Smoking (on grill) does wood type really matter?

[loutent]

I've been smoking chicken and pork for years and have tried all types of woods (I use chips) - mesquite, hickory, cherry, apple mainly. Last night I smoked a chicken with applewood - it was great but honestly I have yet to be able to tell the difference between wood types - they all pretty much taste the same to me. Now I don't have a dedicated smoker - just Webers (gas and charcoal) so maybe that's a reason - or maybe my palette is not refined

Anyone else feel this way? Just curious.

Lou

 

[SAFireman]

Yup, an unrefined pallette I am the same way with wines......now Scotch on the other hand

Yes, the wood does impart a difference. Even how long the wood has dried/cured will make a subtle change in the flavoring. I most often use mesquite, but frequently used pecan for long smokes.

 

[gunzo]

To be honest, I'd guess that your palette is not very well refined or maybe only one type of taste bud not functioning well.
I have a very refined palette & I'm not bragging about it, it can cause problems. If there is just a hint of an ingredient or flavor in a dish that I don't like, it will spoil the entire dish for me. Wife says I'm just too picky. On the other hand, if something is really, really good, I tend to over indulge, still eating when no longer hungry. I am just a country boy, but have been called a food snob.
To make a long story short, I can easily & quickly tell the difference in say, hickory & mesquite.

 

[JayFramer]

I prefer to use sandalwood or ebony for smoking.

It gives the meat a "luxurious" flavor and aroma.

 

[Biggfoot44]

The flavoring will be more pronounced with a real Smoker, and presumably more able to make distinctions in flavor.

 

[kwselke]

Different woods on grills as well as smokers give completely different results for various meats.

In my opinion pecan is the ultimate wood for chicken. It does pork and beef well too, but chicken is at its best when cooked with pecan wood.

Mesquite burns hot and is excellent for searing steaks. I've had mesquite grilled seafood as well as slow smoked mesquite brisket which were excellent too.

Oak needs to be broken down between red oak and white oak. White oak has a lighter flavor. These are good for beef and pork. Red oak imparts magical qualities to beef. In my opinion chicken and oak do not work well together.

Hickory is my favorite wood for baby back pork ribs, and most things pork. Again it does other things well.

I like to use chunks of wood as opposed to chips. Generally I get the wood by collecting it from downed limbs or trees, not buying it at a store. My knowledge of cooking woods is limited by the trees that are indigenous to the areas I have lived in or visited.

 

[walkin jack]

I have been smoking meats for over 50 years. And there is most definitely differences between all the common smoking woods. Over the decades I have experimented with most all of them and even tried some combinations with a varying degree of success.

lemme share some of my thoughts on smoking meat with natural wood. I guess most common is oak. It doesn't seem to have any distinct flavor. But RED oak does have a mild slightly sweet aspect which I find delightful on briskets. Let me say here that I prefer some meats with some woods and not others. Some woods are good on most anything. Hickory and Mesquite are pretty universal in my opinion. Pecan, on the other hand requires some caution. It is very pungent and very strong. I don't use it at all on chicken or fish or even beef. But it is good on a pork roast if you don't overdo it.

You hear a lot about fruit woods; cherry, apple, etc. They are excellent with a mild flavor but I can't say that I am able to tell them apart nor am I able to detect any fruity flavor.

Black walnut is a very rich smoke but it is not bitter like pecan can be. Hickory has a tangy kind of sweet flavor. Not a sugary sweet but more mildly sweet. Mesquite is my favorite for chicken and smoking salmon and tuna. I can't think of an adjective to describe that flavor but it is good. it can get strong but it is not unpleasant.

Smoking meats is an art form and every enthusiast has his on ideas about how to do it best. It takes years to figure out what works best for you and get all your preferences set. There are some Truths and rules that are not a matter of opinion but it takes time to sort it all out unless you have someone around to offer advice. It's all on what you like for the most part. And how much you enjoy the process. A gas grill is a LOT faster and cleaner and not nearly as much work. But it just can't put the smoke in meat like a sho' nuff wood smokler. If I want to cook with gas I'll do that in the house. I have always enjoyed spending the day out on the deck with my boom box and a cooler full of long necks and smelling that savory aroma of wood smoke and meat coming out of my smoker.

Smoking meat has always been a passion with me. I'm old school and happy to be so. You might say it is a tradition in my family. My dad was the same way and taught me the basics. eventually I branched out and developed my on ways as I'm pretty sure most serious smokers do.

I'm trying to give you a few examples of different flavors from different woods. Hickory, mesquite and red oak are very very different from one another and should be able to demonstrate the wide range of flavors available.

If you are serious or want to get serious about it all I recommend you get a good smoker with a fire box on one end and a smoke chamber on the other. It should have a thermometer and vent controls to regulate temperature. Once you get the trick of it you will be able to control the temperature in the smoke chamber with in 2 or 3 degrees.

Good luck and happy smoking.

 

[Ray1970]

I can definitely tell a difference and even prefer certain woods for certain meats. I pretty much only use applewood for pork and chicken. Beef usually gets mesquite.

 

[Stevens]

I have used Hickory, Pecan and Mesquite. By far I like Hickory best.
Steve W

 

[chief38]

Hopefully Snubby will weigh - in on this post. He seems to be knowledgable on this subject.

 

[oneounceload]

Pecan has a great flavor. Use chips for gas grill in container and use chunks on coals. Coals are better started with a chimney and not naphtha lighter fluid. Meats like chicken do great with a marinade or brine in preparation. Fruit woods are lighter and sweeter than heavier woods like oak, hickory, mesquite, etc.

 

[Abbynormal]

I like using mesquite to grill steaks and smoking chicken

For smoking pork, a mixture of 1/3 maple, apple, cherry and
about 1/3 hickory, the remainder being lump charcoal,
for pork loins, ribs and shoulder roasts does the job quite nicely!

 

[susieqz]

i have two smokers n smoke most every week.
i find big differences in taste.
like everyone, i have my own tastes.
i use certain woods for certain meats. a wood that;s good for one meat is likely not good with another.
for example, i love hickory on beef but find it way too strong for chicken, which requires fruit wood.
then you got stuff like mesquite, which is terrible on anything. you have to be born in texas to like mesquite.
i hate that, because i have acres of mesquite that needs to be cleared.

 

[MetalMan]

I've been using "Big Green Egg" charcoal which is a combination of hickory and oak going on 10 years now. Use for grilling as well as slow-cooking/smoking.

Just the smell of firing up the grill gets my mouth to watering...

(Waiting for Snubbyfan to weigh in too )

 

[ExcitableBoy]

The intensity of smoked flavors depends a lot on time and temperature, thickness of the meat and how it is treated beforehand, skin-on or skin-off, with birds, brined or unbrined, injected or natural, rub applied or no rub, mops, glazes... Well, it's a long list of factors, and I've pretty much played with all of them.

Everyone has a favorite wood, and most are indigenous to whatever area in which you live. I use hickory for a stronger flavor, going low and slow, apple for a milder, sweet flavor, and soft maple for a very mild smoke with more delicate meats. I often combine two or three different woods for a more complex flavor.

I would caution in the use of woods high in tannins, though, like oak and black walnut, which many stomachs cannot handle. (As an aside, black walnut chips or shavings in horse bedding is a no-no... it will kill a horse in short order.) Also, don't even think about using locust! Though it burns very long and hot, it is very high in creosote content, and is, as far as I'm concerned, the very best firewood around. When I run low on fodder for the wood stove at the end of long winters, I often take down a green tree to make it until warmer weather. It burns just fine, as locust does not retain much water over the winter because of it's density, and the high creosote content. Not good for food, though.

I do most everything on Webers set up with a 3/8" stainless plate atop the cooking grate, then use a spacer to lift another grate about 1 1/2" above that for offset smoking. I even do bratwurst in this manner (DO NOT pre-cook a brat in beer, for God's sake!!!), and they are fantastic! Burgers are done directly over very hot coals with a handful of wood. I throw the burgers on, cover with the vent slightly open on the lid, wait a couple of minutes, flip, cover again, another couple of minutes, and they are perfect. Better than any burger joint I've ever been in. Then there's turkey...

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Happy smoking.

 

[misswired]

All flavors of wood are good...red oak is my favorite.

 

[oneounceload]

i have two smokers n smoke most every week.
i find big differences in taste.
like everyone, i have my own tastes.
i use certain woods for certain meats. a wood that;s good for one meat is likely not good with another.
for example, i love hickory on beef but find it way too strong for chicken, which requires fruit wood.
then you got stuff like mesquite, which is terrible on anything. you have to be born in texas tjo like mesquite.
i hate that, because i have acres of mesquite that needs to be cleared.

Then advertise that and you should have folks who resell it or have their own restaurants lining up to cut it down. Mesquite worked well for me with full sized briskets with that big fat layer on top and smoking low and slow.

 

[wingriderz]

I use different chips too all that you mentioned. Electric smoker for me. No differance in taste chip wise. They do smell differant while cooking. But I do use differant types of juices for water and fruit slices in water tray. Oranges and juice for chicken apples and apple juice pork.

 

[susieqz]

no, oneounce. people here pay lots of money to get pastures cleared of mesquite, because you gotta remove the roots too.
mesquite is a highly invasive trash tree here, n they just burn it in the field.
there doesn't seem to be any commercial value to the mesquite, for reasons of which i'm unaware.
only po'folk smoke with mesquite here. it's just too strong for most people.
it's good for heating your house tho. burns hot.
people don't use it much for that. i'm told it's real hard on chain saws.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Not in my house...........

Family like a lot of Ketchup...............
even A-1 on BBQ steaks.

I am the only one that has taste buds, I guess ?