Wood smoke flavor: Can you tell the difference?

[LA Pork Butt]

I can’t recognize different spices in cooked food, nor can I make distinctions in smoke other than strong or weak. It is simply good or bad or something in between.

[Uncle Bob]

Problem one; most of you are old............nearly all your taste buds have died (at least that's what a friends daughter says to us).

Smell is a significant portion of perceived taste, some studies claim upwards of 75-95% of taste is due to smelling. Dig in a bit and there are mitigating circumstances that vary each type of smell/taste mix. Throw in colds or other ailments that mess with the olfactory and that messes with it. So many factors makes it difficult for consensus.

All that said one of my favorite cooks is wild Pacific salmon (refuse to eat that farmed Atlantic stuff) with alder wood smoke involved. Alder has a very distinct perfume-y smell that compliments the natural oil flavors in wild salmon (probably only the Northwesterners on here have any familiarity).

[RlsRls]

how old are you???

[Uncle Bob]

RlsRls I was on the committee that named dirt.

[patmandu0]

Lots of valid points here. You can definitely taste the difference between oak fruit woods and pecan when you hot smoke fish. I use cherry & pecan for Tuna. Cherry for Swordfish. Oak and Hickory both are too intense. But maybe using less wood could temper that. I will try it and report back.

[Uncle Bob]

Nice that we could.....um.......smoke you out for your first post after 8 years. Welcome to the pool...

[Stew]

I have three different smokers - Master Forge Propane that smokes wood chips and chunks, Pit Barrel Cooker that smokes wood chunks on charcoal, and GMG DB that smokes pellets. Wood pellets have the broadest variety of woods available including bourbon barrel.

For me though, it starts with what my wife tastes. I started doing Boston Butt with hickory, but the taste was too harsh for her, even with NC vinegar sauce. I now smoke my butts with plum or apple. I used apple chunks with the baby backs I did in the PBC last weekend. She liked those a lot.

Oak pellets are still my GOTO for Beef. When I smoke her Bronto Ribs, they have to remind her of the first ones she had at Blacks in Lockhart.

I can't identify the wood as the smoke comes out the vent, but my wife knows when it doesn't add to the meal.

[Bubo]

I am a beginner to say the least. Just moved and found a nice outdoor fireplace in the new house. So I want to improve my grilling skills
So far I have used high quality charcoal but I am wondering if adding some wood chips would add value. I have not done anything complicated so far, only chicken, t-bone stake, sausages.....any advice? Thank you so much Bubo

[Uncle Bob]

It's tough to get much smoke when grilling, which is what you've described. If you use chunks rather than chips and time the dropping of said chunk correctly you might get a hint of smoke flavor. I find that dropping the chunk on established coals shortly before putting the protein on the grate yields more smoke as the chunk will smolder a bit before "catching fire". If you're starting indirect on the cook you'll have more time to get smoke. Direct cooking, not so much.

[briano52]

For direct grilling, it is hard to get much wood flavor although a little can be a nice addition. When I am going to direct grill, it is usually a reverse sear. So, when the meat is on cool side it can pick up some smoke flavor. More so if you are using chip wood rather than chunks.

[tstalafuse]

Hickory and mesquite are the only ones I can identify and only for large heavy cuts (brisket/pork butt) with just a very small amount of mesquite. Otherwise, strictly oak.

[Yelnoc]

Hey folks, something I've been ruminating about lately... I see plenty of commentary and product descriptions for smoking wood that ascribe various features to the wood's flavor profile - sweetness for fruit-tree woods and the like.

So who can confidently distinguish wood smoke types? What's your secret?

And why is the comment option not on the initial thread?

Agree on mesquite, but back in the day I remember getting sassafras and that it was also distinctive. Except for those and possibly all types of wood it becomes subjective almost immediately and blind taste tests would be problematic and as Meathead is quoted as saying so much else goes into taste….. That being said almost every BBQ competition type TV, pitmasters will indicate they use a specific wood, humma, humma. And goodness knows if it a difficult task with “wood”, wood pellets make it even more difficult to really impossible IMO. There is no question wood or pellet tubes impart “smoke” flavor….just try to smoke your cream cheese without them.

[DaveD]

Yelnoc That's a feature of the site. The topic-starting post does not have a comment option, only the replies to the OP do. That's site-wide, not changeable by the person posting.

[briano52]

I agree that wood variety in pellets is a lot harder to identify than wood chunks in a kettle, vault or offset. But I do get more smoke from certain brands of pellets than others. Not by a lot though.

[Bogy]

As others have mentioned, I'm 72 and noticed a few years back that my sense of smell is greatly diminished, possibly due to one or more causes. Upsides and downsides. I wish this had happened when I was changing diapers (kids and grandkids are all past that point now, and if I ever have any greatgrandchildren I'll claim I am too old). I am now the one who can clean up what a pet does when sick, and I don't add to the mess. But my wife would have to tell me if the house was on fire. Which is one way of saying the smoke smell has to be pretty dramatic for me to notice. The primary difference in the pellets I use in the smokers that I notice is not the smell, but simply that fruitwood tends not to burn as hot. I used to buy a variety of pellets and use the pellets that matched the "flavor profile" of what I was cooking. I don't bother anymore, I just buy "competition blend" with whatever they put in there.

I'm sure the big downside of my lack of sense of smell is that my sense of taste has to also be diminished. I keep hoping eventually it will come back. I can ocasionally tell when leaves are burning, get a slight hint of smoke from the smokers, and depending on what is getting burn can sometimes smell the smoke from the fire pit.

[Palmetto Pirate]

I can tell the difference with “Good Smoke” the smoke that is clearer or a blueish hue. That smoke is from good wood that has cured enough to make clean fuel. “Bad Smoke” is from wet wood or wood with to much bark it makes chicken turn black and makes your meat taste like a house fire. Learning your rig and learning what to feed it goes a long way to having a pleasantly smoked piece of meat. In general i try to use pecan on chicken and oak on pork and beef those are the woods locally obtainable. I want the smoke to accentuate the meat flavor not be the dominate flavor.

[briano52]

Good point on the bad white smoke. It can ruin a cook fairly quickly. Clear bluish smoke is sweet and delicate. It takes some learning to see the difference in appearance, but you can taste it immediately.

[tinman]

Like many others, I definitely can distinguish mesquite and hickory. I use mesquite on certain chicken and pork recipes because it reminds me of growing up in Hawaii and keawe wood. I agree that it’s flavor is too strong for some meats.

I used to use a Kamado and I definitely didn’t like using maple chips. The guy at the bbq store told my wife that they were really good but I think he was just trying to get rid of inventory. It just didn’t taste good.

Not sure I can really taste the difference, but I always use pecan for turkey. The first year I used it, everything turned out perfectly so I’m not messing with it.

But I’m glad you brought up the topic because other than what I mentioned above, I can’t tell the difference

[jerrybell]

I've never really tried to experiment, but don't believe I can discern different flavors from different wood species. I use Camp Chef competition blend for simplicity in my Woodwind Pro. I use peach chunks in the smoke box because I'm slowly working through a tree I cut down in my yard a few years ago.

I did buy a bag of mesquite chunks last fall. Firstly, because they were on clearance and secondly because some blog I was reading for kalua pig said it to try it as an available alternative to kiawe.

[briano52]

I am in the camp of I can discern some, but not all smoke flavors imparted by various species of wood.

The woods that I can identify for flavor in my meat, for better or worse, are:

1. Hickory, often powerful and too strong except for bacon and some pork. I rarely use it for fear of overpowering with strong smoke flavor.
2. Mesquite, acrid and too strong for any meat. However, I do like mesquite charcoal (a whole different animal than plain mesquite wood) which is actually fairly neutral in flavor imparted to the protein. It burns hot too, a nice quality for direct cooking, (especially for fish).
3. Oak, a moderate flavor, seductively sweet and pleasant in many applications. I have tried various oak varieties. To me, they are nice and all somewhat similar. I notice more variations in oak depending on how new or dry the wood might be. I use oak a lot. Maybe the most universal smoking wood that compliments many dishes. Somewhat forgiving even if you overdo it a little.
4. Fruit woods, I lump these together because all of the varieties of fruit wood are most always pleasant and subtle. Not a lot of variation in flavor in the fruit woods but I do like apple and cherry a lot. The cherry wood is more distinctive than most fruit woods. Hard to go wrong with a fruit wood. I use it a lot. Nice, pleasant smoke flavor that doesn't overpower meats, even the birds.
5. Pecan, I think has a certain almost, but not quite, full piquant quality to it. I like it as a change of pace for most full-flavored meats. I don't think it tastes quite like any other wood.

These are my takes on some of the most common smoking woods that I use in my vault smoker and kettle set up for low and slow.

One other comment: I favor moderate smoke flavor. Too much smoke and the subtle qualities of the wood are lost, and many guests can get overwhelmed by smoke flavor dominating the meat flavors.

I view smoke flavor as an ingredient to protein that should be in balance and harmony with the meat and rub flavors. So, moderate smoke flavor, with all of the wood varieties, works well in my experience.

[Mosca]

Interesting take on hickory. I like it, but I do tend to use too much of it. When I’m preparing a fire, I have to continually stress to myself, “Remember what happened last time!” And half the time I still put one chunk too many in there anyhow.

Of course the solution for getting the right amount of smoke flavor using hickory is to use less wood, but that goes against the mantra of “More is better, and too much is just right!”

[LA Pork Butt]

Mosca It probably that I started with hickory that it is my wood of choice.

[briano52]

With wood, less is often more. I went through a learning phase in which I was using too much wood. I eventually got over that and began to use less and avoid wood overpowering the other flavors. My current philosophy is to use wood as an accent flavor in balance with other meat and spice flavors. Hickory is so powerful that it easily becomes dominant. So, when I use hickory, it is with a full-flavored meat and in small amounts.

[DaveD]

Wow! Some great input here. Thanks for all the engagement, this is great stuff. And we smoked out some members who have been doing some world-class lurking. Great to see!

[realdocBBQ]

A lot of people commenting they can tell with hickory pretty easily - interesting, as I've never cooked on hickory, I don't think. I'm'a gonna hafta get ahold of some of that, I suppose. I smoke on pecan a LOT, one of my favs, and pecan is a TYPE of hickory, but has some distinct differences (so I'm told). So I need to get ahold of some hickory and give it a try.

Interesting topic.

[Mosca]

Hickory and apple are the two easiest to find here in NEPA. That’s probably true nationwide; if it’s at Lowe’s and Home Depot here, it’s probably at Lowe’s and Home Depot everywhere.

[Sdell]

I have hickory, oak and cherry on my woodpile, and I can't really tell much of a difference. Cherry does impart a very nice color, especially to ribs and chicken. That said, I do tend to match woods with what I am cooking, just in case. I use hickory for when I make bacon, and mix of cherry and hickory for pork, cherry for chicken and fish, and oak for beef.