Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Wood for smoking

I talked to my cousin in Wyoming tonight. To make a long story short his firewood business is growing another appendage and now he's starting to furnish wood to outdoor cookeries that use different woods to smoke and flavor their food.

He started out with hickory, and he thinks he's got a supplier for it. (he bought about 8 cords, but now his supplier dried up) A steady supply is another thing. He's recently gotten a number of inquiries about Mesquite wood and Pecan wood. He's now looking for a supplier for that type of wood.

While he lives in Wyoming, he travels to Wi every few months to visit family, and will be going to Cedar Rapids Iowa area too since now there is some family down there. He wouldn't mind traveling to Missouri or West Texas to get wood tho.

Right now, he has the equipment to haul about 4 cords of green wood at a time, but if the price is right, he'd work out a deal to get a semi to haul 10 cords at a time. The wood doesn't have to be cut up and split, he has a wood processor and can do that. He is looking for log length, but will take cut to length, or even cut and split wood. He's not looking for seasoned wood, the customers of his prefer green wood.

If anyone knows where he can get mesquite. pecan, hickory or even apple or alder could you PM me? He doesn't use the computer at all, but I can relay messages to him.

Thanks

I can get him a source of Mesquite in the Houston area. I have been using the same guy for 15 years and used him at other restaurants for 15 years before that. BUT Mesquite is getting more pricey every day. I am paying about 240 for a full cord now and still can't get it some time, if the weather is wet and access is hard. I use about 2 chords a month. If I were to buy a full 18 wheeler I could get for less but I do not have the storage. I use Post Oak for smoking and is about 1/2 the price but the green Mesquite I use in the restaurant is best for the seafood and burns hot!

Let me know if you need the number.

Rob C

Rob:

Thanks. I'll give him a call tomorrow and find out for sure.

Do not underestimate oak (I prefer red, but white works) and it's all over the Midwest.

Oak works well (white and red) but it is a neutral flavor. The others add a stronger taste which many like.

I talked to him about Oak, but he's got to furnish what his customers want. I agree, Oak is the easiest one to source around here, I'm swimming in it. (well that and river birch)

Rob:

Thanks again. He doesn't need the phone number right now as he isn't set up to make the trip from Casper, WY to there to pick up enough to make the trip pay for itself.

Is the mesquite you're using split or in chunks?

I talked to him this a.m. while he was sitting in his truck waiting for the road to open. He said he walked about a block to his truck thru waist deep snow (he parked it on a hill rather than in the depression where his house is). The highway isn't open for him to get to work yet, he's sitting in the truck by the gate that they close on the on-ramp during bad weather.

Ah, someone needs to rethink the 'neutral flavor' thought....oak is the goto wood for BBQ

Maybe in your neck of the woods. BBQ is highly local. Up here we prefer hickory.

BBQ wood is regional. Oak is much more available closer to Wyoming than is Hickory.

I read somewhere hickory is the king of bbq woods and oak is the queen. Anyone thinking oak is bland or less than flavorful has probably never cooked with it...

I sell pecan wood from my 340 acre orchard but I am in Georgia and the shipping would probably be prohibitive. But if he is interested I can help!

As many PB regulars know, I do a lot of food smoking with wood. Only on a hobby scale, but still, several hundred pounds a year.

My property is probably 75% oak -- red, white, and chestnut. To me, the red oak is the most flavorful. The others are OK, just don't have the deep permeating flavor. It is my favorite choice for venison and beef.

We have a number of different kinds of hickory. They are great for pork, but are really good general purpose smoking woods.

I live in apple country (we are home to Whitehouse, National Fruit, and what had been Musselman apple products). I have easy access to applewood, as nearly every year, large local orchards get bulldozed into big burn piles when they start to lose productivity. I like it for poultry and fish.

I've been involved with smoking food since I was a little kid. Lots of woods can be used. My dad used alder when he'd make bacon, but maple for the hams.

Most hardwoods that produce nuts or fruits make good smoking wood. Save strong smelling or tasting wood, like sassafras, for making fil� for gumbo. In my opinion, black walnut is too overpowering as a smoking wood. Don't use evergreens.

No one said oak was bland. It is neutral unlike hickory and mesquite which have a distinct taste which many like. We have many types of oak and use them for B'bq and cooking out. If we use hickory , mesquite or others it is as an added flavor in small amounts.

Cray:

Thanks. I'll let him know. I think to make it worth his while, he'd have to bring about 10 full cords back. That'd be a semi-load, or somewhere around 40,000#.

We're gonna disagree here, Oak isn't neutral in flavor. Of course, it could be a difference in cooking technique. I have a stick burner, burn a lot of wood. If you're talking about using chunks or shavings on a charcoal grill like a weber, I can see where you're coming from.

I use all split, but my guy also sells chunk I believe.

Rob C

This is free hardwood -- but, not good wood for smoking. Actually, the mature trees are not good for much anything other than pallets and shipping crates.

I have some good friends in the Hudson, SD area who need to have a large quantity of very large cottonwood trees removed. They are apparently 3-4 feet in diameter, and were planted many years ago as shelterbelts/windbreaks on a large farm. Hudson is about in the middle of the triangle formed by Sioux Falls, SD, Sioux City, IA, and Worthington, MN.

If anybody is interested, please send me a PM and I'll put you in touch with the family.

If he wants to come to central Texas he can have a bunch of Pecan wood from me just for cutting and hauling it off. I have a bunch. I have lost some really big trees due to the drought.

If I am doing a long smoke in my stick burner I prefer to use oak. The flavor is great, and the woods are full of oak trees in my neck of the woods. For an intermediate cook I will use charcoal with hickory or mesquite chunks from the store. Lately though, I have been mostly cheating and using my electric smoker. It is so much easier and I can actually sleep through the night when trying to do a pork butt or two.

I have done quite a bit of pork and beef, but have not experimented with any fish yet. I think the first thing I am going to try is Asian Carp. I have heard mixed reports on their edibility.... only smoke and time will tell. Has anyone ate one of these before?

What a great topic - I had to chime in! I love pecan, a lighter version of hickory - wish I lived closer to the South. Tons of red and pin oak up in Lincoln - whenever I hear the chainsaws firing up in the neighborhood I drive until I find them and take whatever they haven't already chipped. Takes me a couple years to season, but I love it for making lump charcoal, winter fires for the family, and smoking, too. I agree Oak doesn't impart as strong a smoke as mesquite or hickory - but it's versatile, abundant, and free.

I'm using Mulberry lately as it grows in the fencerows all over Eastern NE - it's a dense, hot, and good smoking wood with a slightly fruity smoke - but pops too much for the fireplace. I recommend trying it if it's available in your area.

Couple woods no one has mentioned here are my two favorite companion woods - cherry and sugar maple. While cherry might not be as common, sugar maples are pretty ubiquitous and I like adding to oak or hickory.

Tried lilac this Summer on fish - it was awesome, but wood is hard to source.

Sorry can't help you with the woods you're looking for Scott, but we do have plenty of mulberry, oak, ash and maple down here. Ash is pretty light but good on everything...I have tons of green ash.

Thanks TJ. You driving to Peoria? If so, remind me in January and I might be able to throw some cherry in the car for ya.

I would love any cherry you can manage. Would you like to try some mulberry? Burns hot and long, great smoking wood, but very poppy.

TJ, I've got Mulberry. I picked up a tree that was probably 18" across and the tree service guy said it was Mulberry.

O.K. on the Cherry. I'll put some aside for you.

Do you want sapwood, heartwood or does it matter?

This brings a chuckle, based on my early-1970s Navy days in Hawaii. Licking psychedelic toads was a big thing amongst the Hawaiian hippie culture of the early 1970s. The toads loved living in my cucumber patch in Wahiawa. I should have started a business selling them.

Psychoative Toad Kissing

I unfortunately don't have any lilacs, but plan to put some in next spring. No psychedelic toads either.

Scott whatever you can provide is fine...easiest for you is great. If you have some logs I can split and chunk, or limbs, whatever is easiest.

Try that mulberry next time you smoke - let me know what you think.