Wood for a smoker

[jsfinn]

I got a smoker a little while back and I've really been enjoying using it. The problem is the local BBQ store is going out of business so now it's hard for me to find chunks of wood for my smoker.

The local hardware stores only sell Hickory or Mesquite but I'd prefer to use oak or fruit woods.

My folks happen to have an old pear tree. It has some kind of disease and isn't doing so well. Branches are dieing and I think the tree is probably going to be cut down soon. This may sound like a silly question, but is it safe for me to use the wood from a diseased tree to smoke food with? I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this...

Also, if I do end up cutting my own wood from either trees in the woods or in my yard (I have some nice maples that get pruned from time to time), do I need to let the wood dry before using it or can I use it right away? I know I should remove the bark first because it can cause a bitter flavor.

Is there any type of wood that is unsafe to use in a smoker?

Thanks!

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Maybe this will help you.

http://bbq.about.com/cs/cookingtips/a/aa051097.htm

I'm just trying to help.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Wood for a smoker

i have always preferred oak or hickory. learn what it looks like, then you can pick up some, that people cut from their yard, and put out for the refuse man. larger older wood has a better flavor. just takes a little chopping to get what you need, store it dry and sealed in a plastic bag. make up packages of it. for the season. then you just have to soak it.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Wood for a smoker

We smoke a lot of venison, fish and poultry. I always just cut a 2" - 3" diameter branch off one of our apple or cherry trees, chunk it into 2" pieces,soak in water for 1/2 hr and use it in the smoker. Works great!

I don't see how the diseased tree could have any safety issues for you, though if it has a fungus maybe it would smell/taste funky.

Never thought to try maple, but now that you mention it I'm gonna give it a shot.

 

[OldePharte]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Don't know how involved you want to get. Here in the KC area we take our BBQ very serious and here is the local store - http://www.shop.smokenfire.com/main.sc

They may ship, I don't know.

Even our local ace Hardware store has a huge area just for BBQ tools, chunk charcoal, and wood chips.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Burn a little of it. If it smells pleasant to you, it should be fine.

My favorite smoking wood is black cherry. I used to smoke a few chickens at a time. I'd stuff em with some onion, apple, orange , and green pepper slices. Put em on the table and my family just turned into piranhas.

hope it helps
John

 

[mike64]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Since you don't know what kind of disease the pear tree had it's hard to say, but since you are removing the bark, I'd say if the underlying wood looks fine it would probably be ok to use. I use wood from several apple trees on my property that have a common fungal disease called scab. I get them treated now, but when we first moved there a couple of the trees were pretty bad-- caused spots that went all the way through the bark in some cases. I just removed the bark from that wood and it was fine for smoking. Meat tasted great and I'm not dead yet.

As for what wood is unsafe, don't use softwood like pine. The resins will ruin the taste of the meat and I think are actually toxic. Most hardwoods are fine for smoking, some will give a better flavor than others. T2F's link has a really interesting list of what hardwoods give what types of flavoring. Personally I like apple for slow long term smoking, whole chickens, turkeys, big cuts of pork, etc. For quick grilling, like chicken parts or steaks, I love the flavor from hickory chips. Hickory's probably the only wood chips I buy since it seems hard to find in Michigan. Maple I've found goes really good with salmon. Haven't really experimented with oak but I want to, maybe with a nice beef roast sometime.

As for whether the wood needs to be seasoned, I'm not sure on that. I have a lot of apple on hand, so I use the stuff that's already seasoned. Same with maple. Maybe green wood will give a different but just as good flavor? Might be an interesting experiment.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Thanks for the information, everyone.

I was doing a little more research on this (some from the links provided here) and have come up with some conclusions.

- Apple is very popular wood to use with smoking. If you can't get apple, crabapple works just as well.

- Wood should be seasoned because wet wood will give off creosote and you don't want that in your food.

- I've used oak in the past for a brisket - it turned out really well.

- Hickory usually is overpowering and I'm not a big fan of the flavor (the smell of the smoke is amazing though).

- Mesquite is stronger than Hickory.

- There are several vineyards near by. None of them will sell me an old barrel let alone part of one they may have laying around. (weird)

- I found an oak barrel manufacture online that happens to be near by. They are happy to sell wood from old junk barrels for a couple of bucks. I think I'm going to go this route. Hopefully they will have something that was used to age something in the past.

I've got a ham and a turkey going in the smoker this weekend. I can't wait to get it going!!

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Oh yeah - another question:

I have a few cherry blossom trees. Are they close enough to cherry trees to put off the same or similar flavor?

I feel bad that I've been throwing away the wood every time I prune them.... Maybe I could put it to use.

 

[mike64]

Re: Wood for a smoker

- Wood should be seasoned because wet wood will give off creosote and you don't want that in your food.

May very well be true, but it's usually recommended to soak wood chips, so I don't see how unseasoned wood would be much different. On the other hand I've heard soaked wood chips shouldn't be used at all for that reason (creosote), only chunks of dry wood that've been allowed to burn down. Personally I'll use soaked wood chips if I'm cooking something quickly, like an hour or less. I'd try unseasoned wood in that situation. When I smoked a whole turkey a few weeks ago, I used dry, seasoned charcoal-sized chunks of apple that I kept feeding to the coals every hour or two.

- There are several vineyards near by. None of them will sell me an old barrel let alone part of one they may have laying around. (weird)
- I found an oak barrel manufacture online that happens to be near by. They are happy to sell wood from old junk barrels for a couple of bucks. I think I'm going to go this route. Hopefully they will have something that was used to age something in the past.

That reminds me, I picked up some Jack Daniels wood chips once, made from old aging barrels. Never would have for full price, but a grocery store was selling it for like 90% off at the end of the summer. I figured it was just a gimmick, but the JD soaked oak really gave steaks I cooked a great flavor! I totally forgot about that-- I think I have some of those chips left too, will have to look.

Too bad the winery wouldn't let you have any old barrels, but that's a great idea-- bet they'd add a fantastic flavor.

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Pecan, pecan, pecan. Did I mention pecan ?

 

[mthieme]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Hickory or fruit are my preferences.
Green.
You can use wild cherry.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Other than oak all of my wood is deisesed or sick in some way. I pick up branches that come from the pecan trees in my field or at an orchard.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Well, we just got the house cleaned up after our 12 guests left and I'm ready for bed.

It was calling for rain all day and I was planning on using the smoker all day. I wasn't going to let the rain stop me so I built a little canopy/tent in the back yard with PVC pipe, a tarp, rope, and plenty of bungees. My tent held up to the tornado warning that came later in the afternoon and the smoker stayed dry.

I smoked a 14 pound turkey and a 9.5 pound shank-half ham both in pecan wood that I happen to find at the bottom of my wood-chunk stash. I had forgotten all about it.

Ladyfish was right - pecan is good smokin' wood.

The oak barrel thing didn't work out for me - I had a buddy pick it up for me because the seller was right around the corner from where he works. Turns out the 5 gallon barrel they sold him had some polyurethane coating on it or something and that's not good to put in the smoker. The barrel was actually in really nice shape though so my buddy is going to hang on to it to age some home made wine in.

Anyways, everyone went home full and with leftovers. Thanks for the wood advice, everyone!

 

[mike64]

Re: Wood for a smoker

I smoked a 14 pound turkey and a 9.5 pound shank-half ham both in pecan wood that I happen to find at the bottom of my wood-chunk stash. I had forgotten all about it.

Ladyfish was right - pecan is good smokin' wood.

I'm going to have to get me some of this pecan wood.

 

[timdan94]

Re: Wood for a smoker

We like to use beech wood it adds a good flavor.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Pecan and hickory are very similar, pecan being a bit milder. Actually, hickory is in the pecan genus, or vice versa - genus Carya.

 

[The_Kid]

Re: Wood for a smoker

Here's a great site for information and recipes for smokers. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com