wood "flavors"


 
G

Geo S

TVWBB Super Fan
Hello all, first post here. Just got a WSM 22 for cheap, barely used, so I've been reading up on a LOT of past posts to cut the learning curve.
I've been smoking quite a few years, first on a New Braunfels side burner, then a propane vertical because I got tired of baby sitting the burner, and the fact that the fire box rusted out,lol. The food all came out fine, but in all that time I can't discern any appreciable difference with different woods in the final product. I read how some folks like a particular wood for this and that and how they can tell the difference. Now I've used, apple, cherry, hickory, non discript hardwoods, basically whatever is in the wood pile and I don't obsess over it.
So the question is, how many of you can tell cherry from whatever, or feel you get a better product from your favorite wood? Thanks
 
From the Home Book of Smoke-Cooking By Jack Sleight and Raymond Hull People with palates of average sensitivity have never been reputed as able to tell the difference between one kind of wood smoke and another. Corncobs, by the way, are as good as most hardwoods.

If I were to taste smoked meat cooked by someone that did not tell me what smoke wood they used I don't think I could accurately tell them what was used.
that being said I don't use Mesquite because I did not like it. Bottom line! try them all.
 
Welcome aboard!

I'd be willing to bet not many, if any, folks can taste smoked food and tell you what wood it was smoked with.
Maybe they can tell if it's a fruit wood, or a harder wood like hickory, pecan, etc, and mesquite like Dan said.
If you like mesquite, then you probably have a Lone Star tattoo somewhere on your body. :)
 
I don't disagree. That said hickory loves pork and I love hickory smoked pork. It is a classic pairing that can't hardly be beat.
I do think lighter meats can be over smoked by some woods. In the end tho by managing the amount of wood/smoke one can cure that problem.
Just for a kick smoke with whole pecan nuts...yummmy.
 
I am capable of discerning over 100 Different types of wood based on the flavor of smoked meat.

Nah. Not even close. Here's how much I can tell:

I can usually tell when a fruit wood was used because it's lighter flavor.
I can usually tell mesquite.
I can usually tell hickory.

I've tasted oak plenty off times, could've been anything as fas as my mouth is concerned.
 
Interesting.
Maybe I am imagining it but I think I can tell differences between various woods.
They certainly have distinctly different aromas when they are burning.
 
What Bob said.

I can tell if the wood was something strong like Hickory or Mesquite vs. something lighter like Apple. But overall, I could not name a specific smoke wood.
 
Welcome George. I can usually tell the difference between hickory, mesquite and apple woods. After that its kind of a blur.
Like Steve Petrone said, try some whole pecan nuts in the shell. I like to use them as well.
 
Thanks all, I thought maybe it was just me. :) . I have a pig nut hickory tree in my backyard that I use the fallen branches from, and sometimes I'll use the dropped nuts, if I can get to them before the Squirrels,and the smell of that Hickory when it's burning is real nice, one year I used up a small Mulberry tree that was ok, and grape vine trimmings are nice ,but once it's on the meat.....I've got a lot of Cherry, and soft Maple, gotta find some Oak to round things out. "Here" the meat usually gets a mix of Cherry, and Maple with a few Hickory sticks for good measure. It's all good! :cool:
 
I can tell the difference between Pecan, Hickory, Oak, and Mesquite. I don't really smoke with fruit woods. I'm not a huge fan of mesquite which is ubiquitous around here. If someone REALLY knows what they are doing with it, it tastes ok. Direct heat cooking on mesquite is awesome. I'm a Texan but I MUCH prefer oak or pecan. Maybe some of the problem is most of us are probably using kiln dried wood chunks and they might mute the flavors a bit. Supposedly charcoal can mask some of the distinct flavor.
 
I can tell the difference in the "flavor" of the smoke coming off the grill between hickory and mesquite to a degree, but I can't say I can tell any difference in the food.
 
I use a lot of cherry, that I cut myself, and the smoke coming out of the cooker smells amazing, and I can absolutely tell the difference between it and hickory, which I also cut myself. There is a definite difference in using "fresh" wood, as in not something packaged that sat in Home Depot for a couple years. In the final product, between hickory and cherry, the difference is negligible. If I didn't know what I had smoked with, i don't think I would be able to tell what was used.
 
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