what kind of wood should i use

[Revolt]

hey guys i live in Portugal and i don't have easy access to cherry or oak
we have other types of wood available and i would love to know witch one you recommend

- instead of normal oak we have loads of cork oak (maybe its the same)
- Pine wood
- olive wood
- holly wood
- Eucalyptus wood

My wood smoker arrived yesterday it is already assembled and i can't cook with it without the proper wood please help!!

 

[kruizer]

Don't use pine. The resins will leave a very nasty flavor on your food. Olive or any other hard wood will work. You will have to experiment with small batches at first to find your favorite

 

[daveomak]

For flavor, I have heard "grape wood" gives good flavor... You'd have to add it to charcoal or something...

 

[Revolt]

No pine or eucalyptus for sure don't know about holly or olive but of the two I'd lean to olive.
How about old grape vines? If you can get those I've heard they're good to smoke with.

grape vines are a great idea we used to grill bbq with them and we always got a nice flavor from them thanks
i'll keep searching for cheery, apple and pear wood

 

[Hawging It]

NO PINE! Try the Olive I guess.

 

[smokerjim]

for the most part here in the usa if it has leaves we can use it, as always though i'm sure there is exceptions. as mentioned stay away from pine. maybe you could talk to some of the locals who bbq./smoke and see what they use.

 

[Revolt]

for the most part here in the usa if it has leaves we can use it, as always though i'm sure there is exceptions. as mentioned stay away from pine. maybe you could talk to some of the locals who bbq./smoke and see what they use.

we don't really have a BBQ community here :(

 

[smokerjim]

we don't really have a BBQ community here :(

you will when they start tasting your food,

 

[forktender]

Pretty much any type of fruit wood and citrus wood works well.
Prune, fig, apple, pear, cherry, plum, peach, you name it.

 

[dougmays]

Piggy backing on this thread...isnt there a "bad" type of Cherry tree that shouldn't be used in smokers?

 

[kmmamm]

Olive is a great wood for smoking most meats, maybe a little heavy for lighter proteins like fish and young fowl. Grape works well, but seemed to burn pretty fast as compared to hardwood. For lighter protein, see if you can locate some citrus wood, doesn’t really matter what kind, they are all good.