smokin hardwoods

[jballs918]

well guys i just got me a smoker, heres my issue. i live in las vegas so omg if i look for wood. i kow it will end up costing me a small fortune. well i was wondering since we have poeple from all over the country if maybe i could start getting a running list of folks that can get there hands on some of the woods im looking for. i figure you can stuff a good chunk of smokin woods in the big flat pack. im paying 5 bucks for a bag of hickory and or mesquite. i could only what alder and the sweet woods would go for. so if you can help me just by dropping a line on this on what you have available maybe you can help me out or someone else also. thanks guys i look forward to seeing what i can come up with.

jason

[Pepe Ray]

jballs918;
Two summers ago I worked for a new, family owned co. that produced just what you want "Maine Cooking Woods". They had 5 species(at the time)apple,cherry,cedah,maple &--?-?--. Alder was not in because it would be so labor intensive to harvest and it was not a by-product of any other industry. It came in 3 forms, chips,blocks and planks. The business was boomin' while I was there. Big restaurant chains, hotels, even filled a shipping container to Saudi Arabia. And you are correct, It was NOT cheap.
Pepe Ray

[Scrounger]

They probably have hardwoods in St. George, Utah; I know they have apple trees. That's a nice Sunday drive for the family, go up there and get some wood. 'Course, the price of gas being what it is, it's probably cheaper to buy it and ship it in.

[jballs918]

thanks for the tip. we wanted to go to utah, there is a cracker barrel u pthere also so now that is just fuel for the fire lol

[Pepe Ray]

Here's the addy. lots more info.

http://www.mainegrillingwoods.com

Pepe Ray

[DLCTEX]

I will be cutting some cherry trees this summer, if that would help. Dale

[felix]

I think Cherry should be avoided because of some questionable (poisonous) pickups. The wood of choice would be Apple for a sweet wood. ... felix

[pumpguy]

I have found cherry, hickory and white oak pallets that I have smoked with. Just make sure they are clean and grease free. Do not leave the nails in them either. Some of them are galvanized and would ruin a good piece of meat.

[jballs918]

actually i would love some peach wood to try to see what i can do with that

[cobbmtmac]

jason,

I have used a variety of smoking wood in a variety of Q's. for longer than most. The last several years I have been using gas with oven type cover. I put my wood in a small flat SS steal pan (any kind of small pan will work). I preheat the wood while preheating the "Q", it then lights very quickly, let it burn a minute or two. Then spray it with water and you maybe cooking with gas, but you also will have plenty of SMOKE[smilie=1:

Recently one of my sons had tried some Wine Barrel Staves and gave me an excellent report. Being old and stubburn and already knowing the best possible combinations of wood, it was hard for me to listen, cause I didn't want to change.

He paid big bucks for the pieces of staves he purchased, but knowing I live in Wine Country thought I could find a bargin for both of us (of course). Well dad shopped around with at first not much success. I looked on the internet finding a small bundle for I think around $10.00, then they wanted about that much to ship it. Then the bright idea came!!!:-D!!! I knew I could buy half wine barrels on sale at the local Nursery for around $12.50, which one of them should make alot of wood. Well while looking a Great Gal at one of the local winery's gave me an old whole barrel. You can't beat FREE, especially when you have not tried Wine Barrel Staves.

Great success, more smoke and quicker lighting than any wood I have ever used and Great Tasting too!!! I use a small sprinkling of hickory etc. in my pan, place 2-3 small pieces of WBS's in the pan until the Q is heated, then lay them out on the open grill if they have not already caught fire, they will catch right away , let them get going , then place them on your pan and spray with water and you are Cooking!!!

My suggesstion for anyone that would like to try them, buy a half barrel from K-Mart Nursery or any other Nursery. I cut my whole barrel staves in half twice making each piece about 8 to 9 inches long then split each piece 2-4 times, the staves seem to be about 1.5 to 3.5 inches wide. My one barrel almost filled a 50 gal garbage can. Have FUN:drinks:

[medic44]

jballs I'm cutting down an old apple tree. pm me and I will ship to you for cost.
medic44

[BigSlick]

Depending upon what you're going to smoke, I can get you some mesquite and good hickory.

Mellow either with a little well seasoned oak and you'll have a fine result.

Mesquite burns hotter than most hardwood, but is exceptionally nice with bird and short ribs.

All wood, low and slow, no boil, no foil turns out perfect everytime as long as the wind and weather cooperate.

Peach will give you a nice result provided you make sure it is bone dry before you start
________
Public Flashing (http://www.****tube.com/categories/933/flashing/videos/1)

[Scrounger]

Mesquite? It's everywhere here, you can buy it cheap or cut it and haul it off for nothing. A year ago I could have given you three or four trees myself but they're gone now. Mesquite in Nevada is no problem...

[jballs918]

ok i got another idea from the guy talking about barrels. what about the garden planters is this a bad i idea. i can get them from a nursey for under 20 bucks and i would think that would last some time. or is this a bad idea

[jballs918]

you know maybe i should read a little more lol

[Scrounger]

Garden planters would be made from new wood, there would be not 'marinates' from it. That you would want anyway, preservatives and insecticides and that sort of thing would be there. And paint or stain. I'm sure there are places that markets oils and essences from all these woods that you can por over your pine to get the tiny bit of flavor we're talking about here. Heck, they even incorporate it in barbecue sauce.

[jballs918]

hey what does this mean marinates, i have never heard that before

[MT Gianni]

ok i got another idea from the guy talking about barrels. what about the garden planters is this a bad i idea. i can get them from a nursey for under 20 bucks and i would think that would last some time. or is this a bad idea

If it is pine the pitch will flavor the meat so the dogs won't even eat it. Gianni

[BigSlick]

Pine has too much resin in it, it will creosote the meat and make it taste terrible.

Go with a seasoned hardwood or use lump charcoal, just about anything works, just avoid the Cowboy brand. Royal Oak and Kingsford are both pretty good
________
BMW 340 HISTORY (http://www.bmw-tech.org/wiki/BMW_340)

[cobbmtmac]

The Wine Barrels I spoke of are made of OAK. By the time they are ready to dicard, they are very seasoned wood and also have a lot of dry wine residue.
I don't think the Wine Industry uses any other kind of wood barrels.

[Boz330]

I live in the Bourbon capital of the world and you can get Bourbon barrels everywhere. I bet that would add a nice flavor. Might have to try that this weekend.

Bob

[tommag]

I live in the Bourbon capital of the world and you can get Bourbon barrels everywhere. I bet that would add a nice flavor. Might have to try that this weekend.

Bob

I bet that would be good! My brother got a bunch of them and put 2 gallons of water in each and rolled them around for a week. Don't recall if there was an appreciable amount of alcohol in it, but it tasted like weak Canadian whiskey.

[Boz330]

WHEW!!!! Sticker shock. I checked on barrels at Jballs request this weekend and boy have they gotten expensive, $30 a piece. Used to be folks around here would burn them for fire wood in the winter. Apparently there is a demand for them overseas to use a second time for making Scotch Wiskey. The last time I bought some they were about $5.
I had heard of putting water in them and leaving them sit, but I would think that the alcohol would be the first thing to evaporate. They loose some of the liquid to evaporation even during the aging process. When you walk into the warehouse you can smell the alcohol and there is no open flame allowed.
Back in the early 90s 7 warehouses caught fire and the flames were visable 35 miles away.

Bob

[jballs918]

boz 30 dallars a piece is not bad, considering that on the net that 10 lbs of that stuff runs about 20 bucks plus shipping well thanks for looking

[mooman76]

Too bad I didn't know sooner. I just took out a good portion of my mosquite tree!

[44woody]

Jason if you are still in the market for some smoking wood I will send you some oak but you will have to pay the postage on it pm me back if you want some :castmine: 44Woody

[mooman76]

Jason,

It's been awhile but the BX used to cary several kinds of smoking hardwoods and the price wasn't too bad. Like $5 for a 5 or 10 lb bag. I think walmart does too but maybe not around here!

[Scrounger]

JBALLS318, I was in Vegas yesterday and the 99 Cent Store on Spring Mountain has bags of both Hickory and Mesquite chips for.....99 Cents! Had lunch at Arizona Charlie's on Decatur north of Charleston. They have the best rack of ribs I've ever eaten for $7.77, with Cole Slaw and Barbecued Beans. Twenty years ago I could probably have finished it but now there's enough left to bring home for dinner. I always plan to eat there or at Jason's Deli whenever I'm over that way. Foodwise, Pahrump is the pits! I usually cook rather than eat out anywhere here.

[ReAX222]

We do a thing called Cracker Day every year, the part I participate in is the cooking. We cook 3500-4000 lbs of beef in around 16 hours and burn through a 40' equipment trailer, loaded from both sides 6' high, of black jack oak. It makes some great meat. Salt and pepper with the proper heat is all beef needs.

[MT Gianni]

We do a thing called Cracker Day every year, the part I participate in is the cooking. We cook 3500-4000 lbs of beef in around 16 hours and burn through a 40' equipment trailer, loaded from both sides 6' high, of black jack oak. It makes some great meat. Salt and pepper with the proper heat is all beef needs.

How about some more info? Do you bury it in a pit? Grill with coals? On a spit? Enquiring minds want to know. Gianni.

[ReAX222]

We have a rack where we burn it into coals. About every hour we add two shovel fulls of coals to each running grille. The grilles are 16'x4' and we have four of them running. The meat is about 35 lbs a chunk and have to be turned every 30 minutes.

We light the fire off around 6pm and heat the grilles with charcoal. From 6-7 we are salt and peppering the beef. Then around 10am the following morning we start pulling the done pieces off and slicing them. We slice from 10am to 5pm. After 24hours of flipping, heating and slicing, following 8 hours of work it's a long day.

[Lucky Joe]

I'm surrounded with Sugar Maples. Anybody ever used these for smoking meat.

Thanks

[leadladen]

Have you ever tried whiskey barrels? Ibaught my son a 1/2 Jim Beam barrel for his birthday last fall from the local nursery. Never crossed my mind to try it for smokin,,but it sure did smell GOOD. Might buy myself one for my birthday. If I try it I'll let ya know

[jawjaboy]

Y'all come and get it, it's yours! Honest. I don't need it. With 20+ pecan trees on the place, this gets old. Smoke some mighty fine carcass it will ! ;-)

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/jawjaboy/IM000376.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/jawjaboy/IM000377.jpg

[BigSlick]

Good mix on the sizes too.

If I was within drivin distance I would take all of it. Good pecan is hard to find around here. It's for sale, but most people around here wouldn't know how to properly season smokin wood with directions. Always got a little mold in it. I won't use it, even if it was free.
________
Body Science (http://bodyscience.ws/)

[kellyj00]

mold on your smokin wood isn't going to hurt anything. if you have anything that's especially bad looking, use it to heat the bbq before you add the meat.

About those garden planters, see if they're oak. If they are, then you've got yourself some very nice smoking wood as they've been used to make either wine or whiskey. I can't imagine anyone going to the cost and trouble to make a barrel out of oak to sell it for $20 as a garden decoration, they are probably used if they are oak.

Also an option, you could move. I was in vegas for about a week in May, the total lack of vegetation is displeasing and unappealing to me. Right now, they're the foreclosure capital of the world so something's up out there.

[badgeredd]

I just happened onto this thread. Has anyone tried crab apple wood for smoking? I have to prune some trees at my folks place next time I am there and it just occured to me that the wood may be good for smoking.

Edd

[roadwarrior307]

I was just looking through the recipes thread and I ended up here. If I'm using any wood with my grill, do I soak the wood in water first? I have a gas grill, so I don't know how to use real wood with it to get a real wood flavor.

[Suo Gan]

Hands down best is pecan! These can be argued over though, red oak, mesquite, white oak, apple. But pecan is the king of smoking woods! For a quick intense smoky flavor try almond. Not an all day smoke, but good for a little bit extra flavor.

[rockrat]

I am sure Bass Pro there in Vegas has bags of wood to use for smoking. Check out a Big 5 or similar sporting goods store and see if they have grills/supplies. I prefer either apple, or a mix of hickory with a little mesquite added.

[sundog]

Fruit woods are nice once in a while. My favorite is good ole home grown PECAN.

[EMC45]

I have a pecan tree in the back yard and have just brought a bunch of limbs to the ditch for pick up. I know they can be used to smoke. It had to go though. Next time I will fire it up.

[carpetman]

I think the $100 chips used at the casino in Vegas are hardwood. Throw a pile of them in the grill and light and you'll be good to go.

[azcoyhunter]

I personally love Juniper

It makes great coals, and tastes really good.

If you want some let me know
Ill send it for cost.

[Wayne Smith]

I just gave my tree guy a list. Pecan, Hickory, Plum or Apple. We'll see what he finds.

[7br]

I have pretty good luck with mulberry recently. Really good flavor. Seems like we are cutting a ton of them down trying to clean up Dad's place.

[Changeling]

I think Cherry should be avoided because of some questionable (poisonous) pickups. The wood of choice would be Apple for a sweet wood. ... felix

I have a cord of apple that was dried in my barn, it's about 5 years old and totally clean. Is this worth much?

[felix]

Southeast area, mainly, like MS,AL,GA, where it is used for pork, especially for the fattier cuts. Pecan is the best for general purpose beef, though, in those areas as well. ... felix

[1874Sharps]

I must say that South Texas mesquite wood works quite well!

[Dale in Louisiana]

We used sassafras when I was young. It gives the meat a red coloring. Tastes quite good.

Dale in Louisiana

[jnovotny]

I really like osage orange, hedge to you guys that don't know. Mulberry also works quite well. Any fruit wood will do a fine job of smokeing and yes soak the smokeing wood before you use it. Even in a gas grill, that too will work to "smoke" with. Never had any trouble with cherry wood, use it alot.

[flounderman]

maple will work and hickory. you do not want green wood and better off without the bark.

[Lee]

"osage orange" Would that perhaps also be known as "monkey balls" trees??? At least here in Ohio I think that is what they call them........Lee

[Caveape]

Never tried if for grillin, but Osage Orange has several other names:
-Hedge apple: The pioneers would plant these trees close together and they would grow into thick, bushy rows to contain livestock. Its short 3/4 to 1" thorns were in many cases more effective than barbed wire.
-Horse apple
-mock orange
-Bois d'arc: "bodark" (in Oklahoma and Texas):redneck: Heck yeah!
-bow wood: similar to above.....The wood makes EXCELLENT long/recurve bows as well as having a beautiful rich grain. It's my favorite wood.......Hmmmmm, I might just have to make a rifle stock out of it someday.:idea: Has anyone already beat me to it? PM me if so.

Now back on track............

I grew up using hickory or apple for smokin wood. Nice mild flavor.
As I've gotten older, I have gotten a preference for stronger flavors. Since I've been in Texas all I've used is mesquite wood on a wood grill. I use the dead wood for the heat and then throw on green leafy limbs for a smoke so thick, you can't see the meat on the grill.
The best brisket I've ever had was cooked up this way. No BBQ place could ever compare.
In fact, I've taken the mesquite leaves, minced them up and added them to my marinades. Talk about BOLD FLAVOR!

Call me crazy, but I love the flavor!
If there's any concerns about how I grill with mesquite that I'm ignorant of, please let me know.

[jnovotny]

Caveape I'll trade you sum hedge for sum mesquite, how much can you stick in a flat rate box?

[milsurp mike]

I have tried it all and Pecan is without a dought the best wood for Smoking meat.Here in the South it is everywhere.If you like good sweet smoke flavor it is the way to go.Mike