Smoking Meat

[fivestring]

I use cherry, hickory, pecan and apple mostly.

Pecan and apple are hard to find. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Can ornamental crab apple be used ?

I just trimmed a bunch of limbs from these trees.

[egon]

Fivestring:

Smoking/drying/preserving meat has been going on for many a year in many different places. Many of thoses places have different wood. Some may even have used chips. I would suggest that almost any wood will work as long as the process is set up properly! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[fivestring]

Some woods give off a pungent taste to the meat... mesquite comes to mind first.
I refuse to use that stuff.

I guess I'll go burn some of this and see what it smells like.

If it's OK, then I'll try it for rib smoking. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Bird]

You must have a different kind of mesquite than we have, or you had something else with it because mesquite is what I use all the time. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Chuck52]

I've used Bradford pear wood for smoking and it does real well. I'd bet the crab apple would work just like apple, which is a nice mild smoke. I have an old apple tree I trim limbs off occasionally. I really like that wood for smoking pork. I used oak once, and perhaps I just overdid the smoke, but the meat was almost inedible.....not that I didn't eat it anyway!

Chuck

[turnagerg]

I just trimmed a bunch of limbs from these trees.

I'm not the resident expert on smoking meat, but from what I've read your wood should be dry. Seems that the green wood creates "tars" or something that can give a bad taste.

[egon]

" The Art of Smoking Meat "

Think you will find almost as many procedures and different wood as you will find people smoking meat. The best thing about this is that all are usually correct if they produce the desired product..

Nothing like home cured and smoked bacon. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Or sausages [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] or jerky [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] or fish [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[johnk]

Also be careful using cherry. If you smoke the meat a long time with it , the meat will get a bitter taste to it. Cherry wood gives a great color and taste as long as it is used sparingly. I make a lot of smoked sausage....

[johnk]

Here's a pic of 50# of Polish sausage...

[Fred]

I just smoked some ribs the other night without using wood [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
I used a pie tin with water and Liquid Smoke (hickory flavor) added set over one burner and put the ribs over the unlit burner. I'm obviously am not a purist, but it's the taste that counts, right? [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]