Wood for Butt


 
James Lake

James Lake

TVWBB Emerald Member
What is the best wood to use when smoking a butt? I will be using the Chris Lilly rub and injection.
 
I prefer a fruitier wood. So I'd say, peach/apple/cherry in that order if you can get them. if not, go w/what you can get
 
I do not have access to the same pieces of wood that you use, but do you really taste the difference? I mean, on the extreme sides I can taste something, but let's say, apple versus pear wood?
For me, this is like a very small difference in taste. Sorta like the difference between two different brands of gas in your car. Does it accellerate faster on one brand or another?

Nah. What I put in the rub is much more important..

Good smoke is good smoke.
 
Hickory is my favorite for butts. Pecan is a close second. I recently did a butt 3:1, pecan : peach that was great. The fruit woods are too mild to be the primary smoke on pork or beef for my tastes.
 
I was using Oak and Apple, but gave Peach a try by itself. I got a lot of thumbs up, and two smokes later, I'm leaning towards staying with Peach only for Butts.

I gives a nice deep but smooth flavor that's just ever so slighly sweet. Kind of hard to describe, but most other fruit woods are just a little too upfront, if that makes sense.
 
I will typically use either hickory, cherry, apple or pecan if I see it somewhere. I dont necessarily have more than one type of wood in the box at a time I really just use what is in there. I dont know if I can tell the difference or not between which wood but I can usually tell if it has too much or too little smoke for my tastes and I imagine I would notice if the wood smoke had an unpleasant flavor. Pork can take the smoke pretty well though so let 'er rip.
 
Typically anything pork from me will get cherry at some point, and then about 30% nut wood. That's usually pecan or almond. But I did a shoulder this weekend in 30% almond to 70% apricot, and that was good eats. I can tell the difference in almost any wood, with the exception of the few that are so very close together (such as apple and pear, as mentioned above) that the smoke smells identical.
 
Much of each person's style is often driven by early BBQ experience. My go to Q was was pork, chopped, vinegar based and HICKORY smoked.
All the previous woods make great BBQ. I use most of them.
In a blind taste test, would I know the difference? Not sure about that but if I know my BBQ is lacking hickory smoke...something is missing.
 
My dad as well as his dad lived and breathed by the rule of hickory wood for pork. I still use hickory every time I'm q'ing pork. I can still remember the smell of barbecued pork coming from the roadside stands in the Ozarks when we would head for Eminence MO for vacation. and dad barbecuing pork steaks on the banks of the Jack's Fork River once we got there...:)
 
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