Fresh cut wood for smoking? Myron Mixon says yes

Bbqin fool

Bbqin fool

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Ok y'all what are your thoughts on this? I was going over an old episode of BBQ Pitmasters (Decatur episode) which showed Myron Mixon cutting down a peach tree. He then said the fresh sugars and sap were essential for his flavor profile. I wasn't sure if I was misunderstanding as everything I have read says that the wood has to cure first as fresh cut wood would leave creosote on the meats. So i got on Twitter and asked Myron @Lord of Q. And he said he always uses fresh cut peach wood. Has anyone tried this? I mean it's not like he doesn't have the credentials. Just kinda surprised. Thanks for your input.
 
If you are cooking hot and fast with friut wood like peach or apple, meaning that brisket is off the fire after four hours and pork butt after 5 hours, OK, sure I can see that.

But, if you cook at 250F low and slow with hickory and oak, you will probably want more seasoned wood because of the longer time the meat will be subjected to smoke.

BTW - MM uses a lot of smoke flavoring in his rubs. So, you really need to do your own tests before taking anyone's word for wood, wood seasoning times, and smoke flavoring.

Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
 
It works for him and his hot and fast style of cooking for competitions. I wouldnt go out and cook low and slow with fresh wood as you might get the creasote build up. He also uses a base of charcoal to get the fire really hot to burn the green peach wood.
 
Hot fire, good draft, green wood. It can and does work well, it can also go terribly wrong.
 
Good cured hardwood will give you heat and a base of coals, if you heat with wood. I do not. "Green"it apple wood or even sugar maple will give a completely different smoke and flavor than does cured. The moisture contained in especially the fruit woods tends to be sweeter and forgiving. Hickory and even oak as well as other hard woods shouldn't probably be used "green"....my opinion.
 
Boshizzle said:
If you are cooking hot and fast with friut wood like peach or apple, meaning that brisket is off the fire after four hours and pork butt after 5 hours, OK, sure I can see that.

But, if you cook at 250F low and slow with hickory and oak, you will probably want more seasoned wood because of the longer time the meat will be subjected to smoke.

BTW - MM uses a lot of smoke flavoring in his rubs. So, you really need to do your own tests before taking anyone's word for wood, wood seasoning times, and smoke flavoring.

Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
Click to expand...


No need to be sorry Bo. Now that you mention it i remember Myron saying he cooks hot and fast. I was just curious cause it just seemed odd to me to use fresh cut wood due to the heavy smoke it gives off. Thanks for the input :razz:
 
Mike Mills says to use green apple wood as well. Maybe for a comp where someone is taking one bite, I would say sure. But at home where you are eating a lot of food, regularly, it wouldn't be the best.

I have a stick burner and I have experimented with green pecan and green hickory, and it gives great flavor, but it can be a real PITA to keep a manageable fire. My most recent purchase of oak and hickory are just a touch greener than I would like, and I'm having a harder time keeping a coal bed than I usually do with well seasoned wood.

I'm just leaving the cover off of the wood pile to help season the wood a bit more.
 
Not quite right. Got to attend Myron's class 2 weeks ago. Myron said:
· Hard woods (hickory and oak) need to be seasoned
· Fruit woods need to be green
· Nothing wrong with dried fruit woods, but you’ll lose all the sap – which is the whole point of cooking with them
 
Last year I bought a truck load of hickory from a sawmill. They supply a lot of wood to some of the local BBQ joints. They also supply the bundels of wood that you see at the supermarkets. The guy told me that a major St Louis area BBQ joint ( I know of at least 3 locations) uses fresh hickory only and they only wanted the 6x6x16 cuts. They use a gas smoker and the wood is for smoke flavor. He named another joint that only uses sassafras.
 
As long as your using the green wood for flavor you'll be alright. That way its only used in small doses and can burn more efficiently and not put out all that creosote. Trying to cook with an all green fire would be damn near impossible. Ive tryed using my mildly seasoned wood in my Lang and it pretty much puts out the fire.
 
Thanks so much for the insight guys! So for adding flavor it might work but is still a risk of putting out the fire. Again, thanks!
 
This gives me an idea. Normally I use all wood, Stickburning with well seasoned oak, apple, and cherry. Going to start using seasoned stuff for coal bed and adding a half split of green fruit wood throughout the cook.
 
For cooking with green wood, you need a hot fire. Offsets are good for this. The fire will burn off the undesirable stuff, so long as it is a nice, hot, clean burning fire. If it is not, or if you are using a Minion Method burn, then you will get all that crap released and it will not burn off in the fire, meaning it will get all over your cooker and your meat.

So in short, yes, you can cook with green wood, but only under the right conditions.
 
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