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Aaron Franklin BBQ & oak wood?

Austin's Franklin BBQ suggests real oak wood with the charcoal to smoke a brisket.  Yes, there is a lot of smoke, but it is needed to get the Franklin results.  

Your thoughts on wood sticks in lump?  Where do you buy some oak and not a cord?   Are all oak wood varieties the same for a cook?
Got a GoFundMe acct my 1st BGE Large

Comments

  • I get free pallets from my ex employer, and take the oak ones home and cut up for my fire pit. They smell great when burning, but don’t know how they would work for your application?
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Yes you need the smoke.  Post oak, white oak and hickory are best for brisket.  Where you buy is local.  Being in Texas is awesome.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • Saw a guy making briskets on Cooking Channel tonight. Had a custom pit with natural gas burners in it, and a wood fired box burning oak on the side.  He said the burners kept temps consistent, and the oak wood burning at high temp provided the smoke profile!
  • Woodchunk
    Woodchunk Posts: 911
    edited January 2019
    I use white oak splits in my egg all the time.  Works well with some lump
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    I just use oak wood chunks and I am happy with the results. A couple of chunks mixed in the lump is all I need .

    Link


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Post oak has worked best in my experience, but is hard to find where I am. White oak is almost as good, but there isn't much of that. Red/black oak seems to be the standard at the commercial pits, there's lots of that available. The only down side is that the open pores of the red/black can harbor fungus if the wood gets wet, and that smells really bad until its baked away.

    From what I understand, the Egg environment is perfectly fine for clean good smelling smoke. It has a tight enough seal that the oxygen flow is sufficient only to keep the lump burning. The heat from the lump causes pyrolysis of the wood, avoiding the bad flavors/odors that come from partial burning. All the wood except the carbon is vaporized.
  • I do some small woodworking projects from time to time.  I can cut every kind of oak and be fine but the sawdust from red oak makes my allergies go absolutely crazy.  I don't think i will be cooking with any of that but it does smell good.  
  • SonVolt
    SonVolt Posts: 3,314
    edited January 2019
    An egg is never going to give you "Franklin results" even if you snuck onsite and stole some Oak from Aaron's back-lot. Gotta get a true stick burner for that. 
    South of Nashville  -  BGE XL  -  Alfresco 42" ALXE  -  Alfresco Versa Burner  - Sunbeam Microwave 
  • Webass
    Webass Posts: 259
    I buy oak chunks at Academy Sports.

    Lenoir City, TN -  Bama fan in Tenn Vol's backyard. 

    LBGE, Weber Spirit 

  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    Hiker said:
    Austin's Franklin BBQ suggests real oak wood with the charcoal to smoke a brisket.  Yes, there is a lot of smoke, but it is needed to get the Franklin results.  

    Your thoughts on wood sticks in lump?  Where do you buy some oak and not a cord?   Are all oak wood varieties the same for a cook?
    I don't know what he means by "real oak"......are you saying it just hasn't been split?  It doesn't really matter chunks or logs, or split vs whole.  It's all the same.  But with the drafty stick burners they have to use the logs or the chunks will burn up like crazy because of all the O2 that can get to them.

    Either way, the wood is seasoned.  Don't use "green wood" or you'll get a kind of a chemical taste.  You need to get it down to 15-20% moisture content.  Then I don't know what your state laws are down there, but we're not even supposed to be transporting wood across county lines, much less state lines, because of the bugs.  So on our chunks, we have to kiln it down to 6-8% knowing it will come back up to about 10%.  Anything over 12% goes back in because it can still have bugs or grow mold.

    Post Oak is the main Texas brisket wood.  I'm told the closest thing we have up here is our Missouri white oak (what they use for Jack Daniels barrels)......I can't smell the difference.  Across the competition circuit in the midwest, Pecan is the preferred wood for the last few years.  No one uses hickory on anything.  I like cherry for beef and sugar maple for everything else.  If you're looking for a really smoky TX brisket, you're going to need to get an offset or something else besides the BGE.  You can get away without wrapping in a kamado, but anything else, especially if you're going hot and fast, you'll need to wrap.  Franklin swears by the paper over the foil.  I just use an inner layer of a spent charcoal bag if I decide to wrap.  
  • Hiker
    Hiker Posts: 13
    edited January 2019
    Real oak meaning split sticks, not chunks or processed. 

    A lot of Californians are moving to Texas.  We are considering Austin.  As @stlcharcoal said states have EPA rules and CA restrictions are insane.  I bought shoe dye and had to ship it to Vegas. BBQ products are impacted too. CA is getting worse by the hour. 

    Good advice about kiln dried vs. a firewood yard.  I will experiment with Hickory and Post Oak.  I will double check the recipes on the forum too.

    Franklin's simplicity and results are my goal.  Over spiced and sugar-sweet meat is not for us.
    Got a GoFundMe acct my 1st BGE Large
  • A lot of Californians are moving to Texas.  We are considering Austin.

    have you heard how hot it is here in the summer? And the Mosquitos...don't get me started. Hurricanes, Cedar Fever, Tornadoes????? Are you nuts?

    :)


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • My CEO retired this tear, and moved to Austin.  His house (on the golf course) has been on the market for 9 months here in KS.  Economy is crap here, but he said Austin is booming.  Must be all that California money going there!
  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 22,951
    edited January 2019
    Austin's Franklin BBQ suggests real oak wood with the charcoal to smoke a brisket.  Yes, there is a lot of smoke, but it is needed to get the Franklin results. 

    Franklin does not use charcoal and wood- they use wood only. The smoke is actually very light when you burn it the way he does. The smoke flavor is very subtle when you burn a clean wood fire. If you want a fire and flavor profile like that, you need a clean wood fire (stick burner)

    Post Oak is White Oak, just a local variety. I doubt very seriously anyone could tell the difference between a Post Oak log from Texas and White Oak Log from Missouri or France. White Oak = Vanilla (that's why wine is aged in white oak). That's what makes our bbq different than others and it does make a difference.

    There is no difference in a chunk of wood or a split of wood (assuming you cut it yourself). Wood is wood. Franklin could shovel chunks of hand cut post oak in to his smokers and get identical results but it would be 10X the work and cost. split logs are cheap and burn longer so there is less tending the fires. That said, all store bought wood is kiln dried (by law) so I cut my own chunks out of Post Oak firewood when I cook on a BGE. That does make a huge difference. Kiln dried wood has far less flavor than naturally seasoned wood and it burns twice as fast (all the water is baked out of it). so if you have white oak varieties in your area, I would start with that.



    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Thatgrimguy
    Thatgrimguy Posts: 4,722
    edited January 2019
    The only difference in splits and the chunks you buy at most stores, is the chunks are usually way older and more cured than a split and sometimes they are even kiln dried.
    XL, Small, Mini & Mini Max Green Egg, Shirley Fab Trailer, 6 gal and 2.5 gal Cajun Fryers, BlueStar 60" Range, 48" Lonestar Grillz Santa Maria, Alto Shaam 1200s, Gozney Dome, Gateway 55g Drum
  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    The only difference in splits and the chunks you buy at most stores, is the chunks are usually way older and more cured than a split and sometimes they are even kiln dried.
    If you see it in a grocery store, butcher shop, or any place that isn't the local corner kinda place, they are probably kiln dried.  They can risk bringing bugs in.
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,162
    Only oak I get and use here are the Jack Daniels barrel chunks-sometimes it is a challenge to not knaw on one when loading them into the BGE. 
    All above regarding the stick burner vs BGE posts define the differences and what matters is that you are aware.  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.