Woods For Grilling & Smoking Question

[Redcatcher]

I grill almost every evening as long is it is not pouring out and I like my marinates. They can get really pricy after awhile but so can store bought planks or chips (I usually get hickory). I have an old apple tree on the property as well as what I believe is a sugar maple and a pear tree. I picked up some apple twigs with the bark still on them and lot of lichens. I pulled off the lichens (which probably would not smell/taste so great when they smouldered) along with some of the bark but I am not sure if I should pull off the rest of the bark. I have them soaking on water right now. Is an hour long enough? I plan to grill pork chops for supper tonight. Anyone want to come for supper?

 

[mississippifarmboy]

We use apple wood a lot for smoking and I never take the bark off myself, I just soak a few hours and put the twigs and such in the smoker pan. Any time I see a dead limb on one of the apple trees I cut it and lay it on the woodpile, larger limbs I use a hatchet to chip off large chips and smaller twigs and such I just break into smaller pieces by hand.
Good luck!

 

[redhen]

Yum! I bet Apple smoked will taste soo good! Lucky!

 

[gmendoza]

We gots:

sweetgum wood
cottonwood
magnolia
crab apple
ornamental pear
sugar maple

not sure if I want to use any of these to grill with.

 

[KristyHall]

i know sweet gum is great for growing eddible mushrooms but is it good for smoking? What about red cedar?

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I wouldn't think red cedar would be good for smoking meat Kristy, but it sure smells good in an open fire! As for crab-apples, I don't have any experiance with the imported and fancy nursery types, but our wild crab-apples here I use like any other apple-wood. And I might add they make the best crab-apple preserves you've ever tasted in your life!

 

[gmendoza]

ours are marble sized crab apples. doubt if it tastes good.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
Our wild ones are from golf ball sized up to about half again that size. Hard as a rock and so sour they'll make you make funny faces eatting them raw.

 

[gmendoza]

Quote:
Our wild ones are from golf ball sized up to about half again that size. Hard as a rock and so sour they'll make you make funny faces eatting them raw.

fed em to the chickens once.......almost got killed!

 

[Redcatcher]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have no smoking box so I just laid the twigs on the grill, just as I do with the planks. There was some smoke but not nearly as much as I get with the planks. I am not sure if the grill was hot enough (the tank is running low), I soaked the twigs too long, not enough or what. But I will be eating the pork chops shortly so I guess the flavor will be what counts. Stay tuned!