re: Wood for smoking food

Just cut down a pear tree behind my house and saved most of it for smoking. Heard any tree that bears fruit is good for smoking.

I like the way your meat looks, wiltz

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I like the way your meat looks

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Thanks, I'm proud of it. I believe anyone's meat will look great if properly maintenanced..

pork screams for fruit wood IMHO.

beef, oak or hickory or sometimes mesquite

chicken mesquite

fish (Smoked fish on the half shell is the bomb!)fruits or pecan


I want to try smoking with black walnut wood if I can find some though.

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Wood should be dried for at least a year in my opinion.

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Does it matter if we're talking about logs/large chunks vs. smaller pieces (e.g., 1/2" to 1" thick)?

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Also, removing any bark is also essential.

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Likewise, thick bark vs. thin/slin bark?

Is everyone still drooling over wiltznucs meat and use of his wood over here?

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.

I use Pecan. Like the flavor.