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What are your Go To WOOD choices?

I've had the egg for a couple years now and I have to admit, I'm still a little confused by what wood I should use for various cooks.  The challenge for me is not getting enough smoke flavor, or getting too much.  SWMBO'd doesn't like things too smokey, and even I'll notice occasionally I'll put a little too much smoke on a steak, for instance.

I was just on the Firecraft site and browsing through the Wood chunk category. (free shipping until 8/26, get your rockwood!) I thought their "Smoke Me BBQ" wood chunks had some pretty good descriptions of when to use each wood, which I pasted below.

However, if you have some go-to tips on type and amount of wood that work best for you, I'd love to hear it. 
Sadly, I typically just look at the bag of wood and if it has a picture of a chicken, I use it on chicken. If it has a picture of a pig, I use it on pork, etc...  

My go-to cooks where I have to make a smoke decision -
  • Pork butts and ribs.
  • Spatchcock
  • Brisket
  • Steaks & Burgers (quick cook)
  • Salmon (quick cook)

Thanks for any tips, and hopefully this list from the FC site is useful to others;

PECAN
A southern classic, pecan wood has a light, nutty flavor and works very well with poultry, pork, seafood, and vegetables.

PEACH
Peach wood has become very popular as of late and gives food the distinct fruity flavor. Use by itself for just about any type of food or try mixing it with hickory.

OAK
Oak is a good all-around wood and produces a medium smoke flavor. Oak goes well with all meats but might be too strong for seafood.

MESQUITE
Mesquite wood produces a very strong smoke flavor; a little bit goes a long way! This wood was made famous in Texas and works well with red meats.

MAPLE
Maple is an often overlooked wood that produces a uniquely sweet flavor and leaves food with a golden color. This wood works well with poultry and pork.

HICKORY
Hickory wood is the classic BBQ smoke wood and produces a robust smokey flavor. This versatile wood works well with almost any type of food; sometimes we mix it with fruit-woods like apple wood or cherry wood for really complex flavors.

CHERRY
Cherry wood has a subtle sweet flavor with a strong fruity aroma. It works well with seafood, poultry, or pork but might not stand up to the stronger flavors of red meat.

APPLE
Apple wood is a BBQ classic and many competition pit-masters swear that apple wood is their secret. Sweet yet mild, the wood infuses food with mouth-watering flavor. Apple wood works with just about any food, especially pork and poultry. We recommend mixing with hickory for red meats or even for pork.


LBGE/Maryland
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Comments

  • northGAcock
    northGAcock Posts: 15,164
    I dropped a butt this morning with pecan and peach...but often use maple and pecan.
    Ellijay GA with a Medium & MiniMax

    Well, I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life,
    Run me out in the cold rain and snow
  • Acn
    Acn Posts: 4,424
    I use maple planks with salmon a lot too. 

    LBGE

    Pikesville, MD

  • saluki2007
    saluki2007 Posts: 6,354
    Pork I go with pecan or apple. Poultry I love cherry but have been experimenting with orange.  Brisket I go with oak.  Fish, oak or pecan.  Don't use wood chunks for burgers or steaks, the charcoal is enough for us.
    Large and Small BGE
    Central, IL

  • Cherry gives a beautiful color to chicken. 
  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,654
    We all have different tastes.  Buy just a few different types and USE them for a while, on different things, and see what YOU like.  Then try a few more types and see what you think.

    I like some things not very smoky at all, but the things I like smoky, I like very smoky, so I use hickory most of the time, and I'm happy with it.  But lots of people prefer a milder, sweeter wood like any of the fruit woods, pecan, etc., for different things.  I've used alder for fish a few times, and cherry, oak, and Jack Daniels oak.  I like them all, but I seem to use hickory the most.
  • I use oak and cherry quite a bit.  My cousin swears by pecan.

    Large BGE - Medium BGE - Too many accessories to name

    Antioch, TN

  • SmokingPiney
    SmokingPiney Posts: 2,282

    Pork: apple or peach

    Poultry: orange mixed with hickory

    Beef: pecan or hickory

    Fish: alder chips for quick direct cooks or cedar planks

    South Jersey Pine Barrens. XL BGE , Assassin 24, Weber Kettle, CharBroil gasser, AMNPS 
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    I like hickory for brisket and pork butts - it's my go to wood when I want smoke flavor. I like cherry for it's beautiful color. 
    Most of the time I don't add smoke wood. When I do I will also vary how much I add with the lump. For example when I want smoke flavor on chicken I just add enough to smoke for the a little while. When I'm doing brisket I add wood all through the lump to get smoke throughout the cook.
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • smokeyw
    smokeyw Posts: 367
    I have tried a little bit of everything over the years. Now, I usually only use hickory and cherry. I used to use pecan a lot but found the shelf life was not very long.
  • Hickory/Oak for Briskets, fruit wood with pork/poultry and alder chips for salmon works really nice. Just try different things and see how your tastes like or don't like with them. If it smells good burning then you'll probably like it on your food.

    NW IA

    2 LBGE, 1 SBGE, 22.5 WSM, 1 Smokey Joe

  • I use Hickory for traditional BBQ cooks like Ribs, Butt and Brisket. I add cherry for color on brisket and butts.  Apple and pecan for turkey. Alder for salmon.

     

    -SMITTY     

    from SANTA CLARA, CA

  • blind99
    blind99 Posts: 4,971

    I like fruit woods a lot, for pretty much any chicken, pork, ribs.  I also use oak and pecan, especially on beef.  Brisket can take about as much oak as a I care to throw at it, which is usually about 5 or 6 chunks scattered throughout the lump.  I err on the side of less is more for other cooks, though.  Chicken gets one lump.  Ribs not much more.  I don't like my food oversmoked.


    Wood quality is also a factor.  I've gotten some pretty low quality stuff at times from the hardware store.  A friend brought over some apple, from fruitawood.  It was beautiful and made delicious smoke.


    I don't smoke salmon, steak, or burgers.  Pork butt, ribs - apple, or pecan.  Spatchcock I usually don't smoke.  Bacon - apple. 

    Chicago, IL - Large and Small BGE - Weber Gasser and Kettle
  • I use pecan for everything.
  • GrillSgt
    GrillSgt Posts: 2,507
    Wife bought me a bag of bourbon barrel chunks yesterday. Looking forward to using for reverse sear steaks. I predominantly use hickory for pork if the meat is going to be sauced.
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,173
    @GrillSgt -  I use the Jack Daniels chips or chunks with every brisket or beef roast cook as I can't find plain oak around here.  If you have a limited quantity than I would go easy with the steaks as they aren't in the smoke environment for long.  Now, if supply is no issue that'a another story.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Jstroke
    Jstroke Posts: 2,600
    I use a lot of maple as it is pretty handy and easily available. Personally I can't tell much difference so I just take it off the woodpile.
    Columbus, Ohio--A Gasser filled with Matchlight and an Ugly Drum.
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    As already mentioned, personal taste has a lot to do with the choice. Since reading the Egg forums, there have been many posts where ladies are mentioned liking only a whiff of smoke.

    My approach is rather standard. Stronger flavored meat can pair w. stronger smoke flavors, blander meat, and other foods, milder smoke.

    So, for beef, my go to woods are oak and hickory. Pork I go with hickory and pecan. Poultry with pecan, and most any fruit wood. Recently, I've been using mulberry which is common where I live. Sugar maple, and some of the other harder maples seem to go well w. almost anything. I haven't done a lot of fish. Usually I go w. the standard alder.

    In a pinch, most woods work. Exceptions to that. Woods I haven't liked. Walnut. Tulip tree, a.k.a. yellow poplar. Mesquite, dubious, seems too acrid and biting. I've read elm is not good.

    I bought a bag of pimenton, allspice bush,  from Jamaica. Supposedly, the original wood for 'Q. It was more like a perfume. Even small amounts were extreme.

    Have tried allspice berries, as a result. Expensive, but very nice. Also juniper berries. I wonder about using stick cassia.

    Haven't tried corn cobs, which I've read are still a standard for smoking country hams and bacon. Also, haven't tried hay. I had a most excellent and memorable rainbow trout smoked over some kind of hay, perhaps alfalfa, but didn't have a chance to ask the cook.
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    i keep some light smoke woods around, mapple and blueberry. fruit woods like apple and cherry for the majority of cooks. hickory for bbq smoke. some harsher woods like mesquite (tiny amounts), rosemary, and grape. oak for the briskets. hickory is usually mixed with one of the fruit woods
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • NonaScott
    NonaScott Posts: 446
    smokeyw said:
    I have tried a little bit of everything over the years. Now, I usually only use hickory and cherry. I used to use pecan a lot but found the shelf life was not very long.
    I didn't know wood had a shelf life. What happens to it that makes it expire? Thansk
    Narcoossee, FL

    LBGE, Nest, Mates, Plate Setter, Ash Tool. I'm a simple guy.
  • JMCXL
    JMCXL Posts: 1,524
    apple, my neighbor lost a few branches during a storm and I cut some of the bigger pieces up
    Northern New Jersey
     XL - Woo2, AR      L (2) - Woo, PS Woo     MM (2) - Woo       MINI

    Check out https://www.grillingwithpapaj.com for some fun and more Grilling with Papa (incase you haven't gotten enough of me)

    Also, check out my YouTube Page
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    Follow me on Facebook 
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  • KiterTodd
    KiterTodd Posts: 2,466
    Jstroke said:
    I use a lot of maple as it is pretty handy and easily available. Personally I can't tell much difference so I just take it off the woodpile.
    Ha!  Yeah, I was wondering about that.  I don't use wood from my backyard, but I guess I should.  We have some wild cherry, flowering pair, oak and maple.  But once it's cut, it all looks pretty much the same to me.  So, the occasional bag from the store has met my needs, but I know I'm wasting  money since I have a good bit on hand and free.

    LBGE/Maryland
  • bhedges1987
    bhedges1987 Posts: 3,201
    Don't notice much of a difference between anything when using it on my egg.

    On my stick burner, that's a different story.

    Kansas City, Missouri
    Large Egg
    Mini Egg

    "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" - Gandalf


  • NorthPilot06
    NorthPilot06 Posts: 1,179
    I generally stick to Apple, Cherry, & Hickory...but really whatever type of wood I have on hand.  I forget the site offhand (AmazingRibs.com?), but the author seemed to believe that wood is less impacted from the varietal and more impacted by the location where the tree was grown.  Not sure what I buy into, but it seems logical that a tree would be impacted by the minerality of the soil and whatnot.

    Given the convenience of having these three types of wood on hand, I will typically use:
    - Apple on Ribs
    - Apple + Cherry on Bacon (cherry strongly influences the color)
    - Hickory on Brisket

    I usually go pretty light on the smoke for most other meats.  Just my $0.02.
    DFW - 1 LGBE & Happy to Adopt More...
  • Focker
    Focker Posts: 8,364
    1.  Whatever is free
    2.  Cherry strictly for color
    Brandon
    Quad Cities
    "If yer gonna denigrate, familiarity with the subject is helpful."

  • JethroVA
    JethroVA Posts: 1,251
    I have an abundance of white and red oak and maple.  I get some hickory from my parents' farm as well.  
    Richmond and Mathews County, VA. Large BGE, Weber gas, little Weber charcoal. Vintage ManGrates. Little reddish portable kamado that shall remain nameless here.  Very Extremely Stable Genius. 
  • Hans61
    Hans61 Posts: 3,901
    Brisket and beef ribs I like oak

    butts and loins I like hickory fruitwood combo

    ribs I like fruit woods

    chicken I like pecan
    “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.”
    Coach Finstock Teen Wolf
  • Hans61
    Hans61 Posts: 3,901
    Steaks and burgers no wood just charcoal

    chops fruitwood

    fish just charcoal unless or a wood plank to lay it on
    “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.”
    Coach Finstock Teen Wolf
  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262
    Pork  - apple and or pecan

    Chicken - apple or pecan

    Beef - oak and or hickory

    Burgers and steaks - mesquite.

    I'm morally opposed to the harvesting of salmon, on the basis of that I don't care for it.

    Phoenix 
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    All of the above.  My latest discovery that I love is grapevine wood.  Nice, nuanced fruit smoke.  Great with seafood and poultry.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • YukonRon
    YukonRon Posts: 16,984
    Pecan, peach, sugar maple. Are my top go to woods. Peach is pork. Sugar maple primarily for fish, pecan is for everything else. Cherry, apple, oak and hickory follow as occasional users. Mesquite, hardly ever.
    "Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

    XL and MM
    Louisville, Kentucky