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White Oak

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krshome

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So I have white oak trees as far as the eye can see. How is white oak for smoking? is it a universal wood as far as flavor go's. Does it go with different meats mostly pork and beef.
 
I use white oak for everything and am a big fan. Virginians have been using to cook BBQ for centuries.
 
Great! $6 for a small bag of wood from lowes was getting kinda ridiculous. If its free its for me! I have also been trying to figure if VA had a style of BBQ, I guess this would be it.
 
Virginia style? American style BBQ started in Virginia and spread from there. Hickory and oak were the woods of choice. Salt, pepper, lard/butter, vinegar and cayenne pepper were the seasonings of choice unless you were wealthy. Then, you would add some jelly, honey, fruit syrup, or sugar to the mix. And, they cooked all kinds of meat not just pork though pork was prevalent.
 
White oak is great for beef. Post oak, used a lot in the Central Texas BBQ Meccas where brisket is king, is a type of white oak.
 
Boshizzle said:
Virginia style? American style BBQ started in Virginia and spread from there. Hickory and oak were the woods of choice. Salt, pepper, lard/butter, vinegar and cayenne pepper were the seasonings of choice unless you were wealthy. Then, you would add some jelly, honey, fruit syrup, or sugar to the mix. And, they cooked all kinds of meat not just pork though pork was prevalent.
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Thanks for the schooling, I really mean it. I didn't even think VA was know for BBQ. All I ever here around me is NC style but I guess its really it VA style. (I hope i'm not starting a war)
 
There was a time when places in states now known as BBQ meccas advertised "old Virginia BBQ" on their menus.

Virginia has a rich BBQ history. I am going to write about it one of these days.
 
The best wood is the ones that grow near you, unless of course you're in Pine city Colorado. I smoke with oak & honey locust cuz I get get them cheap here from the landscaping guys in Nassau County. $75 fills my entire truck bed.

Also hillarious is that there's alot of places around NYC & Long Island claim to cook with hickory. If they all burned hickory the way they imply they do, we'd burn up every hickory tree from here to upstate NY.
 
snyper77 said:
To my knowledge, anything ending in "oak" is great to cook with. I use red oak, here in AL.
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Not sure I agree with that. I think it depends on where the tree is regionally. I know that red oak here in Maine is not the same as the red oak in Cali. I tried red oak when I lived in VA, and I've tried 'que cooked with New England red oak...and I don't like the results. I've heard that black and pin oak isn't that great for smoking either.
 
snyper77 said:
To my knowledge, anything ending in "oak" is great to cook with. I use red oak, here in AL.
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CarolinaQue said:
Not sure I agree with that. I think it depends on where the tree is regionally. I know that red oak here in Maine is not the same as the red oak in Cali. I tried red oak when I lived in VA, and I've tried 'que cooked with New England red oak...and I don't like the results. I've heard that black and pin oak isn't that great for smoking either.
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I agree with CarolinaQue, not all oaks are created equal. I will not use northern red oak for bbq either. The southern red oak that snyper77 uses is not the same tree that we have here. I have mentioned this in other threads as well, just because we all have a "red oak" growing in our area doesn't mean we all have the same tree. FWIW there are 49 species of oak in North America and I seriously doubt that all of them have been used to cook Q.
 
I will use red oak in a pinch... so long as it is well cured. Red oak in my area smells like the tom cat marked his territory. White oak is always a go to.
 
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