WOOD PAIRING TIPS

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It’s important to pair the right wood with the food you are smoking. Here are a few suggestions:

• Alder: Very delicate with a hint of sweetness and is great with fish, pork, poultry and light-meat game birds. Traditionally, it is used in the pacific northwest to smoke salmon.

• Apple: Slightly sweet with a denser, fruity smoke that is particularly good with ham but also works well with beef, poultry or game birds.

• Cherry: Good with all meats and imparts a fruity, slightly sweet smoke flavor.

• Cedar planks: Terrific for those that want to use traditional Pacific Northwest Indian smoking techniques for their salmon.

• Grape vines: Quite similar to fruit wood, aromatic and great with most meats.

• Hickory: All time favorite with its pungent, smoky, bacon like flavor is the most common wood used for smoking pork and ribs.

• Maple: Good with pork, poultry, cheese, vegetables and small game birds with its mildly smoky, somewhat sweet flavor.

• Mesquite: Has that strong earthy flavor that all smokers recognize and is especially good with beef and most vegetables.

• Mulberry: Reminds most people of the sweet smell of apple and is great with ham but also with beef, poultry and game birds.

• Oak: Great with red meat, pork, fish and heavy game and with its heavy smoke flavor, one of the most popular of the woods to smoke with.

• Peach: Good with most meats with its slightly woodsy, sweet flavor.

• Pecan: Similar to hickory but not quite as strong. You also can smoke with the pecan shells also. Pecan is good for almost any smoking needs

• Pear: Great for pork, poultry and game birds with its sweet, woodsy flavor.

• Plum: Milder and sweeter than hickory and is a good choice for almost any meats.

• Walnut: Produces a very heavy smoke flavor and is best used in combination with lighter woods like apple or pecan. Used alone it can give the foods a bitter taste. Try this with game and red meats.

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