Types of wood for smoking

[MaryB]

Oak is king, a small clean burning fire with clear smoke(white billowing smoke is bad) imparts a sweet smoke flavor, hickory, fruit woods... be careful using random woods, some are poisonous! https://www.smokedbbqsource.com/smoking-wood-guide/

[MT Gianni]

Fresh I have used apple and alder, pecan, hickory and mesquite chips. I live in the pine forest and cook with it on an open grill in the woods but never considered using it at home.

[Bazoo]

Dang I got all kinds of cherry on the farm. Never smoked anything yet. Anyone ever use walnut? Got tones of that too. Is it better to use seasoned woods or green?

[reloader28]

Dry seasoned wood.

I lucked into about $1000 worth of cherry wood a couple years ago and love it. A lady needed 3 trees removed.
I also use apple, pecan, hickory, mesquite. Alder for fish. All of this we have to buy

I've used alotta cottonwood cause thats what we have here and its basically all I use for grilling. I've used pine for grilling when we camp and it works, but I prefer cottonwood.

[Nazgul]

I have always liked apple.

Got some crabapple from a neighbor last year, it works well. Light smoky flavor.

Don

[Bazoo]

I have use dogwood limbs for making coals and cooking hotdogs. Worked well and didn't give a thing weird as to flavoring.

I've always heard not to use pine or cedar or the like.

[David2011]

Pecan is the go-to for my offset smoker, mostly for beef and pork. Mesquite gives SWMBO a headache and makes her feel ill so I’ve had to stop using it. We’ve been living in an area of NM where trees are not a naturally occurring object so the choices were limited. The Texas forests will offer more variety. Got to buy it, though.

[dale2242]

Alder is my wood of choice...dale

[Wayne Smith]

Fruit wood for light meats -fish and chicken. Pecan, oak, hickory for pork and beef. Oak sawdust for my Amazin Smoker for cold smoke.

[PbHurler]

I use Alder when doing salmon. I use a mix of Pecan & Apple to do Cornish hens or chickens. Good old Hickory for pork.

[truckjohn]

I find most woods work well so long as you don't let the temperature drop down too low. They all let off really bitter and unpleasant flavors when they start going out....

One trick I started using and really now like is to smoke the wood over wood for an hour or two and then wrap it up in foil and finish it in a 300 degree oven. You get plenty of smoke flavor without the bitterness or overpowering smoke you get if you finish the meat all the way on wood.

[skeettx]

I use Apple for large trout, but here is the process.

Peal the bark off the branches, this removes the bitterness

Soak the cut branch wood overnight in a 5 gallon bucket filled with
water and a cinder block on top to hold the wood down.

[ol skool]

Mtn Mahogany and Alder.

[Nazgul]

I use Apple for large trout, but here is the process.

Peal the bark off the branches, this removes the bitterness

Soak the cut branch wood in a 5 gallon bucket filled with
water and a cinder block on top to hold the wood down.

Ditto, peel the bark.

Don

[JWFilips]

Peach is great with chicken! Pecan , well everything! Plum is another sweet smoke! Mulberry, apple and pear you can't go wrong!
For me Mesquite is just too harsh for any of our likings

[Tripplebeards]

I smoked some fish the other day and posted it here. It was the strongest smoke flavor I ever had...good strong! I used a pear tree that died. I believe the magic wasn’t the wood but the leaves I left on the pieces. I piled in a lot of wet leaves and my smoker smoked like no body’s business! I’ll be trying it again in the next couple days.


I believe wet leaves mixed in with wood is like unlocking Pandora’s box.

[MaryB]

I find most woods work well so long as you don't let the temperature drop down too low. They all let off really bitter and unpleasant flavors when they start going out....

One trick I started using and really now like is to smoke the wood over wood for an hour or two and then wrap it up in foil and finish it in a 300 degree oven. You get plenty of smoke flavor without the bitterness or overpowering smoke you get if you finish the meat all the way on wood.

The key to an all wood cook is no billowing white smoke! Thin blue smoke from a small hot fire is best. I used to cater BBQ and used only oak from start to finish.And the only time I used foil was to hold something until the rest was finished cooking!

Dry wood, otherwise it is a dirty fire.

[Dieselhorses]

Post oak doesn’t rob the flavor of meat. Hickory of course and pecan are my favorites.


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[firebyprolong]

This is gonna sound a bit off but I used a lot of Osage orange ( bodart) in my smoker. It can be a bit strong on beef but man does it work well on pork. Good flavor and it's everywhere here on the plains.

[skeettx]

Yes, but how do you cut the wood ?