I just can't seem to "master" hickory?

C

Cabin Fever

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First off, I don't currently own a dedicated smoker so I use my 22.5" Weber OTG. Whenever I smoke anything I always use the indirect minion method and regular Kingsford blue. The problem I'm having is that I just can't seem to get that light bacon type flavor out of the hickory chunks I use.

I know hickory is strong so I only use one or two small chunks depending on what type of meat I'm smoking. I even go as far as to pre-burn the chunks a bit in the chimney starter to achieve thin blue smoke right off the bat. Oddly enough though, the meat still turns out too harsh and bitter almost every time.

For example, I smoked a small batch of chicken wings Thursday night using a single hickory chunk the size of two fingers and while they weren't unedible, they just had a harsh burnt wood type taste. I don't get it. I'm getting thin blue smoke the entire time. Could it just be that hickory is simply too strong for my taste? I've never had this problem with cherry wood in the past. Any tips or advice you guys and gals could throw my way would be greatly appreciated.
 
Is it fully seasoned?
It may still be a bit "green".

If you have a couple of splits just knock them against each other.
It should sound like banging two baseball bats together. CRACK!
 
First, chicken takes smoke well so a little goes a long way. Secondly, you don't have to see smoke to get flavor from it and the clearer the vapor coming frmo your cooker the better the smoke flavor will be, IMO.

My suggestion would be try putting a chunk of hickory in your chimney when you start you charcoal and make sure the wood has burned to an ember and there is clear vapor coming from your chimney before you put the fire in the cooker.
 
is the top vent all the way open ? maybe try pecan ? i can't do hickory either. my taste buds just don't like it.
 
Boshizzle said:
F

My suggestion would be try putting a chunk of hickory in your chimney when you start you charcoal and make sure the wood has burned to an ember and there is clear vapor coming from your chimney before you put the fire in the cooker.
Click to expand...

I like Boshizzle's idea. Especially for chicken. The other thing is that there are several different types of hickory. Not all of them are that good for smoking. Did you cut your own or did you buy them from the store? Pecan is from the Hickory family and it is a good one to use. I pretty much use peach wood myself.

Ken
 
I dont like the taste of hickory. Tried it and tried it. Oak on the other hand, is probably my favorite wood.

I also like mesquite. For me I know it is the hickory because I have used plum, apple, cherry, wild cherry, pear, oak, sugar maple, walnut, hickory and silver maple and the only one I don't care for is hickory. Go figure :confused:.

Jeff
 
I agree with the others about the pecan. I use pecan on 75% of my smokes. It's very mild and goes great with just about all meats. I prefer hickory on larger cuts of beef like briskets.
 
I use Hickory and have not had any bad results. Of course, I am using a smoker not a grill - not sure if that makes a difference.

I use my chips/chunks dry and "hide" them in the middle of the fuel load. I place some charcoal in my fuel bowl. I put some chips/chunks on top of the charcoal then fill the bowl the rest of the way with more charcoal. This tends to make the Hickory last a bit longer.

Even though I use mine dry, you might try soaking your Hickory in water before you use it. From times when I did that when I had smoked on a grill I had effect so mild that I decided to quit wetting the chips/chunks.

Personally, I find Mesquite a bit strong and bitter for my taste.
 
Thanks for the info so far folks. A couple things that I forgot to mention is that I'm using hickory chunks that I bought from Lowes and I do not soak them. Boshizzle, next time I'll try burning the chunks to a complete ember before adding them to the fire to see how that works out. I've got to say though that this really gives me a new appreciation of how strong hickory actually is. One of the things I love about cherry wood is that even when it's not burning cleanly it's still pretty light and sweet smelling. Oh well, every cook is a learning process.
 
Good luck, bro. But, VA BBQ (yeah, I'm biased :p) means hickory smoke. It's just a matter of making sure the smoke is an enhancement to the flavor of the meat like salt and pepper rather than the main flavor.

Please keep us updated. I'm over in Chancellor (Chancellorsville for the Yanks) , so if you want to stop by sometime in your travels to Fredericksburg just let me know.
 
If you are that sensitive to hickory, try just using straight lump, no other wood. Personally I like a deep hickory flavor.
Dave
 
The only time I got that bitterness is when the hickory flamed and burned.
I'd try it after a soak, that may be all it is.
 
Cabin Fever said:
Thanks for the info so far folks. A couple things that I forgot to mention is that I'm using hickory chunks that I bought from Lowes and I do not soak them. Boshizzle, next time I'll try burning the chunks to a complete ember before adding them to the fire to see how that works out. I've got to say though that this really gives me a new appreciation of how strong hickory actually is. One of the things I love about cherry wood is that even when it's not burning cleanly it's still pretty light and sweet smelling. Oh well, every cook is a learning process.
Click to expand...

I have used the bags from Lowes. I haven't had a problem, but I have noticed that sometimes there are alot of "barky" pieces in there. Maybe too much bark? I have noticed that some places that sell wood chunks by the pound have cleaner looking wood than the other stuff.
 
Do you have yer exhaust all the way open? Whatever I'm cooking on, I normally leave the exhaust all the way open and control temps with the intake (this is for non-stickburners - on my stickburner, I control temp by size of the fire). You may just have a nasty batch, too.
 
I have always used hickory for everything until somebody sent me some cherry in a trade round, you may want to experiment with fruit woods, Lowes and HD has chips of Peach and Cherry, using chips (soaked) you can add just a few and figure out exactly how many you need for that perfect flavor. Fruit woods are much gentler that hickory or mesquite. Good Look
 
I think the most common causes of bitter hickory taste are green wood and bark. If you get it in the bag it is sure to be dry enough. Sort it out and get rid of any bark and anything else besides solid wood. Use small pieces you will have to split most of it. Soak the pieces. I use just a handful on top of already going lump charcoal. That should give at least an hour of good blue smoke. That's enough. A little hickory goes a long way.
 
Trying using hickory logs ,can anyone tell the taste by using a few chunks of any wood.
 
I'd get some Hickory from a different source and try it.

Apple is a great smoking wood, too. Think I have 9 different smoking woods out in my garage. Never have too many.
 
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