Barbeque Wood

Imagine filling your own pit barbeque with hickory logs, from the huge pile you keep - experience tells you this is the best barbeque wood for pork.

The blazing fire dies down to red hot ash covered embers. Meanwhile you prepare the whole pig, stuffing it with apricots, peppers, garlic and onions, wrap the carcass round the spit and stitch it together.

It's 6 AM, but you look forward to a long but steady day of fire-tending, basting and a few cold ones with your assistants.

Later a gathering will fill you garden with party goers, whose conversation keeps returning you the awesome BBQ pork they're eating.

Sounds ideal, but not every household has a supply of hickory or any other logs on site. So what's the alternative?

A Word About Barbeque Wood

This is because hardwoods contain cellulose - a sugar, which effectively "caramelizes" imparting a "sweet" aroma under heat.

Also other chemical compounds impart the spicy and pungent aromas we associate with barbecue smoking or pit barbeque roasting. Softwoods like pine contain more resin, which turns to soot when burnt and contributes nothing desirable to the taste of the food - so we don't use them!

I only mention all this, because although you can buy BBQ Wood in bulk, it's cheaper i.e. free to collect your own.

Actually, collecting BBQ wood is an amusing way to spend an afternoon with the kids.

BBQ Wood Chips

They come in every imaginable variety and can be purchased anywhere that sells BBQ equipment.

First soak them in water for a few hours, then put them in a BBQ smoker box above the heat source of your barbecue and close the lid.

Wood Chunks

If you can't find them in local shops, there are several suppliers on Amazon - have a search in the box below.

Which wood is best?

In europe this would be Alder, Oak, Apple and Cherry. In the US Hickory and Mesquite are the most popular, but with many other species (including Oak, Alder, etc) being used in different states or regions.

Or you can just buy a selection of wood chips or chunks from Amazon or somewhere.

So here is your guide to which wood to use with which meat.

• Alder - relatively low heat compared to other woods, and delicate flavour, making it good for fish, especially salmon, and slow cooked pork.

• Oak - another with a lower heat output, but with a stronger flavour. Good for longer cooking times required by brisket, ribs, lamb or game.

• Apple - produces a sweet flavor, good with pork, ham, sausages and poultry.

• Cherry - gives a distinct fruity taste and goes well with any red meat, lamb, pork, ham, poultry, or even fish. It also darkens meat.

• Grape vine wood - quite fruity, good with chicken and white fish. Hard to come by unless you have a vineyard nearby - search on google though, you'll be surprised how many there are around. Ask nicely and you'll probably take a load of cuttings etc.

• Hickory - probably the most popular BBQ wood in the US, gives a strong aroma that sets mouths watering. Used sparingly it's good for any red meat (especially ribs), pork, poultry, even burgers.

• Mesquite - a favourite from Texas, a lot of heat and a strong flavour needing care in use i.e. don't use it on cuts that need long cooking times. Use with beef, ribs, venison, fish.

• Lilac - This gets used in the UK by those who know. Pleasant floral taste, very good with lamb and game birds like pheasant.

• Others commonly used, that I haven't tried are Pecan and Peach, but I haven't tried these as yet.
  
  
• Asado style fire pit barbecues use Espinillo - a type of Acacia that grows in South America which is often used as BBQ wood or to make charcoal.

Many experienced people use two or more woods in combination, either to combine types (combined 50/50), or to offset stronger flavoured woods with another milder one (in which case reduce the amount of the stronger wood to say 75/25).

For example apple and cherry together would be done 50/50, or apple and pecan might be 75/25 (pecan is nice, but relatively strong). Just experiment, it's all a matter of taste and experience.

Where to Get Barbeque Wood

BBQ wood chips used in conjunction with a smoker box are best for indirect grilling or smoking.

Recommended Barbeque Wood Related Reading

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