what wood do you use to smoke?

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

I use apple, pecan, oak, hickory, mesquite, maple, charcoal, cherry.
sometimes blends of those and sometimes just a single variety , just like to try different methods.

I do the same. I have six of those you mentioned, I think I'm lacking maple. Since I use a WSM, I just need to keep one bag each of hardwood chunks from the big box stores on hand--it doesn't take up a lot of space.

I seem to go through apple, pecan and cherry the fastest, mesquite I use quite sparingly.

 

[CTXSmokeLover]

Post oak almost exclusively, with some mesquite on occasion

 

[Murdy]

I mostly use Pecan, seems to me to be a milder version of Hickory. I like Hickory too.

 

[fltsfshr]

I am also a cherry & pecan fan. My favorite hands down when I can get it is pimenta wood. It grows locally and whenever a tree trimmer I know gets it he brings it to me.

 

[tallbm]

so... what wood does everyone use to smoke with - pellets, sticks, chunks, whatever... i've done some extensive reading online and everyone seems to like hickory, but i can't stand the smell of it when its burning or the taste it imparts to the meat. am i just weird?

Hi there and welcome!

I use pellets, my smoker is a highly modified MES40 with a PID controller.
Pellets allow me to mix/match, etc. and pair whatever wood I want with whatever food goes best with the wood flavor. This is a huge perk I get to enjoy because flavor is everything!

I enjoy hickory but not nearly in the amounts most people use it. I basically don't go over 65% Hickory in anything with the exception of doing 100% Hickory bacon.
I find that 100% Hickory on other food makes it tasted kind of like Bacon to me. If I'm making ribs, chicken, beef, etc. I want those flavors. If I want bacon flavor I'll smoke and eat bacon lol.

After lots of tinkering, here are my wood meat pairings for the best flavors I have made:

• General go-to when not sure what to use - 65% Hickory and then Equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Favorite Mid Strength Flavor - 100% Maple pellets, not a fan of Oak because it's used way too much on everything in my area
• Beef - 100% Mesquite pellets. Hands down, mesquite flavor with beef is the best meat/wood combo of all meat/wood combos out there!
• Chicken or Turkey - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Pork - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Most Sausage - 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets
• Bologna or Pastrami - 100% Maple
• Bacon - my fave is 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets. HOWEVER I will do 100% Hickory on this one item if wanting pure hickory bacon
• Salmon - 100% Alder pellets
• Meatloaf - 25% Alder 75% Mesquite (I am using up an old bag of Alder/Mesquite blend pellets and I add more Mesquite)

Pecan wood pellets is one that I don't really care for. They are soo weak for some reason. I don't really use them on anything but may just blend them into stuff to get rid of the 40 pounds I have lol.
I have tried them plenty of ways but never find them to be better than anything else above.

As you can see I have lots of options and combos. I have really enjoyed figuring out wood and meat combos. I still pick up and try wood pellets every now and again but usually when I run low on another bag or blend that I am trying to get rid off. For example I have a bag that is a blend of Charcoal and Oak pellets and it's ok on the pork ribs I used but didn't wow me either.

Looking forward to trying Plumb and Almond wood pellets because I can get them locally. I just need to move thorugh about 40 pounds of pellets before I can add those to my collection hahaha.

I hope this info helps :)

 

[jcam222]

I use fruit wood 99% of the time. I have a ton of cherry, apple and pear right now. Frankly I see very little flavor difference in those vs oak. Now if you venture into hickory or mesquite for sure I can tell. I am planning a load of hickory soon.

 

[SmokyMose]

I'm pretty simple. Hickory for pork or poultry. Mesquite (or Oak if I have any to fit the firebox) for beef.

 

[MadMax281]

Mini splits of White & Red Oak.

 

[1MoreFord]

Back when I had a stick burner I mostly used Oak of any sort. Burned some Hickory and Mesquite too. Also tried a little Pecan with my Akorn.

Now that I have a pellet grill it's LumberJack Hickory mostly.

 

[netspyder]

Hi there and welcome!

I use pellets, my smoker is a highly modified MES40 with a PID controller.
Pellets allow me to mix/match, etc. and pair whatever wood I want with whatever food goes best with the wood flavor. This is a huge perk I get to enjoy because flavor is everything!

I enjoy hickory but not nearly in the amounts most people use it. I basically don't go over 65% Hickory in anything with the exception of doing 100% Hickory bacon.
I find that 100% Hickory on other food makes it tasted kind of like Bacon to me. If I'm making ribs, chicken, beef, etc. I want those flavors. If I want bacon flavor I'll smoke and eat bacon lol.

After lots of tinkering, here are my wood meat pairings for the best flavors I have made:

• General go-to when not sure what to use - 65% Hickory and then Equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Favorite Mid Strength Flavor - 100% Maple pellets, not a fan of Oak because it's used way too much on everything in my area
• Beef - 100% Mesquite pellets. Hands down, mesquite flavor with beef is the best meat/wood combo of all meat/wood combos out there!
• Chicken or Turkey - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Pork - 65% Hickory, equal parts Maple and Cherry pellets
• Most Sausage - 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets
• Bologna or Pastrami - 100% Maple
• Bacon - my fave is 75% Apple, 25% Hickory pellets. HOWEVER I will do 100% Hickory on this one item if wanting pure hickory bacon
• Salmon - 100% Alder pellets
• Meatloaf - 25% Alder 75% Mesquite (I am using up an old bag of Alder/Mesquite blend pellets and I add more Mesquite)

Pecan wood pellets is one that I don't really care for. They are soo weak for some reason. I don't really use them on anything but may just blend them into stuff to get rid of the 40 pounds I have lol.
I have tried them plenty of ways but never find them to be better than anything else above.

As you can see I have lots of options and combos. I have really enjoyed figuring out wood and meat combos. I still pick up and try wood pellets every now and again but usually when I run low on another bag or blend that I am trying to get rid off. For example I have a bag that is a blend of Charcoal and Oak pellets and it's ok on the pork ribs I used but didn't wow me either.

Looking forward to trying Plumb and Almond wood pellets because I can get them locally. I just need to move thorugh about 40 pounds of pellets before I can add those to my collection hahaha.

I hope this info helps :)

this is awesome! i never thought to use maple, i guess mostly because back in the 90's i bought some "maple syrup bacon" and it literally smelled like maple syrup in the house for weeks, and now when i see the word 'maple' it just brings back those memories. i did 25lbs of pastrami with mesquite/cherry in november, and everyone liked it - i just handed off a frozen pack to a friend, and am waiting to hear how it aged in the freezer - but the smoke flavor was very 'in your face'. not overpowering the coriander, but imo it could've been a bit more background.

 

[netspyder]

I like hickory for Back bacon , Mostly mesquite for most meats,
or mesquite and Hickory together
will add in or only cherry or Black cherry for some great colour
If smoking desserts I will use fruit woods

But that is what I have played with so far

David

smoking desserts? i'm intrigued! what kind of desserts do you smoke?

 

[JckDanls 07]

smoking desserts? i'm intrigued! what kind of desserts do you smoke?

Probably find one you like here >> https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forums/desserts.121/

 

[DRKsmoking]

smoking desserts? i'm intrigued! what kind of desserts do you smoke?

Hi netspyder
I have done a few desserts in the smoker
Pecan Pie thanks to the help from Jake TNJAKE , i have also done bacon cheese pineapple donuts, strawberry cake and the strawberry sauce also in the smoker, Toffee Apple cake, etc

Smoked Toffee Apple Cake

Smoked Toffee Apple Cake So we were invited to MIL for supper , as a pay back for all the meals at our place and to send off the SIL to here Florida home MIL said don't bring anything , but I can't do that so I brought dessert. I did not tell them I smoked it and they ate and said it was great...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

" LET THEM EAT CAKE " Smoked Strawberry Cake and 2 kinds of chicken and corn on the cob ( lots of pics )

Smoked Strawberry Cake with meal of Pineapple Jerk chicken and Sweet Baby Rays chicken and Peaches and Cream corn The cake is the star and everything but the Cool Whip was done in the smoker, yes the cake also Start with your basic white cake, normally I would put into a 9 x 13 pan , but I...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Do a search in the search button in the right upper corner for some desserts done by others also


David

 

[pushok2018]

My preferred wood for smoking is oak, cherry, apple, pecan and maple.... Sometimes I use alder...

 

[Bigtank]

Cherry and Apple for most everything.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Depends. I cook on a WSM and an offset. On the offset I'm limited to what types of wood I can get locally. That usually falls into pecan or oak. The oak is just whatever the tree services happen to cut down, no usually a specific species like post oak. I really love both, but I'd say I use pecan the most often. On the WSM, I get a little more experimental. I've ordered wood from Fruitawood and I'll use apple, peach and cherry on pork. On beef I stick to oak and pecan. I do like hickory as well, but it's extremely rare that I get it.

 

[tallbm]

this is awesome! i never thought to use maple, i guess mostly because back in the 90's i bought some "maple syrup bacon" and it literally smelled like maple syrup in the house for weeks, and now when i see the word 'maple' it just brings back those memories. i did 25lbs of pastrami with mesquite/cherry in november, and everyone liked it - i just handed off a frozen pack to a friend, and am waiting to hear how it aged in the freezer - but the smoke flavor was very 'in your face'. not overpowering the coriander, but imo it could've been a bit more background.

Glad you found the info helpful!

Yeah, I like Maple quite a bit. In my researching for various sandwich meats I've made it always seems that Maple is the original or most common used.

Also I really liked the Maple flavor when I had first started trying to find Mesquite pellets and the Louisiana Grills brand did like 30% Mesquite but the rest was Maple. I really liked the Maple flavor and explored from there as I also continued to look for 100% Mesquite.

Glad I discovered how much I like it and Maple quickly became my replacement for anything/everything Oak is used on.

 

[fltsfshr]

Here's a cherry & starfruit pie smoked with peach wood.

 

[netspyder]

Here's a cherry & starfruit pie smoked with peach wood.View attachment 654791View attachment 654792View attachment 654793View attachment 654866

... and... now i'm going to have to smoke a pie.

 

[DRKsmoking]

... and... now i'm going to have to smoke a pie.

For sure and post up a picture or 2 . Good luck and happy eating

David