What do y'all think about oak?

[mountainhawg]

I use only a few small chunks of oak as a secondary flavor to either cherry or especially apple. I've tried straight oak, oak and pecan, and oak and hickory and felt the flavor was a tad to strong although not as strong as straight hickory. 

 

[steadyeddie]

That's what I like about oak. It has a strong flavor but it has never seemed like overkill. Pecan is probably one of my other favorites but is a touch smoother. Living in the South, it's what people burn in their fireplaces and I love that smell. Never tried maple but I bet that's a good hardwood.

 

[cliffcarter]

Sweet, red oak it is. I can cut all I can hull. Its nice to live in the country and have the opportunity to get all the free wood you want. In the last month I've cut a ton of apple, shagbark hickory, and hard maple.

If you have apple, hickory and maple you don't need the oak IMHO.

In the past I have always differentiated between northern red oak and southern red oak as the 2 "red oaks" used outside California. Recent research into local tree names indicates that "red oak" is a common name for at least six different eastern species of oak which further complicates which tree everyone is talking about when they cite BBQing with "red oak". I do not believe all these trees have the same smoke flavor profile, indeed I will not use northern red oak(the dominant oak species in Maine) because it takes so long to season properly, and if you don't the smoke has a nasty sour smell when the wood is burned. JM2C.

 

[nickyb]

I love red oak and I normally mix it with hickory.  Other times I get pecan wood and that also has great flavor.  I get all the different varieties from a local wood yard in Pace.

 

[garand555]

I regularly use Gamble's Oak. Those in my geographic region commonly refer to it as scrub oak because most trees are not that big. But, I have a chainsaw and it gets big enough. I really like it. I have a reasonable amount that is cured, and the stuff that should be cured by now isn't quite ready because of this blasted cold snap we've been through. It was 4.6f at my house when I woke up this morning, a temperature that does not lend itself to the curing of wood. It needs to be cured very well as smoke that looks just fine from some of the bone dry stuff we get out here will leave hints of creosote if the wood is merely cured well enough to burn easily. Mixing the two (cured vs marginally cured), however, eliminates that and provides a very robust flavor that I like.

 

[splitshot]

I regularly use Gamble's Oak. Those in my geographic region commonly refer to it as scrub oak because most trees are not that big. But, I have a chainsaw and it gets big enough. I really like it. I have a reasonable amount that is cured, and the stuff that should be cured by now isn't quite ready because of this blasted cold snap we've been through. It was 4.6f at my house when I woke up this morning, a temperature that does not lend itself to the curing of wood. It needs to be cured very well as smoke that looks just fine from some of the bone dry stuff we get out here will leave hints of creosote if the wood is merely cured well enough to burn easily. Mixing the two (cured vs marginally cured), however, eliminates that and provides a very robust flavor that I like.

You must cut above 7,000' and we dropped to 9, brrr.

Here in Southern Az, I have sources for 5 species of Oak, one of which is in the 'black' (or red) family, and the rest in the white family.

I would suspect, as someone posted earlier in this thread, that the species might have a lot more to do with the quality of smoking than the color of wood. Guess I need to get experimenting.

 

[norbs]

This is norbs, oak is a slow cooking wood, medium heat, cant stick to much in the fire or you can over heat, I used to use alot os Mesquite a hot wood, easy to keep the tempature at a steady number, start off with it and then put some oak in it after a while, or just use the mesquite, if you want the mesquite to smoke alot you have to soak it in water, in time you will figure out how and what type of woods to use, Ps i am the one they stole the 14 ft smoker from,i have 30 plus years experience smoking meat,good luck with my tips

 

[woodcutter]

This is norbs, oak is a slow cooking wood, medium heat, cant stick to much in the fire or you can over heat, I used to use alot os Mesquite a hot wood, easy to keep the tempature at a steady number, start off with it and then put some oak in it after a while, or just use the mesquite, if you want the mesquite to smoke alot you have to soak it in water, in time you will figure out how and what type of woods to use, Ps i am the one they stole the 14 ft smoker from,i have 30 plus years experience smoking meat,good luck with my tips

I have often wondered, did you ever have any luck finding it?

 

[rubrchickenhead]

I found some red wine barrel oak chips at the store and they produced wonderful smelling smoke and great tasting tri-tip. I wish I could find chunks of the stuff instead, but if you get a chance to use red wine barrel oak, go for it! 

 

[vtmecheng]

I got some oak chunks from a distillery in Virginia.  The wood is cut up pieces of used barrels and they don't let the wood dry out so it's still soaked with whiskey when you buy the bag.  While I don't notice any whiskey flavors in the meat, the oak provides a nice flavor for my pork butts.  The wood I get from this distillery is better quality (more solid) than what most stores carry for smoking.  Chunks last a lot longer and provide a steady smoke.

 

[mneeley490]

I found some red wine barrel oak chips at the store and they produced wonderful smelling smoke and great tasting tri-tip. I wish I could find chunks of the stuff instead, but if you get a chance to use red wine barrel oak, go for it! 

Check places like craigslist for used wine or whiskey barrels. Not the ones you see at Home Despot for planters, but the real McCoy that was made to produce wine/whiskey. Or if you live near a winery, see if they are getting rid of any old barrels. You may be able to find one for a reasonable price. Then pop the cooperage rings and cut up the staves into chunks. That's what I use for beef in my electric fridge conversion, and the wine-infused oak makes for some heavenly meat!