Can you tell the difference?

[gypsyseagod]

yer there chris. yeah mossy- yer on mine too- plus ya got some serious cooking friends on yer site.

 

[jethro]

I love mesquite but use it sparingly as it will overpower if used too heavily. I think my favorite is pecan but getting harder to find at a decent price, my all around mainstay is definetly mesquite

 

[ron50]

I think it's a very individual thing plus it depends on what you are smoking.
I love hickory and hickory and apple mixed for pork, and hickory and cherry mixed for birds.

I just bought a bunch of pecan after reading that it was like a "hickory lite" but to my taste it's much much milder then hickory. It is fun to experiment though.

 

[gypsyseagod]

mesquite takes some knowhow to use right.you can over do it easily, being from texas i also love our 3 native oaks(post,live,& scrub- thats red & white for ya non natives- also live oak can get a "virus"- moldy bark- don't use that- greenish bark ), pecan is great but can be overdone too. it's a simple thing that (not sounding like a know it all)i hope helps.... the darker & harder the wood.... maybe pre-burn & just add the coals... yer still getting smoke & (more importantly)taste...

 

[alaskatoy]

I know the thread is aging, but, has anyone tried almond? Thanks.

 

[ba_loko]

Yeah, I've had an almond before.

J/K! I haven't smoked with it, but I'd try it if it were available.

To me, wood pairing with meat is no different than pairing wines with meats when they reach the table. It DOES matter to the pallete.

 

[roger]

Even though I live in S. Louisiana I was born and raised in Texas. I still like to use mesquite for my brisket. Now living where I live I have access to many types of oak along with hickory and pecan. I've never had a chance to use any fruit wood to smoke with but hickory has always worked well with pork and oak has worked quite well poultry.

 

[zapper]

Yes, you can usually tell the difference between smoking woods. All it takes is a couple of samples and you are on your way to becoming a wood smoke conosuire (SP)

One of the best ways is to over smoke something and get a really strong taste of the wood one time, and then for some reason the taste will be eaiser to recogonize the next time. Juuuuuuuuust kidding. Well sort of, I mean don't do it on purpose that is.


I like to run with Hickory, I don't know why, I just do. Maybe it is kind of the "East of the River Mainstay" Alot of stuff is hickory smoked, so it seems that Hickory is kind of the defacto standard. However it seems that Mesquite is also a standard in another region. Funny though, most regions will tend to use what they have.


A comparison chart may be in order, but it will take a trained palate to describe consistantly the flavors of each wood. And it also is true that some meats do better with specific woods.


I use Hickory for the base smoke description when I talk of other smokes, like saying that Pecan is Hickory Lite or that Oak is Hickory bitter. I think that Mesquite is sometimes Hickory and dust and alot of the fruit woods seem to be Hickory and water, however I swear that I can almost taste apple fruit with apple wood (go figure) I have had Maple go from a very mild smoke all of the way to a very bitter smoke. You just never know 100% what will happen with any given wood or condition

 

[bigarm's smokin]

Hey Chris, sorry,I just saw this. I don't have a myspace ID. I just saw your profile today though, I had too smile more than once.

Terry