Wild Cherry, Plum for the smoker . . . Best wood?

[TCLouis]

Any issues using either of these to provide the smoker.

What do you consider the best?

[TCFAN]

I have used a lot of wild cherry for chicken and turkey. Never tried Plum.........Terry

[Changeling]

Never used Cherry or Plum, I use Hickory and Apple mainly however that is what I was raised on so that is probably why I favor it so much.
A friend stopped by from Texas and brought me 100 lbs or so of Mesquite, looking forward to giving that a go.

[smokeywolf]

Pretty much all the nut woods and fruit woods are good for smoking.

Mesquite is my primary. Red oak for smoking beef. Hickory and Apple for pork. Cherry is good for smoking Turkey. Pecan is good for most anything. Never tried plum, but perhaps it would be good for lamb.

smokeywolf

[Toxie]

I use wild cherry all the time, its a good all around wood that you can mix with other types such as oak or hickory. The Plum I have never used but it should be a lot like apple or mulberry which I do use, a light wood that is good with chicken.

[Moonie]

My favorite is hickory, but I've used Mesquite, it is a very strong flavor, don't use for chicken or something thin like ribs, it'll over power the meat. I did use some Apple last weekend for a couple of pork tenderloins we did for mothers day, good stuff.

[smokeywolf]

I marinate chicken in italian dressing for a couple of hours, then smoke at 260* F over mesquite charcoal and hickory wood.

smokeywolf

[RickinTN]

I've not used the cherry or plum so can't comment there. Being from middle Tennessee I'm kind of a hickory kind of guy. I did discover a couple of years ago that some bradford pear mixed in with my hickory gives the meat a sweet flavor. I'm thinking most any fruit or nut tree should work well.
Rick

[4rdwhln]

I prefer to smoke fish with alder and cherry mixed.it works well with trout. I would think the plum would work well and could be mixed with other wood as well.

[MaryB]

Cherry and Plum can turn the meat really dark and be strong if not a clean burning fire. Smoldering wet fire is NOT good, smoke should be almost invisible blue.

[TXGunNut]

My brother likes pecan but I like hickory, oak and mesquite. Mesquite burns hot so I won't usually use it for slow smoked meats.

[Magana559]

I use peach/nectarine/plum and grape to smoke tri - tip almost every time. It's a very nice smoke flavor.

[dale2242]

Alder is a favorite here out west....dale

[Wayne Smith]

Plum is one of my favorites when I can get it. Like all woods, bark it first and I agree, you don't want a slow smoldering fire. I use what is available, right now that is about three cords of white oak, so I will be using a lot of that! I will be trading some of it with my best friend when he gets in some pecan.

[JWFilips]

I love Peach & Plum especially for chicken. Recently I got an interest in trying White Mulberry,..... I have it but haven't given it a try yet

[Changeling]

I have a ton of pecan wood that falls out of one of my pecan trees (northern pecan) after every storm with high winds. I keep saying I'm going to try it but havn't yet.
I use a Weber kettle grill for smoking and Weber genesis Silver for grilling. However I have been thinking about getting one of those "Egg" type smokers/cookers, I've seen what they can do and it's really great, but NOT for large smokes.

[sparky45]

Yes. As with all hardwoods, I remove the bark before cooking with it as the bark can impart a bitter taste. Hickory is my favorite.
Make sure it's well seasoned.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Cherry and Plum can turn the meat really dark and be strong if not a clean burning fire. Smoldering wet fire is NOT good, smoke should be almost invisible blue.
MaryB, I agree.

An old timer taught me this technique...and it's what I generally use, unless I'm up for experimenting.

For cooking with wood exclusively, I use Ash wood as the base fuel, as it has almost no flavor character to offer and burns fairly hot for a hardwood. I add sugar Maple wood at the end, especially for Pork, gives a sweetness to the smokiness whereas Hickory and Mesquite tend to be bitter. 15 minutes of heavy smoke from Sugar maple is about the Max I do, anything more will over powers most 'stout' meats, and lighter fair like Fish and chicken only need about 5 to 7 minutes of heavy smoke.

[bangerjim]

Try mesquite for catfish! You will think you died and went smoke heaven! The light flavor of the fish really soaks up the smoke on the grill. Do it skin down and do not turn. Cooks very fast and has a taste that will haunt you 'till it's gone.


I have used every hard & nut AMERICAN wood except oak and walnut. Oak smells (and tastes) like burning garbage and walnut can be toxic to some people (allergic reaction). I would also be leery of using any of those imported exotic woods from SA and overseas. They smell funny when you cut and turn in the shop and I would not want that flavor on my food! I work a lot of species of woods in my shop and use the scraps for smoking. I keep all my cherry veneer scraps also to use.

banger

[DougGuy]

I have a ton of pecan wood that falls out of one of my pecan trees (northern pecan) after every storm with high winds. I keep saying I'm going to try it but havn't yet.
I use a Weber kettle grill for smoking and Weber genesis Silver for grilling. However I have been thinking about getting one of those "Egg" type smokers/cookers, I've seen what they can do and it's really great, but NOT for large smokes.

Changeling, get a Traeger! Best of all possible cooking methods. These will cook in wind, which charcoal burns up and cooks too hot, they come up to temps right away which the egg takes a good long while to get hot all the way through, they don't dry food like electric or gas does, they cook evenly from middle to ends which other grills will not do, you can choose hickory, apple, pecan, alder, cherry pellets, cookinpellets.com sells his "perfect mix" pellets which I use along with straight hickory.

Just about every positive advantage that each kind of BBQ cooking has, be it gas, electric, infared, charcoal, the Traeger has all of those, all wrapped into the same grill..

[chsparkman]

I have a ton of pecan wood that falls out of one of my pecan trees (northern pecan) after every storm with high winds. I keep saying I'm going to try it but havn't yet.
I use a Weber kettle grill for smoking and Weber genesis Silver for grilling. However I have been thinking about getting one of those "Egg" type smokers/cookers, I've seen what they can do and it's really great, but NOT for large smokes.

Pecan is our favorite for everything. Go ahead and try it it's awesome!

[Char-Gar]

Every South Texas brushpopper knows you only cook and smoke with mesquite. It that is to strong for a wimp, but it half and half with good dry pecan.

[MaryB]

Some oaks are not good for smoking, white and red oak though are like a milder hickory with a deeper flavor profile. But like I said above, it has to be a small clean burning fire when using all wood, or use small enough pieces on a charcoal or gas fire to burn clean and not smolder. When I had oak clean burning it smelled sweet, almost like maple syrup.

All smoking woods should only be seasoned for a year. Past that they can develop off flavors that affect the food.


Try mesquite for catfish! You will think you died and went smoke heaven! The light flavor of the fish really soaks up the smoke on the grill. Do it skin down and do not turn. Cooks very fast and has a taste that will haunt you 'till it's gone.


I have used every hard & nut AMERICAN wood except oak and walnut. Oak smells (and tastes) like burning garbage and walnut can be toxic to some people (allergic reaction). I would also be leery of using any of those imported exotic woods from SA and overseas. They smell funny when you cut and turn in the shop and I would not want that flavor on my food! I work a lot of species of woods in my shop and use the scraps for smoking. I keep all my cherry veneer scraps also to use.

banger

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

All smoking woods should only be seasoned for a year. Past that they can develop off flavors that affect the food.
Seems Like I am always agreeing with you MaryB...

Last Fall I got a couple of Sugar Maple stumps from the City. They cut them real close to the ground, so there was the "flare" on them, that makes them real difficult to split for firewood. One of them were quite wavy, would have been good for pistol stocks. Last week, I cut them with a chainsaw so they were only about 5" thick, then split them small for cooking wood. when split that size, it's doesn't take real long for then to get dry enough to use, they'll sit in the sun/rain for a month, then after a Dry spell, they will go into a couple trashcans that I specifically use for cooking wood. I have been out of maple wood for about a year and have been using applewood, This batch will probably last me about 2 years. It's tough to find sugar Maple.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Smokingwood_zps785d8ad6.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Smokingwood_zps785d8ad6.jpg.html)