British BBQ Society Forums

Posted: **29 Oct 2009, 09:30**

On various sites around the web you'll find tables that describe the characteristics of different smoking woods. To save you all the time in Google I thought I could add one here

The extra bonus here is that we can add to it, so if you're looking at the table and you spot a wood we're missing, post a reply and we can add the wood to the table.

Wood	Characteristics	Works With
Acacia	From the same family as Mesquite. Similar Flavour but lighter	Beef Fish Chicken Game
Maple	Smokey, mellow and slightly sweet, similar to birch.	Pork Poultry Cheese Light Game
Alder	Delicate flavour with a sweet musky smoke. Often associated with Fish smoking	Fish Pork Poultry Light Meats Game Particularly good with Salmon
Almond	Nutty, sweet flavour, produces lots of ash.	All meats
Apple	Mild sweet flavour with a subtle fruitiness. Will turn chicken skin dark	Poultry Pork
Ash	Fast burning wood with a light but distinctive flavour	Fish Red meats
Beech	Very mild and light flavour. In parts of Germany, Beech is a popular wood for grilling Bratwursts. over	Pork Fish
Birch	Smokey, mellow and slightly sweet, similar to maple.	Pork Poultry Cheese Light Game
Cherry	Mild, sweet and fruity flavour. Will turn chicken skin dark	All Meats
Grape	Tart flavour, produces lots of smoke	Red Meats Game Lamb
Hickory	Sweet to strong, bacon-like flavour	Beef Pork Ham
Maple	Smokey, mellow and slightly sweet, similar to birch.	Pork Poultry Cheese Light Game
Mesquite	Sweet and quite light	Beef Pork Ham
Mulberry	Smokey, mellow and slightly sweet, similar to birch.	Pork Poultry Cheese Light Game
Oak	Rich and heavy smoke flavour, the queen of smoking woods.	Red Meat Pork Heavy Game Fish
Orange / Lemon / Grapefruit	Nice mild smokey flavour	Pork Poultry Beef Fish
Pear	Nice subtle fruity flavour, similar to apple.	Poultry Pork
Pecan	Sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory. Tasty with a subtle character.	Pork Poultry Cheese Beef
Sweet Fruit Woods - Peach, Apricot, Plum etc	Mild and sweet smoke flavour.	Chicken Pork Turkey Fish
Walnut	Very heavy smoke, can be bitter if not used with other woods such as apple or cherry.	Red Meat Heavy Game

Posted: **29 Oct 2009, 17:55**

Great idea Steve it will be a useful tool.
Thanks

Posted: **03 Nov 2009, 20:01**

PEACH --- Has the same charictoristics as Cherry

PECAN --- Light, nutty flavor better with red meats

OAK ---- Helpfull in mellowing out Hickory and other strong flavor hard woods

MISQUITE --- Very strong flavor. Best with red meats. Easy to over smoke with

Posted: **05 Feb 2010, 21:34**

Just updated the table. It's complete as far as I can see.

However I'm sure people will spot some missing woods, please shout out if you do.

Posted: **24 May 2010, 11:37**

somebody just offered me a bay tree. Does anybody know if it's usable or not?

Posted: **05 Aug 2010, 19:51**

cheers Steve good piece of work, I echo the question re bay trees?

Posted: **07 Aug 2010, 14:13**

Rule of Thumb usually is Hardwood, fruit wood or nut wood .... I have a feeling that bay might not fall into that category ... probably falls into the eucalyptus category for flavour ... and believe me, I know from experience that that is not good !!! :lol:

Posted: **25 Aug 2010, 11:44**

Thanks Jackie, just been given a pile of damson...will let y'all know how it burns

Posted: **19 Sep 2010, 18:23**

This is great, thanks for posting it.

Does anybody know a good source for the more unusual woods, like hickory?

Posted: **19 Sep 2010, 21:59**

My wood guy sometimes has some hickory. Obviously he doesn't grow it it but he has come up with some for me this year that he acquired from somewhere.
http://www.smokingwoodsupplies.co.uk

Email Paul and ask him if he's got any.

Otherwise, you can buy Weber branded chunks of hickory and mesquite from garden centres.

Another option is to buy some hickory pellets from American BBQ. They're primarily for pellet cookers but they will burn happily in a foil parcel on your coals.

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