Different wood "flavors" for pellet grills (smoking)

[Neal]

Can anyone tell a difference in the wood types when smoking? Hickory, Apple, Cherry, Mesquite oh my...but I can't tell any difference in my crude attempts of cooking on a pellet grill. What are the expectations?

 

[J&JD]

I can never tell the difference. The DW swears she can. We stopped at Mad Jacks BBQ in Cloudcroft NM for an incredible famous BBQ. The chef/owner said he would only use a specific oak for his smoker and drove all the way to Texas every so often to bring back a load. Go figure.

 

[GlampDaddy]

Wood matters! I’ve been smoking meats for a bunch of years and have been blessed to have access to a good variety of wood. My favorite is brisket and Costco has provided an excellent control mechanism for checking out wood with their prime grade briskets. My all-time favorite is pecan, from the tree in my former backyard - mellow and sweet. Each type of wood gives the meat its own personality, and woods can be combined to make some very special flavors.
A friend of a friend recently blew his travel trailer to tiny trailer parts with a propane accident and I made a new commitment to my all-electric coach to house no propane. So, I offed all my propane cooking devices and signed-up for an electric pellet smoker. Now, I’m having to start over with my wood knowledge because wood pellets don’t seem to come from trees. I smoked a brisket with apple pellets and it was tasty, but not real-wood tasty. So, more work is in order…but that’s not all bad.
So, wood matters, but I’m finding myself in new territory. I’d love to hear from the wood pellet authorities on RVF. Anyone?

 

[redbaron]

I always did brisket with pecan from my orchard.

Now that I am fully converted to pellet, I have been mixing cherry and apple woods. The combo seems go give very good flavor.

I refuse go use hickory, oak, or mesquite....that is just too common.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Being the ever annoying nerd, while I like the taste of smoked meat, I am distrustful of prepared items like manufactured pellets. There appears to be little if any regulations for the manufacturer to follow or verify quality of product.

If your wood comes from a known source like an owned orchard, that is much safer IMHO.

Emissions during grilling with wood pellets and chips

The quality check of grilling wood pellets should be of a critical importance as smoke from their combustion has a direct contact with food, impacts h…

www.sciencedirect.com

For the novice like me

How Are Traeger BBQ Wood Pellets Made? - PelHeat.com

Traeger are a BBQ wood pellet grill manufacturer, however they also produce their own BBQ wood pellets. Watch how Traeger BBQ wood pellets are made.

www.pelheat.com

 

[Magua]

I always did brisket with pecan from my orchard.

Now that I am fully converted to pellet, I have been mixing cherry and apple woods. The combo seems go give very good flavor.

I refuse go use hickory, oak, or mesquite....that is just too common.

 

[Magua]

I have always used a smoker with wood from my hunting lease. Oak. Smoked everything including our own family recipe for deer sausage. Now that I full time, I have bought a wood pellet grill. Has been a learning curve on what works best. I agree with the thoughts on wood pellets. Seems to be a vague answer to what they are truly made of. I am currently using cherry. Just finished a pork tenderloin. Very tasty. I’ll put it this way… haven’t tossed anything out yet!

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

With my stick burner, I always used oak with a very small amount of mesquite and I mean small. I've tried just about all of the varieties of wood and suppliers for my pellet smoker and I honestly cannot tell the difference in any of them.

 

[GypsyR]

Timely info for me. I've been smoking with an old school smoker that wasn't expensive and is rusting out. It uses charcoal and actual split logs. I've tries all kinds of wood but it's store bought "kiln dried" and I've not been impressed. I finally got my hands on some actual air seasoned hickory and thought I had it. Meh.
I once drove past someone's house and from the road I could tell that they were smoking pork with hickory. I always wanted whatever they were doing but don't seem able to duplicate it and basically gave up. I've been against pellets because I thought I could do better with regular wood. Evidently not.
So when I saw a pellet smoker/grill giveaway cheap last week I bought it. Last year's model or something. I haven't even unboxed it yet. But I have wondered what pellets to try. I appreciate this thread, at least I have an idea now and it saved me hunting through barbecue forums.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I don't know the brand of smoker you bought, but I have a Green Mountain smoker and they have a good Facebook group page. It's nice to have a go-to page for recipes, etc. Smoke on and remember, if you're looking you ain't cooking so keep the lid closed.