Bark Vs. No Bark On Smoke Wood


 
R L Bagwell

R L Bagwell

TVWBB Pro
I've had some short cherry limbs "curing" in one of my sheds for about two years now, and I'm pretty sure it's ready to cut into chunks and use; am looking for input - hopefully based on personal experience - that either counters or substantiates Gary Wiviott's contention that bark on smoke wood definitely should be removed before smoking due to its imparting a bitter taste on meats.

All my smokes have been performed with purchased, "bark-less" chunks and/or chips, heretofore - any input would be appreciated!
 
Rooster,I have a bunch of hickory that was given to me. I remove the bark when I use it. No real reason,other than I think the bark will burn up quicker.
 
R L Bagwell said:
hopefully based on personal experience - that either counters or substantiates Gary Wiviott's contention that bark on smoke wood definitely should be removed before smoking due to its imparting a bitter taste on meats.
Click to expand...

I've only used debarked wood myself. Maybe Gary tried it and found from experience that bark imparts a bitter taste on meats. I had a question about Harry Soo's setup a while back so I sent him a note and he answered me right away with his reasoning. Maybe Gary will as well. This is his contact I copied from his site http://www.lowslowbbq.com: gary@wiviott.com
 
Roost, my thought is: if the bark "falls" off easily, then good!
if not, it stays on.
butt then, i'm pretty flexible about alotta things that others are hooked up on. like brands of charcoal. :p
 
Thanks to all for the input; guess I'll cut a few inch-and-a-half-thick slices on the band saw, trim the bark - Dave, it's as though it was glued on, still, BTW - and try a couple of cooks both ways before deciding whether or not to go to all the trouble of skinning the remaining stock...

Regards,

Rooster
 
Cherry doesn't have much bark to begin with and depending on the size of your limbs, it could be so thin that it doesn't mater.
 
I like to split logs with a maul/hatchet and I remove the bark from hickory when I can. I can smell a difference when smoking with bark-on woods, but I've never noticed a taste difference to speak of. I do think the non-bark wood gives a cleaner smoke but not sure if it makes much difference where fruit woods are concerned. I have a handful of peach wood tree trimmings that I can't remove the bark from and using a couple recently didn't affect two pork butts I smoked over the weekend.

Trying both ways sounds like a good idea.
 
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