Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Youtube | Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
Question about fresh cut Hickory
Options
KntroverC
Posts: 5
I was lucky enough to get some fresh cut hickory, but it has spots on it where an insect has burrowed into it. Are the places where the insect burrowed (and died) still smokable or will I need to cut the places away?
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Comments
-
I would use it, the bugs wont hurt anything and won't live to talk about it. I would let the wood dry out before I used it.
-
if the insect damage is old and not active I wouldn't worry about it myself. OTOH since this is freshly cut and I assume you mean green then you ought to plan to let it dry for at least a year. Green wood will be bitter and won't smoke properly or at least I've always been told that!
-
A year? Wow. I've already taken the bark off of them and split a couple of sections, that should speed up the drying process. Thanks again for your input.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em!
Tim -
you must have a log splitter! I have a 3' piece of hickory trunk that has been drying for 16 months now and I still can't get an axe buried enough to start splitting. It was a live tree knocked down in a storm.
-
No log splitter, just a wood wedge, a 3 pound sledge and a little determination. My pieces were cut into 18 inch sections.
-
I'm with Panhandle Smoker...mostly.
I wouldn't worry about insects. They'll "smoke" long before you put your meat on, if you let the chunks burn for more than a minute. Even if not, there's not enough mass there to do anything negative.
As for drying...I prefer my wood a little green. I don't think there's anything you can throw on a fire that smokes better than freshly cut hickory twigs. My second choice would be freshly split hickory that is still noticeably moist. And contrary to much you will read, I think bark is a bonus, not a detriment.
RRP,
KntroverC is right. Get a wedge and a sledgehammer and cut your 3' section into thirds it at 12". -
thanks for the advice. Believe it or not 25 years ago I split wood on a regular basis by hand for exercise. Even got a mention in an industry magazine about it! Since then we no longer burn wood in the fireplace and my mauls and wedges have scooted somewhere to the back of the storage cabinets. I'd hoped that chunk of hickory would have yielded to an axe by now as it has been air drying in a protected area all this time, but it is tight! Guess I'll just take the chain saw to it and go from there!
-
hic...
-
I have about 100# of 3" - 4" diameter branches ~8" long each that have been drying in the shed for just over a year. I tried to remove the bark on them and it's just too hard. I guess keeping the bark on isn't all bad?
-
BBQEd wrote:I have about 100# of 3" - 4" diameter branches ~8" long each that have been drying in the shed for just over a year. I tried to remove the bark on them and it's just too hard. I guess keeping the bark on isn't all bad?
Not in my book, and beside that, you'll never get it off now. That small trunk and/or branch bark is TIGHT once the natural moisture leaves -- which is a few weeks after it's cut. -
I guess I'll try it without high expectations
-
Most likely they are Locus borers. They are a whitish worm that "eats" hickory. They are the larvae of the Long-horned beetle. They borrow channels through hickory and can do a lot of damage to hickory trees. If you don't have any close by I would not worry about that.
As for smoking your wood is fine. I have them in my stash of hickory they burn up by time the Egg is ready for meat.
When i split the wood my son gathers them up to use them for fishing. The bluegill love them and they are tuff little suckers. You can get 6 to 10 fish with each of them.
I use hickory from the time it is cut until it is gone. Takes about a year to use up a tubs worth. I never noticed a difference from green to dried. (except burns up faster dried) I use it with bark on.
The bottom of a rubbermaid tub has over a 1/4 inch of sawdust from them after a years time. -
BBQEd wrote:I guess I'll try it without high expectations
Huh? How did you gather that.
I most definitely would use it, with very high expectations.
"Not in my book..." referred to your previous comment "...keeping the bark on isn't all bad", to which I was agreeing. -
the only hickory i even bother with any more is the bark from shagbark hickory. peels off the tree, no need to split or cure.
sweeter than any other wood i've found.
bark is fine, so is green wood. any claims otherwise are just things guys repeat that "a friend told them" one time at a cookout.
hahahaha -
I wish I would've kept the bark now. I had a trash bag full of it. I'll leave the bark on next time.
-
ever see a roadside bbq joint tossing logs into a pit? you think they screw around debarking twenty cords of wood a year?
Categories
- All Categories
- 182.8K EggHead Forum
- 15.7K Forum List
- 459 EGGtoberfest
- 1.9K Forum Feedback
- 10.3K Off Topic
- 2.2K EGG Table Forum
- 1 Rules & Disclaimer
- 9K Cookbook
- 12 Valentines Day
- 91 Holiday Recipes
- 223 Appetizers
- 516 Baking
- 2.4K Beef
- 88 Desserts
- 164 Lamb
- 2.4K Pork
- 1.5K Poultry
- 30 Salads and Dressings
- 320 Sauces, Rubs, Marinades
- 543 Seafood
- 175 Sides
- 121 Soups, Stews, Chilis
- 36 Vegetarian
- 100 Vegetables
- 313 Health
- 293 Weight Loss Forum