It's in the Wood

Selecting your choice of wood often goes without much thought using what is readily available. While great chefs pride their foods cooked from gas grills, wood and coals allow an aroma the no pit boss of any barbecue establishment would dare use gas. However, there is some tricks to achieving smoke flavors using gas ranges and stoves. Lets start with the type of woods first.

Alder   

Very delicate with a hint of sweetness.  Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds. A favorite in the Pacific Northwest to smoke Salmon.

Ash 

Fast burner, light but distinctive flavor.  Good with fish and red meats.

Birch

Medium hard wood with a flavor similar to maple. Good with pork and poultry. 

Cherry   

Slightly sweet, fruity smoke flavor. Good with all meats.

  

Hickory

Pungent, smoky, bacon-like flavor. Very popular wood used to achieve good aroma smoking pork and ribs. Good cooking all foods. 

Maple   

Mild smoke with a slight sweet flavor. Good with pork, poultry and vegetables. 

Mesquite 

Strong earth flavor that achieves the taste of Texas Barbecue. Great smoke flavor used with most meats, especially beef. Chuck wagon cooks and pit bosses swear by its use. 

Oak 

Heavy smoke flavor. The Red Oak is considered the best by many pit masters and is the second most popular wood to use. Great for really about anything you cook.

Pecan 

Similar to hickory, but not as strong. While not the choice as the best, Pecan has achieved many wins amongst Chili competition and cast iron cooking. Unique flavor on meats, fish and poultry.

Walnut

Very heavy smoke flavor, usually mixed with lighter wood like pecan or apple. Can be bitter if used alone. Good with red meats and wild game.

Fruit Trees  

Some woods are also with excellent values and can be used mixing blends or stand alone. Apple, Peach, Pears and Plums make for a superb wood with good qualities for smoke flavors. They tend to be lighter and can be used in all cooking. 

Smoke Bags

Using smoke bags is an easy way to achieve smoke flavors cooking your favorite dish. The smoke bags can be used indoors or outdoors, are simple to use with easy clean up. Check out our review at Gourmet Smoked Foods Review

Notes:

Burning construction material , pallets and scrap wood is alright for a bon-fire but not for cooking. Treated lumber has chemicals that can be hazardous to breath and should never be used to cook foods. Always use dry wood, as green fresh cut wood will smoke heavy and not burn properly. Additionally, it does not leave the desire aroma or taste along with the uneven burn. Coals are very safe, affordable and used often for outdoor grilling, dutch oven cooking but self starting coals and the use of lighter fluids should first be burn long enough to ensure starting chemicals have burned completely before cooking.  These chemicals can leave an undesired taste of items being cooked.  I try to avoid starter fluid when possible. 

When using hard wood for dutch ovens, imagine the size coals necessary to achieved the desired temperature. Coal is about 1.5 to 2 square inches.  I shovel wood coal and place over and under the dutch oven achieving the same volume of wood coal as I would when using charcoal.  


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