Apple wood or hickory?


 

JT Wilson

New member
Hello everyone, first time posting. I'm going to smoke a whole turkey tomorrow and I'd like to hear opinions on which wood to use. I'll be doing a creole injection and seasoning on the bird. I have apple chunk wood and hickory chunk wood. Which wood would :) be best here?

Also, this will be my third cook on my WSM 18.5 but first turkey. Fingers crossed. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
 
Welcome aboard JT.
Others will surely disagree, to me smoke flavor is more about the "strength" of the wood used, not the actual smoke taste.
Apple is pretty mild, hickory is fairly strong.
It really depends on how much smoke taste you want to achieve.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours too!
 
First turkey? I'd recommend apple, it's milder than hickory. I think a little smoke goes a long way with turkey. I've got one going right now as I'm typing this with just one fist-sized chunk of apple. You can go two chunks if you want. The thing is you can't remove smoke flavor if you oversmoke it, so better to go lighter than too heavy.

Good luck!
 
I think hickory is fine. I used my standard go to, Pecan. However, I also have a bag of hickory and my 2 year old son enjoys taking the wood chunks in and out of the bags. So did I use pecan or hickory? I guess we'll find out.
 
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I used Chestnut from a tree in my yard. Had it drying out since mid summer, it was perfect smelling and tasting.
 
I don't care for hickory, so never use it or mesquite. I always use Pecan, which is similar to Hickory but better flavor, IMO.

I never use mesquite lump, except in a pinch when I can't get oak lump, but it does cook hotter than oak so is good for steaks and other high heat cooks. This is also true of the Hawaiian Ono (Kiawe), I like that stuff for steaks, but BBQ Galore doesn't sell it anymore. It gets REALLY hot.

I don't use any extra wood when I smoke, mainly because if you use hardwood lump like I do most all the time, you don't have to worry about wood/smoke flavor, it's there and a bit more subtle than when using briquettes and wood. I do have some Pecan chunks and when I use briquettes I'll toss a couple chunks in, but I don't use briquettes very often at all, it's mostly only for long brisket cooks when I do.
 
I never use mesquite lump, except in a pinch...

I purchased a bag of mesquite lump a while back. Used some of it on a brisket based on a recipe I found. I didn't think it was bad. Some people prefer it and some don't.

Now I just toss in a handful of them when I do beef. Not sure what it does, but the bag is getting smaller. :)
 
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