Mesquite question.

[FatDaddy]

When cooking with mesquite should i use another wood like Oak for heat and mesquite for flavor? Ive wondered about this after reading post where people are using multiple woods. i know u can achieve different flavors by blending woods. but i know that mesquite gives a really strong flavor. Currently i only use mesquite for the whole cook.

Thanks,
Jason.

 

[BrooklynQ]

Mesquite gives a lot of heat as well as flavor. People either seem to love the flavor or hate it. Not much middle ground there.

MESQUITE - Strong earthy flavor. Good with beef, fish, chicken, and game. One of the hottest burning. Can be bitter. My family doesn't like it if I use only mesquite in the fire. They feel it makes the food "hot" and "spicy."

OAK - Heavy smoke flavor--the Queen of smoking wood. RED OAK is good on ribs, WHITE OAK makes the best coals for longer burning. All oak varieties reported as suitable for smoking. Good with red meat, pork, fish and heavy game.

 

[BrooklynQ]

Here's a link to the BTUs of each hardwood. It's pretty interesting. I didn't know that Apple burns hotter than Oak.

http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

 

[FatDaddy]

yea i love my mesquite but just curious as to what other brethren cook with and why. bout the only wood i can get here is mesquite and oak. unless i buy hickory chunks at walmart.

 

[BrooklynQ]

I like hickory, oak, and pecan when I can get it. These pretty much work on all meats.

Beef, I like just oak, hickory or pecan. Fruit woods mixed in for pork or fish.

Cherry, Apple, Peah, Pear for Pork mixed with oak or hickory. Mulberry's good too, but only when I cook with Phil. Never been able to get it on my own.

 

[bbqjoe]

I use mesquite the whole way round. The trick is to let it burn a little before putting on the meat. That way it never gets bitter. But still gives flavor.

 

[jgh1204]

I am in the anti-mesquite crowd. Although, I have had some good bbq that was cooked with mesquite. I have also had very bad mesquite bbq.

I prefer pecan, hickory and oak. But, I am a wood novice having just switched from gas 6 months ago.

 

[FatDaddy]

I use mesquite the whole way round. The trick is to let it burn a little before putting on the meat. That way it never gets bitter. But still gives flavor.

yea i start off with a chimney of charcoal, then a few logs to get it goin. it usually takes me 30-45min to get my pit up to temp, and then i keep logs ontop of the firebox so they ignite almost immediatly and hardly ever get copious amounts of whitesmoke. usually run my pit with dampers wide open and stack wide open.

 

[ZILLA]

I agree with BBQJoe. I have found most folks misuse Mesquite and are then disappointed with the results. A preburn is the safest way to go.

 

[BBQchef33]

i use mesquite in very small amounts, usually mixed with oak, and ONLY on beef. To potent for other stuff(IMO)...

I am really shocked that apple is hotter than oak in the list. Whenever i used apple, i had to use much more to get up to temp than i do with oak. On the BYC a single log of oak will give me 250, whereas with apple i need a few logs and bigger fire. That chart is really surprising.

 

[FatDaddy]

ill burn a chit load of logs in my pit. not to mention i fight to keep the temp up most of the time and ocassionally have temp spikes but more often then not im constantly feeding it mesq logs. i dont know if the dimensions are off from the firebox to the pit or if that matters. it looks plenty big

 

[djmarko]

I agree with Poobah. A little mesquite goes a long way.

 

[VitaminQ]

Put me in the anti-mesquite column. I use pecan almost exclusively- but then, it's plentiful around here. I do think it's about the best all-around wood for smoking. If I could only use one wood for the rest of my life, it would be pecan. Mesquite just seems to finicky to deal with. I'm not a big fan of hickory, either.

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

I use it a lot for beef, but never pork. I've seen mesquite-smoked turkey breasts for sale before so I'll try that some day.

 

[Kevin]

Not a big fan of mesquite for BBQ, but I do keep a bag of K with mesquite around for grilling steaks.

 

[Jorge]

Mesquite can be great, or awful. I prefer pecan most of the time, love oak, and mix in some mesquite for flavor. If you have dry mesquite, preheat it, it's a fine wood. When I do chicken breasts with the intent of using them for enchiladas etc. you can't beat or duplicate the flavor.

 

[BBQchef33]

I cant believe none of us even mentioned this in this thread. :redface: We may all know it, but someone out there may not......

NEVER EVER use green mesquite.
If you must, then burn it down seperately and shovel the hot coals into your firebox.

just thought i'd add that.

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Good point, Phil. That stuff is most definitely nasty! The oils burn to bitter black smoke.

 

[BBQchef33]

AND, from what I have been told, it can damage a pit. The resins adhere to the steel and pit it, also imparting an off taste in anything cooked after it. Dave Klose tells me nothing short of a grinder will help, even sandblasting or bead blasting.

 

[NCGrimbo]

I do wood working for fun, so I have scraps of Red and White Oak lying around all the time. But I find that I use hickory the most since I got a large load of it last year. Now that that's almost gone, I will proably switch back to the oak until I can stock up again.