Cherry wood for smoking?

S

Sid Post

is Blowin Smoke!
Joined
May 31, 2013
Location
East...
I was looking for some Oak for my Shirley but, for some strange reason right now, everyone seems to have Cherry. I suspect the Oak is all in someone's fireplace right now.

I'm thinking Cherry will be good for Pork and Fowl but, what about Beef?

I had one guy offer some Walnut! :crazy: Would it smoke very well? I have heard rumors of some Pecan being available but, so far nothing firm.

I do have a line on some Oak cut-offs from a sawmill a ways off that I will most likely pick up when I make a brisket and rib run (local sources are a bit sketchy quality-wise) next time I go.

There are a few places within reasonable driving distance for 'face cords' of Oak in the $250~300 range which seems a bit high though we are in the mid-60's to low-70's for daytime high's right now so, fireplace use is up with overnight lows in the mid-30's to mid-40's! :lol:

So, would Cherry be a reasonable option for Brisket? Or, should I wait for some Oak to turn up in the February/March timeframe? I should note that I have a few options on my property to tide me over until the weather warms up and firewood demand is down. Hmm, maybe I should work on my Pork and Chicken skills right now with some Cherry wood while I wait for things to warm up outside for an Oak and Brisket run in early Spring... Thoughts?
 
cherry is my favorite to smoke with. It is fine for beef. If you are worried throw on a few mesquite chunks to round it out. When I can cherry is all I use.
 
Cherry is fine to smoke with. I've read different people say different things about it, but I've used just cherry for many of things, beef included, and it turns out delicious. My usual mix is oak, hickory, and cherry. But many of times my cooking wood pile has been depleted and I've had to get into my heating wood pile which consists of a lot of cherry. I'll grab just cherry out of that pile to use. I do know people that use only cherry. I say go for it....
 
It's all personal preference, but for me cherry / apple on beef just tastes out of place. It says you're in East Texas so I'm quite surprised you can't find tons of oak / hickory / mesquite in your area all seasoned and ready to go. Where are you looking?

I'm not sure what city you're in, but I searched on Craigslist in "Deep East Texas" and found quite a bit of Post Oak, Red Oak, and a few others. If you're near Kirbyville you can buy just about any wood you want.
https://nacogdoches.craigslist.org/for/d/kirbyville-firewood-for-sale/7038495594.html

Your best bet is to find your city / region on Craigslist, or the Facebook Marketplace, and search for Firewood.
 
I love cherry that is about all I use. It will turn chicken darker but the taste is great. When I do a brisket I use cherry and hickory but you can use just cherry and it will taste fine. I do tritip with cherry all the time and have not had complaints. Give it a whirl you may find you a new favorite wood :-D
 
Right now cherry is all I have and I love it. I haven't tried it on a brisket yet but I have done a tri tip and a few chuck roasts and they were great.
 
I prefer black cherry when I can get it.
Cherry is all Diesel Dave used in his 30X70 Shirley.
 
I have cherry, apple, peach, plumb, pecan, orange and hickory almost all of the time. I really like the cherry for ribs the most. But it does fine with almost anything. That said, I much prefer hickory for beef. I had some walnut one, run away, far away.
 
Sid, Cut-offs are great. I had a buddy that owned a cross tie mill for about 25 years. It was about 4 miles from the house, and we had all the free wood we wanted to load.

A word of caution though, occasionally they would run some cypress, and Mike would forget that I used some of the wood for smokers, not just for yard bonfires. Your source might not encounter any cypress, but I would definitely ask what they had been milling.

I can personally guarantee that just one piece of cypress, inadvertently added to your smoker can, and WILL totally screw a brisket cook. Hard to tell any difference from oak, in rough blocks, with the bark cut off. I also wasn't thinking I needed to look for any other wood species.

Only happened to me once, but it was enough for me to ask if they had cut anything other than oak, that might have been in the pile of cut-offs.

Not trying to dissuade you from getting cut-offs, they are great, just ask, or sort yourself.

Merry Christmas
 
Cherry is good for everything, if on the mild side. Mix in some pecan or hickory if it's not strong enough.
 
SmoothBoarBBQ said:
It's all personal preference, but for me cherry / apple on beef just tastes out of place. It says you're in East Texas so I'm quite surprised you can't find tons of oak / hickory / mesquite in your area all seasoned and ready to go. Where are you looking?

I'm not sure what city you're in, but I searched on Craigslist in "Deep East Texas" and found quite a bit of Post Oak, Red Oak, and a few others. If you're near Kirbyville you can buy just about any wood you want.
https://nacogdoches.craigslist.org/for/d/kirbyville-firewood-for-sale/7038495594.html

Your best bet is to find your city / region on Craigslist, or the Facebook Marketplace, and search for Firewood.
Click to expand...

Right now, it's all a 100+ mile drive. I know, crazy isn't it or, seriously price gouged. Come early Spring, it will be easy to source at a good price even if I don't cut any myself.

For unexplained reasons other than the holiday season, Oak around me is sold out except for price gouged sources. I have called on several Craigslist sources close to me and their ads were misleading to say the least IF you know what you are buying (i.e. they are taking advantage of city slickers who don't know what firewood should cost, only that it is priced better than 7-Eleven and other convenience stores).

I'm not opposed to someone making a fair profit for their labor but, I won't support someone taking advantage of the buying public either with false claims of full ricks and cords that are not what they claim.
 
chicagokp said:
As everyone says above, Cherry is fine. Stay away from the Walnut though.
Click to expand...

I'd give Pecan a whirl but, I'd be super cautious about Walnut in a smoker. That one surprised me a bit because most people would sell it to a mill for furniture and laminates.
 
Smoke on Badger Mountain said:
I have cherry, apple, peach, plumb, pecan, orange and hickory almost all of the time. I really like the cherry for ribs the most. But it does fine with almost anything. That said, I much prefer hickory for beef. I had some walnut one, run away, far away.
Click to expand...

Debating some pork ribs and cherry right now for a post-Christmas run. If I go up to Oklahoma anytime soon, some Pecan will probably follow me home. :heh:
 
homesmoke said:
Sid, Cut-offs are great. I had a buddy that owned a cross tie mill for about 25 years. It was about 4 miles from the house, and we had all the free wood we wanted to load.

A word of caution though, occasionally they would run some cypress, and Mike would forget that I used some of the wood for smokers, not just for yard bonfires. Your source might not encounter any cypress, but I would definitely ask what they had been milling.

I can personally guarantee that just one piece of cypress, inadvertently added to your smoker can, and WILL totally screw a brisket cook. Hard to tell any difference from oak, in rough blocks, with the bark cut off. I also wasn't thinking I needed to look for any other wood species.

Only happened to me once, but it was enough for me to ask if they had cut anything other than oak, that might have been in the pile of cut-offs.

Not trying to dissuade you from getting cut-offs, they are great, just ask, or sort yourself.

Merry Christmas
Click to expand...

I appreciate the warning about mixed wood thrown in the cutoff pile. Right now, they say they are running 100% Oak. It's a ways off but, I could hit a Kroger and H-E-B along the way and load up my Shirley and put a few things in the freezer too so, even though a bit of a drive, it's probably worth it in the long run.

Plus, it would probably get me through the local shortage of reputable firewood sellers and into Spring which opens up my self-sourced options.
 
I like the smoke ring from cherry on brisket. All things considered I would probably choose a 50/50 mix of pecan and cherry if I could only pick one combination to use for everything.
 
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