? for those that cook with wood.

walkin jack

walkin jack

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Due to a stroke of luck I now have a medium size Arizona Ash tree cut and stacked in my back yard. It's still green so I need to let is season till next year if I'm gonna cook with it.

But I can't say I've ever heard of anyone cooking with ash. Do any of you use it for smoking meats. If so can you describe the flavor in 5 words or less.

Or should I just save it for the fireplace/chiminea? I'm interested in all opinions and comments. Thanks!!
 
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I can't answer any of your questions but your post brought back some great memories. All my life before the age of 16, we had a wood cook stove. It was nice in the winter to help heat our house but when Mom went to canning in the summer it was a lot like Hell in there. I was the wood cutter/splitter after I was big enough and I remember having to chop that wood up really short and small. Ours had a water tank on the side. Had a little shelf on the top of the back for putting pies and such to stay warm.
Sorry I don't know anything about the characteristics of Ash, but thanks a million for jogging my memory of a very happy time.
Thank you Sir,
Gordon
 
In Ohio and several other states we have had the Emerald Ash Bore, killing of Ash trees like crazy for several years now. By the time it gets to my house it is very dried and hardly smokes at all and that is were the flavor is. I heat with a wood stove, but we do cook with it every now and then. When the kids had friends over night they loved cooking hot dogs and marshmallows over the coals. We normally cook/bake with dutch ovens and the fire won't flavor the meal. Sorry, Ivan
 
Why not try some cooking a few burgers? I'm pretty sure they won't taste bad & it might be good to go on a brisket if you like the flavor. Mesquite, hickory, & if you ever get a chance to try apple wood, I recommend it.
 
I researched this a bit earlier as I, too, was interested. Ash makes most lists of woods suitable for smoking foods, but it doesn't make anyone's favorites lists. According to a number of posts on different forums, it burns very quickly and produces only a very mild smoke.

If you've got plenty to burn and mild is your thing, it may be worth a try but, as someone else said, it may be best to leave Ash for baseball bats and axe handles and smoke with fruit and nut-bearing tree woods instead if you want real flavor.
 
I have tried it in my smoker, but it makes the meat taste like ash!

After you burn it, you just dig a hole and throw the burnt up stuff in. Of course, that would be an ash hole.

Ba dum bump.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys. I have lots of mesquite, hickory, pecan and red oak to cook with so I'll just cut the ash up for the chiminea. I do appreciate the input.
 
Walkin' Jack said:
Due to a stroke of luck I now have a medium size Arizona Ash tree cut and stacked in my back yard. It's still green so I need to let is season till next year if I'm gonna cook with it.

But I can't say I've ever heard of anyone cooking with ash. Do any of you use it for smoking meats. If so can you describe the flavor in 5 words or less.

Or should I just save it for the fireplace/chiminea? I'm interested in all opinions and comments. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Scratch that, just ditch it for Mesquite. :D :D :D
 
timn8er said:
Why not try some cooking a few burgers? I'm pretty sure they won't taste bad & it might be good to go on a brisket if you like the flavor. Mesquite, hickory, & if you ever get a chance to try apple wood, I recommend it.
Click to expand...

Ive tried a few diff woods but, nothing ive tried yet--beats Mesquite.
 
Well evidently the wood karma continues. A friend called me yesterday and said he had some mesquite in the back of his truck that he'd be happy to drop off on his way by my place. I'm running very low on mesquite right now and with the onslaught of out door cooking weather starin' me in the face it only took me a second to say, "bring it". And when he dropped it off he said he would be bringing more this summer. He has 1800 acres in South Texas and it is covered with mesquite.

I love livin' in a world where people will give you guns....and wood! :cool:
 
the ringo kid said:
Ive tried a few diff woods but, nothing ive tried yet--beats Mesquite.
Click to expand...

I've done a lot of experimenting with different woods over the last 5 or 6 decades and have come up with some very good combinations of wood to use for different meats. Here's a few of my favorites:
. Fish-Fish is a delicate flavor and I don't like to get on top of that with a strong smoke like pecan. I like a well seasoned fruit wood like apple or cherry or black cherry for it's light smoke flavor and aroma with just a bit of hickory toward the end to sweeten it up just a bit.
. Brisket-I like mesquite for most beef for the tangy taste and aroma and I also like a little bit of pecan with it to add a slightly dark/funky quality.
.Chicken-You really can't hurt chicken. But I do like to use Red oak. It, to me, is the lightest most flavorful of all the oaks. Plenty good just by itself for just about every thing. But I do love to play with thing so I'll occasionally add a little hickory or mesquite just for a little variety. It's all good.
.Fresh German sausage-Mesquite with a touch of hickory is primo!
**It's very hard to find but if you ever get a chance to get hold of some black walnut get what you can. It's great on pork or beef.

Those are just a few I can think of but I love to experiment and the truth is I have tried so many different things I have forgotten most of them. I will say that there have been very few flat out failures.

But what ever you do, KEEP ON COOKIN' WITH WOOD! :)
 
Walkin' Jack said:
Well evidently the wood karma continues. A friend called me yesterday and said he had some mesquite in the back of his truck that he'd be happy to drop off on his way by my place. I'm running very low on mesquite right now and with the onslaught of out door cooking weather starin' me in the face it only took me a second to say, "bring it". And when he dropped it off he said he would be bringing more this summer. He has 1800 acres in South Texas and it is covered with mesquite.

I love livin' in a world where people will give you guns....and wood! :cool:
Click to expand...

Just for you Sir, ill be cooking some Wrights Bacon fro breakfast tomorrow-in your honor. :D Just cant beat Mesquite. :D
 
Walkin' Jack said:
I've done a lot of experimenting with different woods over the last 5 or 6 decades and have come up with some very good combinations of wood to use for different meats. Here's a few of my favorites:
. Fish-Fish is a delicate flavor and I don't like to get on top of that with a strong smoke like pecan. I like a well seasoned fruit wood like apple or cherry or black cherry for it's light smoke flavor and aroma with just a bit of hickory toward the end to sweeten it up just a bit.
. Brisket-I like mesquite for most beef for the tangy taste and aroma and I also like a little bit of pecan with it to add a slightly dark/funky quality.
.Chicken-You really can't hurt chicken. But I do like to use Red oak. It, to me, is the lightest most flavorful of all the oaks. Plenty good just by itself for just about every thing. But I do love to play with thing so I'll occasionally add a little hickory or mesquite just for a little variety. It's all good.
.Fresh German sausage-Mesquite with a touch of hickory is primo!
**It's very hard to find but if you ever get a chance to get hold of some black walnut get what you can. It's great on pork or beef.

Those are just a few I can think of but I love to experiment and the truth is I have tried so many different things I have forgotten most of them. I will say that there have been very few flat out failures.

But what ever you do, KEEP ON COOKIN' WITH WOOD! :)
Click to expand...

Heh heh, glad it wasn't left up to me--or needing me to teach ya which wood to use? :D I tried Ash once--once. It ruined the hotdogs I was cooking and made them taste like they were cured in Turpentine. The nearby Seagulls got the weenies, we still at least had Chili and something else to eat..
 
YogiBear said:
Walkin' Jack

I hope you returned the favor.

You guys in Texas have waay too much of the good life.
Click to expand...

Not as much as one might like. What I mean is--one of my goals in life is to be able to afford putting on a few BBQ-to any ion my neighborhood should would want some. Im not bad at all in cooking Fajitas, Chicken, Burgers, Hotdogs, sausages and New York Strip and such, but ive never tried cooking ribs.
 
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