Oak firewood

Firetruck

I have some seasoned red oak firewood that I have thought about cutting into chunks to use for smoke. Does that seem like a reasonable thing to do? What I don't know, do the chunks you buy in the store have something special done to them or are they just seasoned wood? Also I don't know what "red" oak would taste like. For that matter what any oak would taste like. If anyone has had any eggsperience with this, please let me know.
Thanks,

WileECoyote

Good question. I have 23 acres of forest and wondered the same thing. Cedar, oak, pine, you name it. I would expect it to burn at lower temps and with more soot or smoke, which is why I think the hardwood charcoal is charred first, but as simple smoking fodder it should be ok if you cut the chunks up small enough. I am still learning the flavors so no idea on that either.

Firetruck

Thanks WileE, I guess the best thing to do is try huh.

NibbleMeThis

Jojo,

With my offset smoker, I used seasoned hickory and oak that I bought from a firewood supplier. Nothing special.

I had some leftovers and put one or two 1" x 1" x 6" pieces into my egg once or twice. I put them in with one end towards the center and the other end towards the outside. The result was a nice controlled smoke.

Big'un

I use red oak and hickory all the time. I get firelogs and cut them into thirds, knock off the bark(because you never know what mold or ivy grew on it). What doesn't burn becomes large lump for the next cook. You'll be fine.

Eggtucky

Absolutely red oak is good. Many pro bbq'ers wouldnt start a fire without hickory AND oak for smoke..and especially red oak...have at it..

JLOCKHART29

Oak is one of my big three: oak, presimmon and hickory. I never buy wood as have growing wild on my place. Nothing like "fresh" food of your own!! :laugh:

tjv

I cut my own chunks using the logs from my fireplace stock, mostly pecan. My local Academy store carries mesquite, pecan and oak logs in sack bags too. Just be careful using power tools : watch for knots and wood grain when cutting. I'll knock the bark off just before dropping in the cooker.

Firetruck

Well it looks like I'm off to cuttin chunks then, thanks for all the advise.

Cpt'n Cook

I use red oak and listen to Tom Waits all the time.

Haggis

Don't use pine for smoking - the resins burn with an acrid flavor - think turpentine! Even cedar is edgy - it may be OK for planking but not for smoke.

stike

you can use it for smoking, absolutely. don't get fooled into thinking that the chips and chunks you buy in a store have anything done to them. the only magic in a bag of chips is that they turned a $1 chunk of wood into $6 chips.

same goes for fancy planks.
wood is wood is wood.

you can't fire the grill with firewood, but in theory you could make your own charcoal, but that's a messy proposition. use the wood for smoking and buy your lump, is my vote

stike

you are the winner of today's "teensiest avatar" award.

congrats!

Firetruck

Check, that is what I was thinking also. When I first got my Egg, One of my first cooks was cedar planked salmon. I had just finished building a fireplace in my den, and had some leftover t & g cedar siding. Since the local BGE retailer was selling cedar planks for $20 I figured I already had what I needed. We aint dead yet.

Firetruck

Huh?

Cpt'n Cook

I make up for it in other areas.

Firetruck

I googled Tom Waits because I didn't know if I had heard of him or not. I read "his voice sounds like it was soaked in a vat of burbon, hung in a smokehouse for a few months, and taken out and ran over by a car". I was so intrigued I went to I Tunes and listened to a few samples....I think they are right. :laugh:

stike

good man. i have a bag of shims (cedar shingles that didn't make the grade), and use those. if i use two a week, i'll run out sometime in 2012 or so. they cost $2 i think.

it just needs to be untreated, unfinished wood, is all.

i love the dudes that spend $12 a plank at williams sonoma, with that little logo burnt into the plank. how precious!

stike

his avatar, the little pic associated with his posts (e.g mine is Giada working a carrot), is so small, that it literally is an eight of an inch wide on my screen.

Firetruck

gotcha

Cpt'n Cook

I think he is the guy who came up with that great lobotomy line, that was the first time I heard it anyway.

Dan in StL

Taking the thread farther down the Tom Waits path. . . He also wrote "`Ol 55" which is a great song that the Eagles covered. You might also want to check out "Step Right Up" if you ready to get behind something a tad bit on the strange side. .

Now, back to our regularly schedulued thread: I've used oak too, but I have to warn about it being a "health hazaard." I have it for firewood, cut into standard firewood size logs. I was using an axe to split those logs 2 or 3 times to get a more managable size. But then I still didn't want anything that long. So I tried using the axe to cross cut those pieces. DUMB IDEA!!. A few chops in, a chunk flew up and smacked me in the gord. :pinch: Split open my lip and forehead good enough to send me to the ER for a few of stitches. In the spirit of full disclosure I should also mention that there was beer involved...

Little Steven

Eggsactly,

Couple that with four packs of Camel rag ends a day for fourty years and that's about it. Check out "Nighthawks at the Diner" if you can.
Steve

Cpt'n Cook

Great song, That was the first Waits album I owned, still have it. Actualy that song was on the "Small Change" album.

"resting on my Laurels and my Hardys too"

Cpt'n Cook

Cpt'n Cook

Hee, Hee, I love this. Talk about a cult.

Little Steven

But the coffee wasn't strong enough to defend itself

Essex County

Small Change got rained on with his own 38...

Paul