Wood smoke flavor: Can you tell the difference?

[MarkN]

I can sometimes distinguish the smell of the smoke itself during cooking (mesquite, hickory, cherry, etc.) but as far as the taste of the cooked meat itself, it's all just smoke to me.

[Manxman]

Lots of valid comments to date and in my case I struggle to distinguish between wood types apart from the oft mentioned mesquite.

I happened to have an in depth conversation with someone from the now defunct Traeger UK (they have appointed a third party importer) and suggested the range of pellets available not just from Traeger but the myriad of other suppliers was more of a marketing ploy than anything and he agreed. There must be tens of variations of wood pellet available and I think it conditions people to try different options as most of us fine tune things to seek perfection, ironically in the case of pellets many have a filler such as oak as their base in any case.

Given the majority of people probably buy their wood in rather than have direct access, the same principle applies to other methods and it is easy to become conditioned that using different types of wood brings significant benefit when in most instances it is marginal or negligible.

Nowadays I know what I like and like what I know in terms of what wood flavour / flavor to use which is pretty limited.

[DaveD]

I also cannot tell one type of pellet from another, at all. I don't even bother selecting a variety anymore, I just pick up whatever is on the shelf, because it Just Doesn't Matter.

[briano52]

I agree that the variety of pellets don't affect flavor all that much. But the specie and condition of chunk wood in a charcoal or stick burner, is usually readily identifiable for me.

[RonB]

The only thing I can add is that I am now thinking about getting some chips to add to a hot and fast cook to see if adds to the flavor. My thought is that chips burn faster, they might just take burgers up a notch.

I use oak for everything else 'cause I have oak available for free.

[Uncle Bob]

Faster burning = more efficient fire = less smoke. Chips on a hot fire just ignite and burn too quickly to yield much smoke, unless you were to pack them tightly in a smoke tube, giving less air flow causing less efficient fire resulting in more smoke.

[Lynn Dollar]

If just direct grilling burgers, IMO, they're not on long enough to take on much smoke.

I smoke and reverse sear my burgers. I run 6 to 8 briqs with a chunk of pecan, to get the Kettle to approx 225 . I take the burgers to about 140 IT and then sear over a full chimney of coals in the SnS.

[briano52]

When direct heat grilling, I sometimes use some chips or a chunk of wood off to the side. Because direct grilling doesn't take long, not a lot of smoke flavor will be imparted to the protein, but some will. The smoke flavor will be subtle but can be a nice nuance to grilled meats.

[wrgilb]

When I use post oak or red oak, I can definitely smell and taste the difference, especially the next day when eating left overs. If you have never used red oak, try it on tri-tip and you'll see what I mean.

[surfdog]

Pretty sure that it’s a legal requirement to use red oak when cooking a tri-tip. ;-)

[Lynn Dollar]

This is all kind of a moot point to me. My favorite smoker is my stickburner. And I buy wood up to 1/2 rick at a time. And buying wood here is an experience. I won't say all the people selling wood on Facebook Marketplace are disreputable, but they just might be disreputable.

Ya don't know what you're getting. Unless ya really know your varieties of trees, and can look at the grain or the bark and know what it is, then its a crap shoot. The ideal would be to see the leaves. But that ain't gonna happen

There's one variety that I can tell, without a doubt, and that's oak. It has a grain that is unique to that variety. After that, who knows. Some times pecan bark can be a tell.

My last wood purchase, it was sold to me as hickory. I get it home and start cooking with it, and half of it was oak.

Time before that, it was sold to me as pecan. I noticed when I was helping the guy load it in my truck, that half of it was oak. At that point, I did not want to unload the truck and just went with it.

What I look for is someone in the area cutting down a pecan tree. Then I know everything about the wood.

So as to aroma of the wood burning, how can I tell one from the other, when I don't even know the variety I'm burning.

[jerrybell]

I use an app called PlantNet to identify plants and trees I see out and about. It can use an image of the bark to identify a tree species. Might be something you want to play around with.

[Lynn Dollar]

jerrybell I've used those phone apps, without the leaves, they've not been much help for me.

[briano52]

The wood sellers of wood in bulk sell mostly to people who are going to burn the wood in fireplaces or stoves where the variety of wood does not matter much. Most any hardwood will be OK for heating. For those who smoke meat, the specie of wood matters a lot. So, if you are buying wood in bulk to cook and smoke with, a lot more care and attention to the specie of wood is needed. I may live in the city, but I know my hardwoods.

[texastweeter]

But, do you "PRE BURN YOUR WOOD" before? Huskee thoughts?

[Huskee]

If I have a stickburner smoke I prefer to, yes.

[texastweeter]

Huskee you dont remember this, ahem..."conversation" do you?

[Huskee]

I guess not.

[bbqLuv]

I use Traeger Pellets from Costco. Tried others but gone back to them.

I taste more smoke flavor the next day rather on than the day I cook.

[klflowers]

A couple years ago i bought a bunch of different fruit woods from fruitawood. Peach, apple, plum and orange. I made sure to label them so I could tell them apart. Complete waste of time. I can usually tell fruit wood from hickory or oak, but I can't distinguish between the fruit woods.

[briano52]

That is my experience too. The fruit woods are all fairly similar. I can usually identify the wood as being a fruit wood but not the exact specie of fruit. I do like the moderate smoke profile of fruit wood and use fruit chunks quite often.

[tenphases]

Cherry when I buy from the store, Apple when I source local.

[michaelmouse]

I don't see a post by 'smoked transistors'. I would value his opinion.

[IBMERCY]

Interesting, to say the least. Many views on the subject are similar, some.... somewhat different. While I think I can taste/smell the different woods/smokes, I can't tell you which wood it was... with the exception of Cherry. I smoked some bacon that I had cured with Cherry, and I didn't like it, too much of a strong, sweet flavor (but I gave a package of it to a friend, and he loved it). I can't buy the theory that the difference was in my rub or my cure... all my bacon is cured the exact same (Meatheads cure recipe)... so it wasn't the cure... it was definitely the smoke. Other than that...like Purc said...I use different woods for different meats... "Because, Rules are Rules"... grin.

[surfdog]

Obviously, or perhaps not, I can tell when mesquite has been used. And I tend to use it fairly often because my SO really likes it.

For tri-tip I try to use red oak. Does it make a difference? Of course it does!! LOL Yeah, probably no different than just about any other wood. Except hickory.

Now that’s where I draw the line. Not sure what it is, or what I’m doing, but EVERY TIME that I use it (well, “used” because I don’t anymore) EVERYTHING tastes like a hotdog to me. Other people seem to enjoy it just fine. But ME..? All I taste is a giant hotdog. It’s a surefire way to ruin a piece of meat for ME. Smoke a pork butt and my thought is, “Great, now I have ten pounds of shredded hotdog.” Bleh But like I said, nobody else seems to experience that the same and they love it. Needless to say, I haven’t purchased hickory for a very long time.

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve paired my wood selection to three woods. Post oak, apple, and mesquite are all I need to get the flavor I want. My favorite for pork is apple. Hickory and pecan smell very similar to me and for now I don’t use either. Mesquite is strictly for steaks. Post oak for the rest of the beef,

[Skinsfan1311]

I can't tell much difference at all, except cherry makes chicken skin darker so I use whatever is on sale or apple scrounged from a buddies farm.