Ok guys, I'm new to smoking meat. Does the wood need to be seasoned about the same as if you were burning it in a stove? Tia
I use a lot of hickory straw in my smoker. I noodle a lot at a time and store it but I soak in water for 10 or 12 hours before I use it. Remember, you want it to smoke, not burn.
I think we need more info If your putting a few chips of wood in with your charcoal, I'd say no. A little wet wood would make plenty of smoke for flavor. If you're using the wood for your primary heat source for smoking, then yes, it needs to be seasoned. Wet wood will give you a really strong smoke taste. Maybe to the point of tasting like creosote.
If you like the taste of wood and not creosote then I would suggest drying your wood. If you cut it short and split it real small like I do it dries in a few weeks. You can make wood smoke by removing oxygen, and dry wood produces a nice white smoke. It's like electing a BBQ pope.
I read an article that said not to soak the wood because it doesn't really absorb it, and it won't smoke till the surface moisture is boiled off. Plus, like TurboDiesel said, it'll have a strong smell and could leave a creosote like flavor. I always smoked with very dry wood, either my own or the chunks in bags.
It always depends on your setup. If you can snuff the oxygen out so it doesn't ignite, then dry is fine. Wetting chips or dry chunks for a setup where you need the smoke, and have full airflow works well.
Agreed. I get plenty of smoke with dry wood. But if you're using the little flavoring chips, wet may be fine.
The old black cherry smoked that 4 pound butt perfect! The only bad thing is we lost to Ali bammy in a shootout. I'm using their excuse the last two years. We gave it to them
I am no expert by any means so take what I say with a grain of salt (pun intended), but I adore cedar planked salmon and as such go out into the woods, fell a cedar, cut it into a crude plank with my saw and grill my salmon on my fresh cut cedar plank.
True that. Make a small packet out of foil and cut a couple slits in it to let the smoke out. Place it in the coals or just above. The wood won't burn up without air , it will just smolder.
Answers on this question are all over the place. Some like it seasoned, some like it green. I have a friend with a very successful BBQ restaurant. He cooks his meat entirely with green hickory. He tells his supplier, cut it and bring it to me the same day. He buys about 3 weeks worth at a time. Another friend of mine seasons his hickory until the bark falls off on it's own (1-2 years), then he knows it is ready. It is like asking, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
