherry, Hickory and the rest, I've bought and used never has any bark from the wood on it. Therefore, is smoking bark from the wood inadvisable?

[1buckie]

General rule of thumb :

If the bark is dry enough to knock off easily, knock it off....if not, burn it !!!!


Usually best if you can set things up so the wood burns first & the bark last, but don't fret over it too much......

[rivercityjeff]

Mesquite is a local Texas favorite for grilling and smoking. 

However, "Green" Mesquite can quickly over power the meat.  You can get a strong acidic flavored meat.     Not sure your mesquite is dry?  Cut it to one inch thickness or less and grill it for several hours.  The grocery store bags of mesquite are generally very dry.