Smoking with hickory


 
N

Nathaniel Wallace

New member
It seems that the only woods that the stores in my area stock are mesquite and hickory. I don't care much for mesquite. I'm new to the 'cue, recently having purchased a WSM, and any tips/recipes regarding hickory would be greatly appreciated.
 
Nathaniel,hickory is considered the King of smoke wood. It goes well with most everything. If your local stores don't stock anything else,try the internet. You can find all sorts of wood. HTH
 
I had the same problem, living in CT, when I first purchased my WSM. Hickory is a great all purpose wood. Just be careful about using too much. It can produce a really strong smoky flavor/odor if you go overboard. Good luck.
 
Originally posted by Phil Perrin:
Nathaniel,hickory is considered the King of smoke wood. It goes well with most everything. If your local stores don't stock anything else,try the internet. You can find all sorts of wood. HTH
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Thanks much. Are there any sites you'd recommend?
 
You can do a search for smoke woods. Smoke-in-licious(sp) is a good source. I also found a great deal on some apple wood on e-bay last year.
 
Nathaniel, Hickory is King! Being from NC I was easting BBQ before I had teeth!!!! The hickory is what evey major, serious BBQ chef will use. In fact, most true Q'rs use pure Hickory, with only a little charcoal just to get the fire started. Now, fruit woods are good for ribs, foul. I like Pecan for Ground meets etc, but for pork, Hickory is my favorite. I purchase it at WalMart and at Lowes. For chicken and ribs, you can use Apple and Cherry which a lot of folks like. You can't go wrong with Hickory. A lot of people like the more smokey flavor, but a lot of people also like a little less smokey flavor. For me and my house, we love the strong Hickory flavor on pork ribs and butts!
 
Hi Nathaniel,

Years ago, I fell into the Hickory trap. A local store had a few stock tanks full of different woods and you'd gather up a sack of wood, get it weighed and pay by the pound. It was high quality wood. At that time, I chose to purchase only hickory due to its reputation as the King of Smoke Woods. Then, I kind of "burned out" on Hickory. To me, it seemed that everything tasted like ham...

My college Biochemistry of Nutrition professor hosted an end-of-semester party at which he cooked a young whole goat over a Mesquite fire. I loved the taste of both the goat and the Mesquite. There is a big difference between a live fire of Mesquite and smoking with Mesquite. It seems to me that it is very easy to over-smoke using Mesquite as smoke wood. So, I started using a small amount of Mesquite plus other wood(s). Often now, I smoke beef with a chunk of Mesquite and a couple chunks of Oak or, maybe, another wood. We like strong smoke flavor, but not to the point of being bitter.

I, still, smoke pork with at least some Hickory. But, I pretty much only use Hickory for pork items anymore.

Now, I've got a whole selection of different woods from which to choose. My nephew gives me all the Apple wood I want. I purchased some Sugar Maple from SmokinLicious and it is wonderful for poultry. It may seem like the quantities of wood you order from SmokinLicious is small as it is listed in cubic feet, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much wood you actually receive.

Sooner or later, you'll probably come across Pecan, Cherry and many of the other great choices for smoke wood. Just keep looking in stores near you. Or, look on-line.

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I'm not an expert on the subject but I've read in several places that people who feel hickory is a little too overpowering will usually like oak. They say it's similar to hickory but milder and a little more forgiving - less likely to over smoke the meat.
 
Originally posted by J Solenberg:
I'm not an expert on the subject but I've read in several places that people who feel hickory is a little too overpowering will usually like oak. They say it's similar to hickory but milder and a little more forgiving - less likely to over smoke the meat.
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This is true, oak is very very mild! With that said, in a WSM you can oversmoke no matter what kind of wood you use. I predominately use hickory and will use between 4-6 chunks (depending on the size) for butts and briskets and 4 chunks for ribs and turkeys and maybe 1-2 chunks for chicken. You can oversmoke on a WSM with any wood, so just be mindful about what you're cooking and how much wood you use.
 
D.L.,I see I'm not the only one! I've got a large storage tote outside that I use for my smoke woods. I've got hickory(of course) ,apple,mesquite chunks . Plus apple,hickory,maple ,mesquite and Jack Daniels chips! But I've known for a while that others share my enthusiasm for the art of the Q!
 
Yes, it's easy to over smoke anything. It all depends on what you're cooking. Brisket and butt can take a lot of smoke. Ribs,chicken and fish , on the other hand,not as much. Easy to over do it with these cooks. I learned that the hard way. I love the smell and taste of smoke but have to temper my "enthusiasm" for doing this due to how bitter the end product can turn out. A little bit can go a long way on ribs, chicken and fish
 
Nathan, not sure what part of Idaho you're in. If your anywhere near Washington, there's more than enough apple wood up here. Next spring when the tree farms are pruning, more than enough wood being given away.
 
Nathan,

Try your local orchards. The prune their trees and the end of each season and most pile the wood up to sit until the following year. It's usually very cheap and abundant. All that is required is to cut it into chunks and season it in a dry space for a few months. A few logs will go a long way and shouldn't cost more than a few dollars. The nice part is you get to try a variety of woods.

My local orchard had cherry, pear, apple and a few others I can't recall. A trunk load cost me five bucks - way more than I could use. I cut it up and shared it with friends.
 
I have problems getting apple here. The only apple I can get is dust type for water smokers. I can get chips of cherry, oak, maple, mesquite and hickory. The only chunks I can get are mesquite and hickory. Yesterday I went out to the local Ace and got to talking with the manager which is a fellow BBQ guy and also a gear head like me. He said he would get some stuff ordered up and call me when it came in. Lets see if he gets chunks or chips. I told him chunks would be best. Lets see if he hooks me up! Vince
 
Originally posted by Russ Hazzon:
Nathan,

Try your local orchards. The prune their trees and the end of each season and most pile the wood up to sit until the following year. It's usually very cheap and abundant. All that is required is to cut it into chunks and season it in a dry space for a few months. A few logs will go a long way and shouldn't cost more than a few dollars. The nice part is you get to try a variety of woods.

My local orchard had cherry, pear, apple and a few others I can't recall. A trunk load cost me five bucks - way more than I could use. I cut it up and shared it with friends.
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Thanks for the tip!
 
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