Wood selection for brisket...any ideas?
- Thread starter Richard S
- Start date
Dustin Flavell
TVWBB Pro
I just did a brisket point over the weekend and used Peach. Would highly recommend peach on beef. Smokey like oak but not quite as strong as hickory
Curious about two other woods. I had to take down a big Eastern Red Cedar recently and have a couple of big Maples (Red, maybe??). Would chips or chunks from either of those do anything for my flavor profiles? I love the smell of dry cedar and of cedar burning, but will it help my brisket?
timothy
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Personally I steer clear of any Conifers for smoking wood. ( think turpentine)
I'm allergic to cedar and can't stand the smell of cedar planks.
Of course YMMV.
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Dustin Flavell
TVWBB Pro
Cedar is a soft wood so I would stay away from that one. Make decent fire would. As for Maple I’ve never smoked with it, but Maples are considered a hard wood so it should be safe to smoke with.
Mike Shook
TVWBB Fan
Mike, I just heard someone mention sassafras as a smoke wood yesterday on a tour of a distillery. I am always up for an experiment..... when you say a little goes a long way, how little? a mix of 75% of something else to 25% sassafras? Less?
Grant Cunningham
TVWBB Pro
Madrone. Imparts a tangy flavor, reminiscent of mesquite but not as heavy or bitter.
I did not want to hijack this thread, so I started a basic thread as a beginner asking generic questions about smoker boxes and wood chips on a gas grill. I would appreciate everyone's contributions there, too:
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Using Wood Chips to Add Smoke Flavor in a Gas Grill
We just replaced our gas grill with a new one. Yesterday we stopped at a specialty store that sells wood for grilling. They also sell many rubs and sauces and a few grilling accessories. I was shocked at the prices they were asking for small bags of shredded wood chips. Here are my questions...
tvwbb.com
Jason Godard
TVWBB Pro
I used mesquite briquets one time and didn’t like them. I have not used mesquite wood for smoke yet but suspect that less is more with it.
John K BBQ
TVWBB Wizard
I'm a big pecan user, it has a fairly mild flavor and works great for beef and just about anything else that you don't want a strong smoke flavor. (similar outcome as oak). I like hickory and fruit woods for ribs & pulled pork.
I prefer chunks vs chips or pellets. I may have to use a couple of splits in the bottom of my WSM on my next brisket.
I prefer chunks vs chips or pellets. I may have to use a couple of splits in the bottom of my WSM on my next brisket.
I'd be lying if I said I could tell what wood you actually use to smoke a piece of meat by tasting it .
I rather think most people would as well.....
But, I'm a big believer in Aaron Franklin texas brisket style.... Salt, pepper, oak. Why would anybody use anything else?
I might use Apple or hickory for bacon just because everybody else does.
I usually use pecan or apple for turkeys, just cuz everybody else does.
Sometimes I just use a couple of chunks of wood from my bucket... Because that's what I've got... And I got no idea what type it is. Does not really seem to make a difference
I rather think most people would as well.....
But, I'm a big believer in Aaron Franklin texas brisket style.... Salt, pepper, oak. Why would anybody use anything else?
I might use Apple or hickory for bacon just because everybody else does.
I usually use pecan or apple for turkeys, just cuz everybody else does.
Sometimes I just use a couple of chunks of wood from my bucket... Because that's what I've got... And I got no idea what type it is. Does not really seem to make a difference
John K BBQ
TVWBB Wizard
I see where you're coming from, and agree to some extent. I think a lot of the flavor, and differences in flavor are lost because some of the wood chunks we use as backyard cooks are a bit "stale because of commercial distribution, and the USDA mandating of kiln drying of the wood. If you can find it, home-grown and aged wood chunks may help crank up the smoke flavor for you.... I can generally tell the flavor difference between oak and hickory... but not pecan and oak.
Mike Shook
TVWBB Fan
I had this discussion / debate with the competition team I have joined from time to time. Several started out taking the position that the variety of wood doesn't make a difference. (Turns out both these guys are pellet smokers, FWIW.) After a lot of talking around the subject, we broke it down like this....
Most everyone can tell when mesquite has been used, even the pellet smokers. No one on the cook team thinks it is worth a damn.
The non-pellet guys say they can tell if the wood used was hickory or not, especially on pork.
Most everyone could NOT tell the difference between the flavor given by various fruit woods -- apple vs. peach vs. cherry. But again, the non-pellet guys thought they could tell if the wood was a fruit wood vs. hickory.
There was not agreement on whether oak had a distinctive flavor. Post oak vs. non-post oak is a black hole of a discussion. But as was said elsewhere in this thread, if it is good enough for Aaron.........
And most of us like pecan on poultry because the smoke SMELLS less strong, but there was not agreement on whether apple wood would result in the same flavor on the meat. One guy tried willow for poultry once and said it had a distinct flavor but he did not like it.
That said, everyone among them who cooks for home use has their own wood habits, whether they believed there was a major difference or not. Better safe than sorry.....
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Agree. Pecan and Oak are close. Hickory is more distinct. I also believe the more smoke that’s absorbed the more any differences are noticeable. If you’re running hot and fast for say a 1-2 hour or relatively short cook you’ll likely notice way less than a slow 4 hour 200 degree smoke in on say a brisket that’s going to smoke for 8,10,12+ hours. Hope that makes sense.
