Tree Identification

I never thought about the soot. Thanks for the heads up there! When I cook I use charcoal and toss in some chunks of wood for the smoke. So it probably won't be too bad but I had to ask. I hate to ruin good meat.

Love the "green mesquite" story! Your lucky the fire department didn't show up. They wouldn't have left till the ham was gone.

Anyone ever use wood from a Mango tree??? I have three of those in the back yard but they arent mature yet. My in laws across the street however have a tree thats been growing for the past 20+ years! Lemme know so i can chop some down!

I have a shagbark hickory tree with some lims down and plan on using it for a smoke. Should I strip the bark? Has anyone else ever used it?

KC Smoker wrote:

I have a shagbark hickory tree with some lims down and plan on using it for a smoke. Should I strip the bark? Has anyone else ever used it?

The wood will be fine, but I usually strip off most of the bark

So as far as apple goes, if I head over to a local apple orchid and ask if they have/sell apple wood, should I be concerned with the wood’s “state of seasonedâ€

Apple is one of the few woods that I would recommend using anything regardless of "seasoning". It is light enough flavored and didn't "soot" all over my food. I have used it both green and seasoned without any problems. However, it is always best to season your wood.

I'll be the official taste tester of the exotic woods and report back what I find. Not because I'm so trendy, but because I live on the equator and none of the woods I'm familiar with grow here. I'm going to try some mango tomorrow because I know where I can get my hands on some. I'll have to do some test burns and see what else seems to work well. I plan to try avacado, jack fruit, and mango as I mentioned already. The locals tell me that banana peel makes a good flavored smoke, but I've not tried that yet. I also want to try sugar cane peelings as they smell terrific when burning in rubbish piles I've driven by. There is also some type of thorny acacia that is said to be the best firewood around. I've seen some of it and the wood smells like a mild mesquite. I think mesquite is part of that family so I want to look into that more also and see how the smoke is.

The only other unusual wood I am familiar with is madrone. I used it often when I lived in the States. It was one of my favorites. It gives a strong flavor somewhat like hickory except much smoother and without the bitterness that hickory has. It is also a favorite firewood so it is super easy to get your hands on.

I'll let you know what woods work and what doesn't. Should be an interesting adventure.

BBQ Mzungu

WOW, sound's GREAT. Let us know what you findout, alwise looking for new flavor's to cook with .

Mike

I'll be watching this one closely too. I'm slowly but surely working on a new Smoking Wood FAQ, and I'd like to see how things turn out.

CanadaBBQGuy wrote:

I'll be watching this one closely too. I'm slowly but surely working on a new Smoking Wood FAQ, and I'd like to see how things turn out.

Mango worked great. Definately will use it again.

SET UP/COOK:
I gathered a few dry branches from underneath the neighbor's mango tree, pulled the bark off, and soaked them in some water. The pieces were about 1" in diameter and broken into 10" or so lengths. This was placed on top of local lump charcoal that is homemade in backyards and sold along the roadside for use as cooking fuel. No way to know what wood the charcoal started as, just whatever was handy at the time.

My grill is a very rustic (read it leaks like a seive) horizontal barrel grill I had made up by a local welder from a picture I drew on a piece of notebook paper. It is designed after the Brinkman I had in the States, but doesn't have the SFB yet. When it comes to 'big ugly barrel grills' this one is a definate front runner in the ugly category.

I placed 3 pieces of mango on the charcoal and cooked 2 beef tenderloins and a couple pans of baked beans. When the loins were done, I took them and the beans off and added 4 more pieces of mango wood and started cooking nearly 40 beef steaks. I purposely went light on the wood as it was new to me and I didn't want to overdo it the first time around.

RESULT:
Dinner was great. We had a great meal and the invited guests enjoyed it very much. The mango gave a good, but mild flavor to the beef tenderloins. I would describe it as a lot like apple. It gave little to nothing to the steaks as they just weren't on long enough to take much smoke. I think it would be very good for chicken or pork, but was a bit mild for the beef. It would have been better if I had used more, but I was being cautious as I didn't want to ruin that much meat with guests arriving.

I will definately use mango again, especially on chicken/pork. I will get some bigger chuncks and use it more liberally. My wife loved it and is already thinking about how we will get some through customs when we go back to the States to visit this winter so we can cook with it there.

BBQ Mzungu

GREAT, when should we show up to the next grill session
Trial and error is what it takes.
I am still really new here and to true smoking but I am really competitive by nature and moving up to a homebuilt trailer mount smoker now.
Send more info on more smoke's, input is good.

Mike

bajamike560 wrote:

GREAT, when should we show up to the next grill session

Mike

Welcome anytime, just let me know your on your way and I'll get the fire burning. That will be plenty of time as it takes nearly 2 days to get here from most anywhere.

BBQ Mzungu

BBQ Mzungu wrote:

I will definately use mango again, especially on chicken/pork. I will get some bigger chuncks and use it more liberally.
BBQ Mzungu

OK, I have since used some 3-4 inch chunks on a whole small pig that we Q'd while covered with fresh sliced pineapple. Brushed on a glaze I made of guava jam, raw brown sugar, lemon juice, and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and bay leaf). That little piggie was GONE.

I have also experimented smoking with sugar cane. Strong smoke with a molasses flavor to it. Again, I didn't use much of it. Just a few little slices. Going to use a couple of chunks next time.

I think I know where I can get some avacado wood, so that will be coming along too sometime.

BBQ Mzungu

WOW, that sound's like fun...
I have not ventured out much lately wood wise myself. Not much veritey here in the NW US.
Send photo's if you can, hope the smoke went well.

Mike

bajamike560 wrote:

WOW, that sound's like fun...
I have not ventured out much lately wood wise myself. Not much veritey here in the NW US.
Mike

I suppose the same could be said of Uganda. No hickory, mesquite, apple, oak, pecan...


BBQ Mzungu