Oregon Oak for smoking?

[dustydust]

Hi all, I'm curious if anybody has any experience with the oak found in the northwest, west of the mountains. I'm in Washington state and have a friend with a few oak trees. He said I can take all the fallen branches I want.

I've never smoked with oak before, but my buddy swears by it for his brisket. He uses the oak Traeger pellets. I like to keep it traditional with locally sourced wood, so I'm gonna give our local oak a shot, unless of course, you all say it's not very good.

Here are the names Wikipedia has for this oak grown in Washington: Quercus garryana, the Garry oak, Oregon white oak, Oregon oak, or Hu'dshnam.

 

[tom b]

I don't know anything about the oak up there but oak is used all the time. I use red oak on my santa maria and offset.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

It says that species of wood is similar to other white oaks so you should be good to go. It's a hardwood so you'll need to season it for probably a year or more, but free wood is good wood.

 

[Battleborn]

I've had tri tip cooked santa maria style over white oak as well as the preferred, traditional red oak. I couldn't tell the difference. Smoking with it, I couldn't say for sure but I would bet that just like red or post or any other oak I know of it will burn very hot and very clean. Very mild smoke, maybe none if it's too dry

 

[dustydust]

Thanks for the responses! It sounds like this oak is a GO. I'll pick up some of his branches and let em season for a while. It'll sure be nice to have some oak in my arsenal!

 

[Smoke Dawg]

Season it and burn it. If you avoid using the bark it is best

 

[Richard_]

I live in Oregon and have used it with great results , it gives a real nice Smokey flavor