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Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
Originally posted by Dean Torges on 6/27/05 at 6:20AM PT

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All right! A week to grill Dr. BBQ. Thanks for coming. Great bunch of people here, and a terrific host managing an informative resource/bulletin board. Hope you enjoy your visit with us, and good luck with your book.

I notice you have a chpt devoted to fuels. Am assuming this goes beyond charcoal selection and use, to hardwoods themselves. So, what tastes can you distinguish among the various hardwoods used either for WSM smokewood or for straight-up bbq? I sometimes even see q-ers calling for exact proportions of specific woods as though they were leavening a cake. Where does it matter for you? For example, if you are q'ing chicken and generally using white oak, can you tell if you've used red oak or pin oak instead when it's time to strap on a bib? How about if you use half of some fruitwood? Can you distinguish tastes between chicken done with cherry wood or apple or peach ... or elm?

In other words, how important is the species of dried wood to your bbq, and if you consider it important, what specific lines do you draw? Or, rather, are you inclined more to the other extreme, where how you burn your wood is more important to the results than what you burn?

PS, I ordered your book through this website. Will no doubt have to fake your autograph and a complimentary sentiment. Any suggestions?

--
"Carve a little wood, pull a few strings, and sometimes magic happens." --Gepetto
 
I'm not exctly sure what the question is, but you seemed to be talking about wood, so I will too.
First off, there isn't a chapter devoted to fuels, I'm not sure where that came from.

I do discuss it, but I'm very much of the school that says you can cook good food in many ways. I draw the line at mesquite, ("Smells like it came straight from the devil's *** crack"), but just about anything else is fair game. Even gas. Now I do give my preference, and it's lump charcoal with chips mixed throughout. 2/3 cherry and 1/3 hickory for everything. I like light smoke during the whole cook. I also like straight pecan, but that's about all I ever use.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ray Lampe - Dr. BBQ:
First off, there isn't a chapter devoted to fuels, I'm not sure where that came from. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It came from the primary Amazon.com description of your book, which states "In chapters devoted to equipment, tools, and fuel, he shows readers how easy it is to prepare authentic barbecue...."

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ray Lampe - Dr. BBQ:
I'm not exctly sure what the question is.... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

To repeat, how important is the species of dried wood to your bbq, and if you consider it important, what specific lines do you draw? Or do you think how you burn your wood is more important than what you burn.

Seems to me your answer is "Both." On the one hand you say that anything this side of mesquite goes, yet on the other hand you express your own preference in a 2/3rds cherry and 1/3rd hickory combination mixed in lump. Are you distinguishing between "good food" and "competition food"? In other words, are you saying that "you can cook good food in many ways," but for competition you will stay with your formula? Or are you saying that you yourself personally can cook winning competition barbecue "in many ways" this side of mesquite?

Thanks for your patience. Bear with me, please. I'm chasing down a fundamental concept, and I'd like to know where you line up with it.
 
Speaking only of fuels, how important to your success is your formula of 2 to 1 cherry to hickory mixed in lump? In other words, how much could you change this formula (while keeping all else equal) without affecting the taste of your bbq and, consequently, your success in competition?
 
I think the combination of lump for fuel, mixed with the appropriate amount of a chosen wood is very important. I don't ;like to cook with all wood, and I prefer lump to briquettes, although I do use them. A lot of money has been won using Kingsford.

I also think the choice of chips is very important because I like a light amount of smoke throughout the cook.

The actual choice of wood for flavor is less important to me. If I have pecan, I'm fine with it. Apple is a fine substitute for the cherry. Oak and hickory are also fine with me, but if I were using only those, I'd cut back on the amount because they are stronger.

Forget the mesquite, and just about anything else would be an exotic to me.
 
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