Cooking with wood?

Pa_BBQ

Pa_BBQ

is one Smokin' Farker
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Do any of you guys cook with nothing but wood once the fire is going?

I ask because both my neighbors have logging companies and I am sure I can get a few logs to cut up for my BBQ

Most of the wood in this area are Oak (Red and White) Maple, Cherry and some Hickory.

I had read once before that you need to remove the bark, is that true?

I know BBQ is about trial and error just trying to get an idea before doing too much trial.

I use wood chips in my verticals and egg, hoping I can use mostly wood in my offset since its so easily accessible.
 
Wood is the only thing I use. No you don't have to remove the bark, Al lof the wood you mention are great for cooing, I use mostly hickory because it free and already cut.
 
jestridge said:
Wood is the only thing I use. No you don't have to remove the bark, Al lof the wood you mention are great for cooing, I use mostly hickory because it free and already cut.
Click to expand...

agree...

I start out with charcoal(to get a coal base)and then go to sticks. Remember, only build a fire big enough to maintain you target temp, air is your friend in stick burning.
 
I have 3 stick burners (reverse flow off set) strickly all I burn in them is wood. I do not remove the bark. 3rd generation wood burner
 
I use a chimney of charcoal to light my wood then stay wood.

As for the listed woods, they are all good to go.

Nothing beats free cherry wood.
 
Depends on the size of your offset. On smaller ones (New Braunsfels, etc), I've used mostly charcoal with wood chunks. On my LyfeTyme pit, I start with some charcoal for a base, then small/med split logs. Seasoned always.
 
Pa_BBQ said:
Do you guys use seasoned, green or both when cooking.
Click to expand...

For us, 100% nice dry seasoned wood. I'll be using a little sugar maple
and a little cherry when smoking turkeys (in a few hours). For beef &
pork I stick with mostly hickory and I'll mix in a small amount of oak (a
little more if white oak, a little less with red oak). We like the oak
flavor, but honestly it can get a bit on the overbearing side if too much,
red oak especially. It gets towards mesquite this way...
 
Green cherry is gross. Just say no.

When you are a stick burner... there is little, to no, need to burn green wood. You get great flavor without it.
 
Lake Dogs said:
For us, 100% nice dry seasoned wood. I'll be using a little sugar maple
and a little cherry when smoking turkeys (in a few hours). For beef &
pork I stick with mostly hickory and I'll mix in a small amount of oak (a
little more if white oak, a little less with red oak). We like the oak
flavor, but honestly it can get a bit on the overbearing side if too much,
red oak especially. It gets towards mesquite this way...
Click to expand...

Interesting. I have always found that hickory can be overpowering, but oak is usually not. Time for me to do some serious comparisons.
 
So I need to shoot to white oak, maple and cherry from what I am reading.
I will need to find some seasoned wood from someone, the stuff i will get for free will be green and saved for summer.
 
Hawg Father of Seoul said:
Interesting. I have always found that hickory can be overpowering, but oak is usually not. Time for me to do some serious comparisons.
Click to expand...

I have heard this from a few other folks as well. I understand that there
are variances in hickory much like red to white oak. The hickory around
here apparently is of the lighter variety. I've heard that hickory towards
the coast tends to be more dense and overbearing. Not sure about it
in your area... Where are the really good arborists when you need 'em?
 
Pa_BBQ said:
So I need to shoot to white oak, maple and cherry from what I am reading.
I will need to find some seasoned wood from someone, the stuff i will get for free will be green and saved for summer.
Click to expand...

Dont discount hickory, and red oak for that matter. There are folks that
prefer the stronger smokey flavors that red oak can bring. Also, there
are variances across regions (in trees and wood). Your red oak may be
lighter than the ones here, etc.

If you're not accustomed to cooking on wood (or straight up wood), I
suggest starting with smaller amounts early on, and only very dry wood
so as to quickly get to sweet blue vs. billowy white smoke. Otherwise
you may end up with a creosote laiden mess that's very bitter (been
there; done that). Even now we use charcoal as the basis for the
heat and mix in the wood for the smoke flavor. Also, on long cooks,
we'll foil the meats between 4 to 5 hours so that they stay a nice brown
color vs. black.
 
Lake Dogs said:
Dont discount hickory, and red oak for that matter. There are folks that
prefer the stronger smokey flavors that red oak can bring. Also, there
are variances across regions (in trees and wood). Your red oak may be
lighter than the ones here, etc.

If you're not accustomed to cooking on wood (or straight up wood), I
suggest starting with smaller amounts early on, and only very dry wood
so as to quickly get to sweet blue vs. billowy white smoke. Otherwise
you may end up with a creosote laiden mess that's very bitter (been
there; done that). Even now we use charcoal as the basis for the
heat and mix in the wood for the smoke flavor. Also, on long cooks,
we'll foil the meats between 4 to 5 hours so that they stay a nice brown
color vs. black.
Click to expand...

When I first got into smoking, and stepped up to a char-broil offset from the brinkman water smoker I way over smoked food but believe I was using green oak. I have learned a lot since then and one of the best things I have learned is to ask before I try. :)

How are things in Georgia, I lived in south Ga for 15 years, miss it sometimes, especially in the winter.
 
I use primarily white oak, with some additional hickory, apple, or peach depending what I'm cooking and what flavor I'm after. I only use seasoned wood, and all I use is wood in my stickburner. Don't worry about removing the bark unless you got mold or some kind of fungus growning on it.
 
I start with a chimney of charcoal to get things going then I use seasoned hickory and apple. If the bark comes off easy I'll tear it off. Otherwise I don't worry about it too much. :cool:
 
Pa_BBQ said:
When I first got into smoking, and stepped up to a char-broil offset from the brinkman water smoker I way over smoked food but believe I was using green oak. I have learned a lot since then and one of the best things I have learned is to ask before I try. :)

How are things in Georgia, I lived in south Ga for 15 years, miss it sometimes, especially in the winter.
Click to expand...

It's been REALLY nice the last week. 2 weeks back it was cold and nasty,
but lately it's been a bit of an, if I may be politically incorrect for a moment,
an Indian Summer. Temps in the low to mid 70's every day, crisp and
dry, but we expect a little rain today. I'm from the Atlanta area originally
and moved down to the center of the state a few years back. If I ever
leave, it'll be to move farther south...

Best of luck with that new smoker; I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Show the
neighbors what really good smoked BBQ is all about. Be warned though;
there's always someone in the crowd who prefers their "bbq" cooked
in a crock pot...
:shock:
 
Pa BBQ- Be sure you are smoking your meats in sweet blue smoke and not the bad white smoke. That one mistake can completely change the flavor profile of your meat. It may be that if you were over-smoking (and if you were using green would I bet you were) the taste will be completely different. For example, I used to think that the woods I used were causing an over powerful smoke flavor-almost to the point of bitter but it was actually my poor firemanship. Now It is very difficult for me to get too much smoke and I even prefer mesquite on my beef now, which has a much smokier taste than hickory or oak. Go to the KCers Roadmap and look for the thread on blue smoke v. white smoke...it may change your world.
 
I usually get a big fire going with propane burner , it will usuall spike to around 500 when it statr coming down and the smoke is blue will put the meat on then maintaine it aroun 250- 280
Then when it drop below 250 add log or some sticks. I use mostly hickory. Don't care for apple it just don't get hot enough
 
I'm not a stickburner but in a thread about birch somebody mentioned using that - it's got a lighter flavor so when using it in a stickburner it works well and doesn't oversmoke. It's a lighter version of maple and burns nice and hot.
 
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