re: Wood for smoking food

I have a pretty large smoker and typically use chunks roughly the size of a soda can. I'd imagine bigger chunks would take longer to dry than smaller pieces. On small pieces maybe only a few months to dry would be fine.

I do my best to remove all the bark. The bark creates a lot of smoke and creates a funny taste on the meat. Plus, theres lots of critters that live between the bark and the wood that I'd prefer not to have in my food.

Some people skip a step and use lump charcoal for smoking. It creates clean smoke, is easy to control the temp and gives great flavor. Its not the cheapest way to go, but in a pinch it works great.