BBQ Wood

The right BBQ wood makes all the difference!

Most folks would agree that the best part of BBQ cooking flavor is the smoke. Foods cooked long and slow over BBQ wood absorb some of the wonderful smoke, providing a tantalizing treat to your nose and your taste buds. What’s the best BBQ wood? That mostly depends on your individual preference!

There are several types of woods that make excellent BBQ wood. Some of the most popular include hickory, alder, beech, oak, cherry, apple, mesquite, and maple. In the South, many cooks and grill masters like to use pecan or peach wood. Most of the woods mentioned are available in chips, chunks, pellets, and bisquettes.

If you haven’t done a lot of BBQ cooking with different woods, you might think they’re all the same, but you’d be surprised at how much difference there is in the flavor of meats based on which BBQ wood you use. For example, with apple wood, you’ll get a subtle apple flavor, and with peach wood, you’ll get a slight peach flavor. The same rule of thumb holds true for other types of BBQ wood, too.

While the choice of wood is totally up to the individual, some smoke flavors go better with certain meats. Well, at least in my opinion they do. I like fruit woods with pork, and hickory, oak, or mesquite with beef. Because chicken has such a mild flavor, it can be smoked with any type of BBQ wood. Pecan wood is a wonderful all-around BBQ wood that works well with any type of meat or poultry. In fact, we use pecan wood more often than any other type of wood on our smoker. Maybe that’s because we’re southerners.

To get the most flavor from your BBQ wood, chunks, chips, and twigs should be soaked in water for a couple of hours before cooking. The wood can also be smoked in other liquids for even more flavor. For example, we sometimes smoke our pecan twigs in apple juice before placing the wood on the smoker, but you might also want to try soaking the wood in another fruit juice, or in hot sauce, bourbon, wine, whiskey, or beer.

Remember, the more wood you use, the more smoke you’ll get. We like a lot of smoky flavor in our meats, but it is possible to overdo it. If you’re new to BBQ cooking and smoking, I suggest starting off with a small amount of wood. if you don’t get enough smoky flavor, you can always use more BBQ wood the next time!