Smokinlicious® Smoking Wood Tips

Our forest grown Hickory cooking wood blocks are center cut with NO BARK! Perfect sizing when you need a “chunky” piece of hardwood for smoking and wood-fired cooking!

HICKORY COOKING WOOD- WHAT A “NUTTY” CHOICE

Continuing our feature on specific hardwoods for the sole purpose of wood-fired cooking, let me introduce you to very popular choice, especially when it comes to hot smoking or pit roasting techniques and meats.

Hickory hardwood is part of the Juglandaceae family of wood better known as the Walnut family. The scientific names for the varieties we manufacture are Carya glabra (Mill.) sweet and Carya laciniosa (Michx.f.) but the common names for the varieties found in the Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania regions include Pignut Hickory, Sweet Pignut, Smoothbark Hickory, Kingnut.

Hickory cooking wood is most commonly used with animal proteins like beef (ribs, brisket), pork (shoulder, ribs), and game (elk, bison, moose, duck, deer). Its overall flavor profile is more significant with a moderate level of infusion. It often is described as having a bacon-like undertone. Because the overall infusion is on the stronger side, it works well when mixed with a lighter hardwood or fruit wood like ash, cherry, or maple to balance the use of Hickory with non-animal proteins.

The overall color that results from the smoke vapor of hickory cooking wood is on the brown or deep side.

Heat Level: High – 27.5 MBTU

Fuel Efficiency: Excellent

Ease of Lighting: Fair

Ideal Uses: Grilling/Roasting/Braising/Pit Roasting/Hot Smoking

Oh, and the answer is no, you don’t need to be concerned with the use of hickory cooking wood for those with a nut allergy. The trigger for an allergic reaction is contained within the nut themselves rather than the tree and occurs when the nut is cracked. So enjoy this giant of the forest and Bon-Bar-B-Q!

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Cherry wood for smoking will bring out the sweetness in anything in the smoker!

WILL CHERRY HARDWOOD SWEETEN EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES?-Without question, Cherry is one of the most popular woods for wood-fired cooking, particularly when it comes to hot smoking using traditional smoking equipment. Despite information SmokinLicious® has provided on this hardwood species (Put a Cherry on It blog & Cherry Wood Question blog), there are still many questions posed and many misunderstandings about this wood. My intention here is to speak on the cherry varieties in North America and ensure that you can make an informed decision when selecting this hardwood for cooking.

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Oak tree in full autumn canopy.

AS HARD AS OAK HARDWOOD!

With over 60 species of oak hardwood in the USA, this hardwood can be split into two categories: Red Oak and White Oak. It is one of the most popular hardwoods to use in cooking likely because of its ready availability. But as we’ve mentioned before, just because something is available in your area, doesn’t make it a success for all cooking techniques and foods.

Oak is a heavy, strong, and ring-porous hardwood resulting in a coarse texture and prominent grain. Oak hardwood is part of the Fagaceae family of wood. The scientific names for the varieties we manufacture are Quercus coccinea Muenchh., Quercus falcata Michx. Var. Falcata, Quercus muehlenbergii Engelm., Quercus prinus L., and Quercus velutina Lam. The common names for the varieties found in the Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania regions include Red Oak, Spanish Oak, Yellow Chestnut Oak, Rock Oak, Smoothbark Oak.

Oak is considered the strongest in flavor for hardwoods. It is known for providing deep coloring to the outer skin of foods meaning a very dark often black outer skin and it can be overpowering to those who aren’t used to smoked foods. It also is a hardwood that can mold easily especially when exposed to significant variations in temperature and humidity. Additionally, it does not like to make contact with metal which can be a challenge when cutting with metal/steel tools! Oak will show its distaste by producing black streaks on the wood or even coating its entire outside with a black “dye”-like substance.

Oak Hardwood Cooking & Smoking Profile:

Heat Level: High – 21.7 (red) 26.5 (white) MBTU

Fuel Efficiency: Excellent

Ease of Lighting: Fair

Ideal Uses: Grilling/Braising/Pit Roasting/Hot Smoking/Cold Smoking (white)

So, if you are keen on bold flavors and definitely like smokiness to your foods, then oak is a clear winner. However, I do recommend using less of this wood when cooking poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables and herbs/spices especially if you have a gas assist unit or are using lump hardwood charcoal or hardwood Charwood for fuel.

SmokinLicious® products:

Wood Blocks

Smoker Logs

Wood Chunks: Double and Single Filet

Wood Chips: Grande Sapore®, Minuto®, & Piccolo®

More Related reading on “What Wood for Smoking” and other great smoking and grilling tips and techniques

Related reading:

-THE BOLDNESS OF OAK!

-IS THE FOOD INDUSTRY CULPABLE FOR THE SPREAD OF OAK TREE MORTALITY?

-COOKING WITH WOOD YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT YOUR SAFETY

-WHAT WOOD TO USE FOR SMOKING: A PRIMER

Dr. Smoke uses Oak Hardwood for long ember fired cooking and grilling!

Ash will tantalize your smoke with a Mediterranean flare

I’LL TAKE MINE WITH AN OLIVE!

We’re off to introduce you to Ash- another hardwood that may not be as well known for cooking as some of its siblings in the hardwood family. But this particular wood, in my opinion, is one of the hidden gems of the hardwood forest.

Ash hardwood is part of the Oleaceae family of wood which is the family of olive trees. The scientific name for the variety we manufacture is Fraxinus Americana L. but the common names for the varieties found in the Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania regions include American Ash, Ash, Biltmore Ash.

This hardwood is so versatile in the kitchen whether indoors using wood chips for stovetop smoking, cold smoking, or handheld food smoking or outside in the traditional smoker, LP grill or pizza oven. It can be used with any food for natural wood flavoring/smoking; essentially, any wood-fired cooking technique. The flavor profile is on the light side making it ideal for most any food but in particular, it works great with wood-fired pizza and fish due to its lower moisture level and ability to form the most even bed of coals. I really like using Ash wood chunks for ember or coal cooking as nothing beats how this wood lays the perfect small dimension bed of embers.

Ash provides a neutral coloring to the outer skin of foods. This wood mixes easily with other hardwoods and fruit woods, particularly Hickory, Maple, Cherry, and Alder. It can even tone down the harshness of pungent woods like oak and mesquite.

ASH ATTRIBUTES IN WOOD FIRED COOKING & SMOKING:

Heat Level: High – 23.6 MBTU

Fuel Efficiency: Good to Great

Ease of Lighting: Fair

Ideal Uses: Baking/Grilling/Roasting/Braising/Pit Roasting/Hot Smoking/Cold Smoking

Why not consider leaving the traditional hardwoods for your wood-fired cooking and flavoring and enjoy the awesome benefits of the lesser known Ash hardwood tree!

More related reading on smoking & Grilling tips and technique see our directory on previous blogs!

More blogs about wood species:

THE USA IS NOT ALONE: ITALY’S OLIVE TREES FALL TO BACTERIUM

WHAT WOOD TO USE FOR SMOKING: A PRIMER

Dr. Smoke- Ash is a great hardwood & can be used for many types of wood fired cooking or smoking!

Our Cherry smoking wood adds a wonderful favor for Smoking, Grilling or Ember cooking. Adds a distinctive reddish-pink hue!

Our Cherry wood smoke is a wonderful flavor for Smoking, Grilling or Ember cooking! Share on X

We introduced you first to the details on the ever-popular Sugar Maple hardwood but now let’s talk fruit wood, specifically, the forest grown cherry hardwood.

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