Pepperwood for smoking?

[Attjack]

A nearby cabin cut down a pepperwood tree (Umbellularia californica) anyone know if it's any good for smoking meat?

[CaptainMike]

I really enjoy the smell of a pepperwood grove, but iIntuitively I'd say no. They are bay trees, but, assuming you're in NorCal, their leaves are bitter compared to the bay leaves we commonly use for cooking. It smells nice when burning, but so does juniper and I wouldn't use that for smoking. There's one way to find out

[texastweeter]

CaptainMike if they are bay trees, I use smaller pieces of bay tree to smoke seafood such as shrimp and lobster. You said they are bitter though. Is that due to the climate/soil, or is it a different subspecies?

[CaptainMike]

Probably all of the above. The coastal CA trees leaves are definitely more "oily", even dried. I have never cooked or smoked food with the wood.

[texastweeter]

do it, you wont regret it. quick smoke shrimp or lobster. To just try it, add a thin layer of water to the bottom of a pot, then drop in a handful of bay leaves, and let sit a bit to hydrate but the oils stay in the pot. then add a veggietable steamer and fill full of peeled shrimp that have been salt and peppered. add to the grill on high and let the water boil out and smoke. CaptainMike

[Huskee]

If you have two similar cookers you could try my method of testing a wood. Buy a cheap pack of chicken legs or thighs. Only salt them, NO other spices, no rub, no sauce. Cook them the exact same way (time/temp, amount of coals, etc) on the two cookers side by side. In one put the test wood, in the other put a favorite wood. Then when they're done taste the two side by side. If the new wood is trash, you're out a buck's worth of meat and some charcoal. But you gained knowledge!

If it's good, you could do a blind side by side on family members. My family all picked honey locust as tasting better than apple when I did this test recently.

[Attjack]

Great idea. I'll give it a shot next year when this wood I'd ready.

I have a bunch more to pick up and split still. It'll mostly be for firewood.

[Jerod Broussard]

Cook for the neighbors that always want but never reimburse. If it is bad, problem solved. If good, still at square one.