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I'm going to be smoking a brisket tomorrow and it got me thinking about the different wood choices. What type of wood is your favorite to smoke meats with? Mine is mesquite, but my wife prefers pecan.

I like a mixture of hickory and pecan or hickory and apple. The pecan or apple give it a little bit of sweetness.

Your wife is right. We use pecan, apple and even cherry. Drought has killed so many of my trees that I have plenty of fruitwood which we prefer.

I like using pecan, but will mainly opt for hickory. I like that it burns slow and low.

I use hickory the most, and probably pecan second. I like the flavor of mesquite, but it burns quite hot so I don't think it is suitable for long slow cooking. If I use it, I'll add it in towards the end as a "finish" to impart some flavor.

Don't get me wrong, I use all types and sometimes mix two different like Keith mentioned, I just picked my one favorite because mesquite is what I grew up on because it was readily available on our land.

txglock21 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I use all types and sometimes mix two different like Keith mentioned, I just picked my one favorite because mesquite is what I grew up on because it was readily available on our land.

This^

I heard only people from Arkansas and California smoke their meats with hickory...

TheCytochromeC wrote:

txglock21 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I use all types and sometimes mix two different like Keith mentioned, I just picked my one favorite because mesquite is what I grew up on because it was readily available on our land.

This^

I heard only people from Arkansas and California smoke their meats with hickory...

Pennsylvania Dutch have been using hickory for 200 years. And we had mesquite in California and used it too, but Californians trend to use oak the way Texans use pecan.

TheCytochromeC wrote:

txglock21 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I use all types and sometimes mix two different like Keith mentioned, I just picked my one favorite because mesquite is what I grew up on because it was readily available on our land.

This^

I heard only people from Arkansas and California smoke their meats with hickory...

Well, you'd be wrong, cause we used it where I grew up in Missouri (25 miles NORTH of Arkansas!)

It's going to be a "wood flame war".

I like Mesquite for beef, pecan for pork, and hickory for chicken.

If you don't, you're wrong!

Pecan with some peach thrown in for sweetness.

Pecan, mesquite, hickory, cherry, apple, ... I will use what is available to me.

Depends on what I'm cooking...

Being from NC I was 100% Hickory for red meat and pork... until I moved here and discovered Mesquite.
Sometimes I'll mix the two together for some of that Hickory sweetness, but Mesquite is my fave.

For poultry and fish I usually go with a milder wood..
Cherry or apple for Salmon
Pecan for Chicken or Turkey, with maybe some Apple too.

I tried orange wood smoked chicken a few months ago... I could definitely taste the orange in the meat, but I didn't really care for it. it was more "rind" than "juice". A little too bitter for my taste...

Mesquite cold-smoked pork belly (homemade bacon) is excellent. Leave the skin on for something extra you can't get in the supermarkets.

Now I'm hungry.

FYI.... Kroger here in the Mid Cities has Ribeyes on sale for $4.99/lb this weekend.
Get them to cut you a roast, season it up tonight and smoke it (mesquite!!) tomorrow.
Smoked prime rib... WOOT!

I prefer the following order: apple, pecan, mesquite.

Pecan. Hickory is 2nd and Mesquite last. I hate the taste and flavor of oak.