Oak wood for pork butt and brisket??


 
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DavidD

TVWBB Super Fan
I was reading a post about making your own smoke wood and it make me wonder, there is a lot of talk about Hickory, apple and sometimes Mesquite, but what about Oak?

In Florida, we have lots of oak so I have a pile of dried logs for the fire pit and thought i could cut chunks for the smoker, but don't see a lot of comments about Oak.

what are your thoughts for using oak on pork butt or brisket?
 
I use oak as a base for just about anything. For pork butt I use a couple chunks of oak and a couple hickory.

Burt
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Hi Dave,
I also live in Florida and you are right as to a lot of oak trees. Had one that went down during a 'cane and then used it for smoking.
They say hickory is king and oak is the queen. Go for it.
Sausage and meat processing was my business up North and it was all hickory at the time.
Wish all the squirrels where bigger as never did one of those critters. Enjoy...Ike has gone.
 
Oak rocks!!!

I think it is one of the most widely available and used woods for camp fires, cooking, and smoking.

JimT
 
Brandon, thanks for the link to the smoke wood section. As much as I've searched around on this site, I'm still amazed at how much is here and...how much I miss. I've not seen this section before. I'm going to stop buying all the hickory and start using some of the oak. I've got tons of it stacked in my backyard.
 
oak is my prefered smoke wood. use it for everything exclusively. i detest mesquite. to me mesquite is like using a chunk of road tar to smoke with and i learned to bbq and smoke in texas.
 
Ditto above. I found mesquite deplorable. I was told by the pit guy @ Lexington No 1 in NC that they used oak because it burned so consistently--don't know if it's true but that was good enough for me and since then I almost always use oak (and cherry)--2:1. Sometimes hickory and cherry. Cherry gives meat good color and flavor!
 
Originally posted by Jon Merka:
oak is my prefered smoke wood. use it for everything exclusively. i detest mesquite. to me mesquite is like using a chunk of road tar to smoke with and i learned to bbq and smoke in texas.
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+1.

I avoid it whenever possible.

As for oak, I've been using hardwood lump made from oak and absolutely love it. In many cases I don't need to use any other wood at all, and the taste of the meat is xlnt.
 
I couldn't let you all trash Mesquite with out my input. I use it often and love it. Especially with beef. To each his own I guess.
 
Steve, that's a great point. It's hard to objective assess something like smoke wood. It all comes down to personal preference. I'm getting used to enjoying my dad's BBQ. He uses almond exclusively for his catering, when he runs his Gator pit. He has a huge detached garage, that he has 4 or so large clear storage bins filled with various hardwoods that he has gathered over the years, but since almond is plentiful in northern California, he figures it's the easiest thing to stick with for consistency sake. I like the flavor, and the smell of the smoke is subtly sweet.

At home, I always stick with a blend of hickory and apple, or oak and cherry. The hickory and apple for pork, oak and cherry for beef.
 
Originally posted by Steve Whiting:
I couldn't let you all trash Mesquite with out my input. I use it often and love it. Especially with beef. To each his own I guess.
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Steve,

Didn't mean to trash it, but about 20 years ago, I had a neighbor next to me and he weened me off mesquite and would insist that I used hickory rather than mesquite. After a few cooks I did see that it was better tasting...but I think it all depends on the meat you use, it's ok for some stuff, certainly. I just always play it safe and don't use it anymore...other than working in the shop, it's wonderful wood, other than being hard as nails and even more difficult on edge tools...it's about the hardest native wood in Northern America.

I don't care for mesquite charcoal, it has a lot of forge flies...snap crackle pop...
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I like oak as well. My favorite oak is the old Jack Daniels Barrels that have been cut into chips -excellent.

I find pecan to be a good "inbetween" of oak and hickory.

Also, Thomas, just moved from Richmond. Good to know on buz. You are right they are the best in Richmond (but they don't have any real competition)
 
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Oak and mesquite for beef rocks! Oak and hickory for pork works for me. I like apple and oak with fish and poultry. Oak is cheap (often free) and easy to come by here in Oregon. Sometimes, I use oak alone because I don't have the others. I think I'm probably the only one who notices the difference. Of course since I'm the cook that's enough
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