Regional wood preferences


 
M

Matt Sanders

TVWBB Pro
One of the advantages of living in the Era of Ebay is that any backyard bbqer with a credit card and a physical mailing address can get any type of smoking wood he wants (even sasafras).

I'm wondering how traditional wood preferences vary by region. Certainly availability plays a big part (mesquite in Texas, alder in Alaska), but each region has also developed different styles and tastes.

So what are some of the regional preferences in wood? Are there traditional woods for North Carolina, Memphis, or the rest of the South? How about Kansas City or the rest of the Midwest? Canada?

I've long wondered about this (beyond the obvious examples of mesquite and alder above), and thought you guys could give some insight. You don't need to be old to answer either......
icon_wink.gif
 
As you mention, it's a bit difficult to say since nowadays BBQ stores and Home Depots have all the basics so there's no real way to tell what people around here would be using in the past. My assumption would be that people in different regions use the smoke woods that are native to the area.

For southern California, I would assume oak would be the one that could be considered "traditional". Particularly for tri tip, which we know to be as fact since they still use it. Possibly also apple, since there are some areas around here with large apple farms.

Is almond a smoke wood? I know they grow a lot of almonds in the valley.
 
Yes, almond is used, though I've never seen it sold here in Illinois. I think it's supposed to be similar to pecan, which is quite good, actually. I like to use it on the grill with burgers.

As for availability, the traditional smoking woods that grow in abundance here are oak, maple, and apple. Not so sure about hickory. I would guess those would be the more traditional woods of the Midwest, but I don't know.
 
I'm from NC and will try pretty much any wood. Having said that however, most of the BBQ places use either hickory or oak wood, or a combination of the two.

You sometimes see pecan wood used, and sometimes apple, but the places I've been rarely use them.

But like a said, in my backyard, I'll try anything.
 
THE SOUTH and midwest, generally speaking: hickory, hickory/oak

Deepsouth: same as above, also pecan, sassafrass

Texas: mesquite, post oak, pecan, hickory, all depending on what's available. (post oak used at the most famous bbq places, ie. Kreutz market)

Fruitwood is obviously popular in areas of the country where there's lots of orchards, and more popular nowadays that folks use charcoal a lot for the heat. (A stickburner needs more fire-tending when using fruitwood since the coals don't last near as long as denser hardwoods.)
 
Fruit woods are really the only native woods here in Utah. I have large stocks of apple and cherry from local orchards. But hickory and mesquite are the smoke woods I see most at stores.
 
Matt, As Mac stated earlier, here in NC, if you go to a BBQ resteraunt, it will be Hickory or Oak smoked. Myself, I have been using Hickory, (white) Oak, and Pecan. That being said, the recent storms have left me with an ABUNDANCE OF MAPLE!! So I feel quite certain that after the LARGE pile of maple (stacked in my back yard) dries out, maple will also be used QUITE OFTEN in my future cooks!!
icon_wink.gif
 
Interesting.

Burning maple always reminds me of Autumn.

I'd like to hear from the Canadians too. I'm guessing a lot of maple up there.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'd like to hear from the Canadians too. I'm guessing a lot of maple up there. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've tried maple, apple and cherry. All were cut from the backyard and cured for 1 year.
 
Almost exclusively pecan. I think it is milder than hickory and besides that I have an unending free source for it.

I'll use mesquite on a grill for skirt steak.
 
When I hear the word "BBQ", I always think of Hickory.
Growing up on the south-side of Chicago (back in the 70's) BBQ meant ribs/chicken, rib-tips and hot links.
Hickory fired pits were more common in that area because of the migration of folks from the south who came up north to work on the steel mills of SE Illinois,Indiana, and the Old Stockyards of Chicago.

Tim
 
I've been happy with hickory, oak, maple, and apple. What I use depends on what I can get most easily (and cheaply). My sister-in-law has some ancient pecan trees that I have my eye on, if I can ever convince her that they need to be trimmed. And there's a hickory tree about 10 feet on the other side of my property line that may fall prey to a beaver some dark night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top