flavor differences between different hickory species.

[Greg Schaefer]

Hello,

I started smoking this summer with the brinkmann model one step above the ECB. Bought my WSM in October, when Chris posted the reduced price.

I've been using hickory chunks bought from Weber, and decided to see if there was any hickory wood to be found on my land.

VA tech has a really helpful leaf or twig key (see http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/idit.htm) which helped me figure out just what a hickory might look like.

As near as I can tell, I've got pignut hickory here (about 10 miles north of Charlottesville, VA). I put some chainsaw shavings on the burner of the stove, and this stuff smells like weber's product.

I'm wondering if anyone has a good feel for trees, and could tell me which species passes as "hickory" for smoking. Also, I'd like to know if pignut is recommended, before I cut this tree into chunks, and season it for 6 months.

Thanks in advance,

Greg Schaefer

 

[Don Hilliard]

Greg, Some where I read the reason hickory is called pignut is because the early settlers fed their swine hickory nuts. It gave the meat a different taste.(nutty I suppose) I don't know too much about different species of hickory, but I would be willing to bet what you have will work. I would use it sparingly the first time and see what kind of flavor you get from it. I would think that most hickories would be simular with only subtle differences in taste. Probably subtler than my tongue could taste.
Don

 

[Jim Minion]

Greg
I know of cooks (Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson's BBQ is an example) that seek out pignut and that is the wood of choice for them when cooking pork. If you can trim, remove just branches and keep the tree standing, it can continue to supply you with wood for years to come.
Nice find.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Greg,
Thanks, for the link to the leaf or twig key!

I agree with keeping the tree and using trimmings - it really doesn't take much wood for the WSM.