If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
On that wood your friends brought - As both a brewer and a BBQ enthusiast, I would think that oak staves from a bourbon barrel are something more useful for wood aging of beer or wine in a glass carboy (to simulate being in a barrel) versus smoking. This is often done. I doubt much bourbon character would make it into the smoke, meaning it was really just a piece of charred oak for smoking purposes. Use it for brisket maybe, where oak is the typical wood.
The oak used for bourbon barrels is sweet - the char on the inside accentuates this and over time a lot of those flavors are imparted to the bourbon, along with the amber color.
A lot of the time on beef, I use Jack Daniels chunks/ chips. Yes it taste a bit different. A little sweeter to me and my wife. Went to the distillery a while back, and fund out something intriguing. the chips and chunks are from the barrels (charred oak) that they age them in. The pellets from the charcoal that they use in the Lincoln county process (hard rock maple that is set ablaze with JD shine). That explains the difference in flavor i got when I tried some pellets a while back.
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