How "wood" you do if you changed woods?

rdstoll · Mar 30, 2015

Hi -

I see plenty of ink spilled about flavor profiles....sweet, savory, spicy, etc. injections, rubs, finishing rubs, etc.

Of course we have all seen on the TV shows the pit master talking about his wood selection and why. I'm just curious how critical you guys see your particular wood selection in generating the product you put out?

Or put another way, if you have your injections, rubs and sauces "nailed" and get calls on those recipes, do you think you would still get the same results if you swapped out the peach wood you normally use (for example) for oak?

Skip · Mar 30, 2015

No. Each wood has its own distinctive benefit. Of course the style of wood, i.e. fruit wood nut wood and such, has its general use but inside them there are also other species specific benefits. Many who use cherry would find it difficult to get the color they are use to from another fruit wood. Those who use "green" peach wouldn't dream of using "green" apple. You mentioned oak which is the "o- blood type" of wood. Its basically a heat source with a mild generic wood perfume.

So yes you could cook on another wood but your result would be different in many cases.

J&B'sBBQ · Mar 30, 2015

(This thread could go south quickly...)

We are very picky about our wood even down to the way the wood looks/smells.

We've always used the same combination of flavors, and when we swapped cookers from an off-set to a gravity fed, we found we were not getting the same flavors. We ended up swapping charcoal to simulate the same wood flavor we were using before, and we were much happier this past weekend with the outcome.

Pecan/Cherry has been our combination from the get go, and as said above, we have tried other combinations and were not happy with the color of flavor of the meat.

JD McGee · Mar 30, 2015

Smokewoods are a big part of our recipes...just as important as the rub or sauce.

Lake Dogs · Mar 31, 2015

What they said above. 40% or more of your flavor profile is the smokin' wood you're using. And, how well that flavor works with the other flavors (or heaven forbid conflicts or over-accents them) is key to the final flavor of the BBQ.

JS-TX · Mar 31, 2015

Hmm.. I've done well with using oak, apple, and even got a 1st place finish in ribs when I forgot to put any wood in my steel keg cooker :redface:

Typically I have a base of oak lump in all my cookers though. So so long as you got some clean smoke on your meat, you should be OK IMO. But for longer cooks like brisket, yea you better get smoke on it.. I like oak and hickory.

DawgPhan · Mar 31, 2015

I dont think it matters that much. Probably depends on the type of cooker used. Sticker burner, wood choice probably matters some. Gravity feed, probably not that much.

If I fire up the weber and run 20# of royal oak and 1 pound of wood chunks, how much difference it is going to make if 4 oz of the wood is cherry or apple in the finished product?

Skip · Apr 1, 2015

DawgPhan said:
I dont think it matters that much. Probably depends on the type of cooker used. Sticker burner, wood choice probably matters some. Gravity feed, probably not that much.

If I fire up the weber and run 20# of royal oak and 1 pound of wood chunks, how much difference it is going to make if 4 oz of the wood is cherry or apple in the finished product?

The ability to answer that question comes from experience. Many cooks don't need to ask that question anymore. They know the answer.

bam · Apr 1, 2015

JD McGee said:
Smokewoods are a big part of our recipes...just as important as the rub or sauce.

I agree after a lot of practice if I wasn't using pecan and cherry my flavor profile would be different.

rdstoll · Apr 2, 2015

Interesting thanks for the replies. I'm gonna weigh 300lbs testing different combinations of wood, rub and sauce!!

Contracted Cookers · Apr 2, 2015

smooth bark apple2>1 wild cherry .for pork
pecan 2>1wild cherry for beef
on trash cans

DawgPhan · Apr 3, 2015

Skip said:
The ability to answer that question comes from experience. Many cooks don't need to ask that question anymore. They know the answer.

It was rhetorical.

How "wood" you do if you changed woods?

rdstoll

is one Smokin' Farker

Skip

is Blowin Smoke!

J&B'sBBQ

is Blowin Smoke!

JD McGee

somebody shut me the fark up.

Lake Dogs

Quintessential Chatty Farker

JS-TX

is One Chatty Farker

DawgPhan

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Skip

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bam

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rdstoll

is one Smokin' Farker

Contracted Cookers

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DawgPhan

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