I totally botched up a perfectly good meal

[SecondHandSmoker]

I thought the chunk was small enough but on chicken breast I guess not. I’ll follow your advice and make it considerably smaller and work my way up, eventually. Thanks for the good advice.

You're welcome. Definitely don't give up on pecan just yet.

 

[Hijack73]

Dang Sven, that's tough. I've never used any kind of wood that I couldn't stand afterwards. Even mesquite (probably my least favorite) is ok in moderation. Is it possible the pecan was contaminated in some way? You might want to do a really good burn off in the pit just in case. Pecan on beef/pork is one of the least hard hitting imo, lighter even than a white or post oak, but I'm not experienced with it on chicken.

 

[uncle eddie]

Bummer about the meal. Thanks for posting. Lesson learned - Wild Bay Leaf = potent stuff

I like pecan a lot. It is like a "muted" hickory to me and hard to use too much...but I always use it on pork and beef and have not tried it on poultry before. Thans for the heads-up on that.

 

[civilsmoker]

I cook a lot with cherry and pecan. Cherry is my absolute favorite wood to cook with but it likes to burn clean so smaller splits and make sure they light. Pecan is more sensitive so 2 inch split or smaller so they light fast. The Volume of your cooker is really small so very little actual wood need for flavor (so only a 1/4 of that chunk at a time).

The oil on the greens collected the smoke (cold oil is a magnet), sear them without the oil then toss with hot flavored/seasoned oil after. Will be perfect that way.

It looked good and honestly just a slight change in execution will take it were you wanted for sure!

edit,

Oh when searing steaks over fire stick to dry spices the green burn bitter bitter. SPOG is the go to. Add the green herbs just as they finish but don't cook them. Most high end steaks only sear with S&P then finish in a butter pan with fresh herbs for flavor.

 

[one eyed jack]

Hey Sven,

Sorry to here of your discouraging results. There is an up side; You didn't turn any of your chow into charcoal.

I have used Pecan successfully. Smoking Edge is correct about smoldering wood causing problems, but your coal bed looks pretty hot, to me.

The seasoning trouble happens to most of us eventually. Somethings just have to be gone through to be learned. I've never been much good at book learning, unfortunately, so I am still attending the school of hard knocks.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Last second I knew the fresh leaf was risky so I only used one. I should have used 1/3 or less. But next time I’m not using it at all. I was really hungry for those potatoes, too. Next time, I guess.

Yup, scrap that bay leaf and double check the air flow on the cooker. Should get a clean burn with TBS. This goes for all woods. I love beef over mesquite, but it must be clean TBS or it gets way strong otherwise it’s one of my favorite woods. I only mentioned mesquite because it’s one of the strongest smoke flavors. Demonstrating that even then it’s controllable if burning clean and TBS. Pecan is my favorite go to, used to be apple but pecan is the queen in my opinion just keep the burn clean with plenty of air flow and don’t block the exhaust, run it wide open.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I cook a lot with cherry and pecan. Cherry is my absolute favorite wood to cook with but it likes to burn clean so smaller splits and make sure they light. Pecan is more sensitive so 2 inch split or smaller so they light fast. The Volume of your cooker is really small so very little actual wood need for flavor (so only a 1/4 of that chunk at a time).

The oil on the greens collected the smoke (cold oil is a magnet), sear them without the oil then toss with hot flavored/seasoned oil after. Will be perfect that way.

It looked good and honestly just a slight change in execution will take it were you wanted for sure!

edit,

Oh when searing steaks over fire stick to dry spices the green burn bitter bitter. SPOG is the go to. Add the green herbs just as they finish but don't cook them. Most high end steaks only sear with S&P then finish in a butter pan with fresh herbs for flavor.

Thanks so much. That’s all great advice. I didn’t think about the oil in that way but it makes a lot of sense. The steaks were great other than I like mine rare. But the smoke on them was just fine. I will dial back the pecan on my next batch.