madrone


 
C

Christine S.

New member
Hey folks!

My roommate just cut down a madrone tree. I see it is on the list of woods that can be used for smoking, but I was unable to find any forum threads on this wood. Has anyone used this wood and do you like it? If so, I will make some effort to collect as much of it as I can.

Thanks,
Christine
 
Hi Christine,
I don't have an answer for you, but hope someone can jump in and help. I live on 20 acres of mixed forest (white/black oak, fir, pine, and madrone) so I have plenty of it, mostly use it for firewood. Not sure I'm brave enough to smoke with it without some input!

Don
 
Well I just spent several hours yesterday trimming branches and making a decent pile of it for myself. If no one else has any input on it, I'll give an update once it's seasoned.

-Christine
 
I have not used it myself but a number of years ago I cooked at a gathering for which I and three others did the food. One of the others did double-bone rib-eyes over madrone. Very tasty. As a smokewood I'd think beef and, in smaller amounts, oilier fishes.
 
Good to know! I'm glad all that effort trimming in the hot weather will pay dividends.
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Get the wood cut and split while it is still green, as it dries it gets very hard to deal with. Will dull a chainsaw chain very quickly.

Good news is it gives off heat for a long time, makes great coals.

Jim
 
Thanks Kevin, I'll give it a try. Jim is correct, it should be split green, hard as a rock otherwise, and it does make great firewood.

Don
 
Thanks, Don. I had a feeling it was one of those reddish trees. It would be cool to find some of that around here.
 
When I was growing up we always called it madrona. There isn't much in a forest. There would only be a couple trees per 10-20 acres. I seem to remember that it is a relative of the eucalyptus tree. Jim is right about splitting it. The wood will develop surfacecracks as it dries and will become hard as a rock. We used to use some of it for firewood and it would wear me out when I split it. I would be interested to know the flavor it imparts. I would guess that it would have a strong flavor based off of the smell of the wood.
Lance
 
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