Post Oak vs White Oak

[BruceS]

Has anyone ever used both Post Oak and White Oak for smoking meats? Is so, was there a difference in the smoke flavor?

 

[Lynn Dollar]

Well, in Lynn's barbecue world .............. oak is oak is oak is oak.

Because central Texas joints have used post oak, then post oak has become a thing of its own. But the Texas joints use post oak because its readily available there.

The fella that runs the wood lot where I get wood, says there's thousands of varieties of oak. And may be just me, but I don't think there's a diff in smoke flavor on meats between the varieties.

But that's just me.

 

[Geo S]

Post oak is a variety of white oak...use what ya got. it'll be fine

 

[timothy]

I've only used red and white oak. Red has a more robust flavor.
I tried some live oak when I was down in Florida, that was pretty mild.

 

[J Hasselberger]

Out here in Hill Country, live oak is prolific. Post oak comes mainly from the area east of here. Post oak grows much straighter and is about half as dense as live oak, so it's easier to cut and it seasons much faster. I helped a neighbor cut up a live oak that was downed in a storm and my arms and the Stihl got quite a workout. Some joints say that they use live oak and that it burns longer and hotter, which is an efficiency issue. I've used both and in the small relative quantities that a WSM consumes, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I do like the milder smoke flavor from oak, though. Texas barbecue is typically not as smoky-tasting as Carolina or Tennessee Q, largely because it's cooked with oak.

Jeff