Smoking With Wood - How to Choose the Right Wood for Smoking Meat 

I think short informative videos like this are great. The majority of people are like me and are just getting into smokers. We've been grillin steaks, hamburger, chicken all our life but doing ribs, brisket, boston butt etc on a smoker is new or we have little experience. I'm trying to catch up though and vids like this are great. Thanks for all your contribution to BBQ 101. By the way, I just got some of your THE BBQ RUB & SAUCE in the mail. Will be trying it out on some ribs this weekend.

This is my page right here! My first bbq didn't know a thing about smoking meat I went to RU-vid found this page and never turned back! Memorial Day is coming up best of luck to all the smokers out there

I like the combination of hickory and apple. Love apple. I love the taste of the smoke that it puts off.

Been going through all your videos, bought your rubs sauces and made brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, pork chops, tri tip, and the stuffed chicken breast. All these foods were phenomenal!!! Some of the best food I’ve eaten. Malcolm you’re the best

You make the best grilling videos - I'm a real fan.

My personal top 5 wood to some with are. 1. Apple 2. Oak 3. Pecan 4. Cherry 5. Mesquite

I start a chimney with briquettes, enough to fill about half my firebox, then use the lovely post oak as a primary source since we've got an infinite source here (TX). I'll generally use hickory chunks but I'll use pecan sometimes too. For heavier meats I'll mix half as much of both hickory and pecan on top of the post oak. Incredible smoke flavor.

Great video Malcom! I find that a combination of hickory and cherry or pecan and cherry is magical for most cooks, even on my pellet grill.

I use to cut trees and tried wood from a yellow popular tree and it gave it an amazing flavor.

perfect answer to my questions that brought me here. Thanks

I'm happy for you. Sorry, I don't use Twitter or Facebook. Comments about the wood chucks was good.

I have lots of pearwood I've been using with hickory and cherry for pork butts. Yeah, combination

Pecan & sugar maple mixed are absolutely delightful :)

English Pear is a really nice wood for smoking if you can find some, my favourite.

Thank you for your amazing video. I did not know there are more choices than just hickory. Smoking my meat helps me keep keto. Thank you so much for making videos like this!

I love a nice cherry/pecan or apple/cherry combo depending on what’s on the smokerv

Thanks for the update. My new question, HOW TO USE WOOD IN A SIDE SMOKE BOX ON MY BARREL GRILL ( START - FINISH )?

Good vid. I'm down in south florida and WISH we had Pecan! Sometimes I use white Oak but mostly use Button wood but you have to let it get very dry.

Thank you so much I am new to smoking and learning so much!

In Texas the wood of choice is oak. Nice clean spoke with little extra flavors. Let’s you really taste the meat. Might be why our bbq is best

You made a believer out of me Malcom! I’m your disciple and my friends and family love me more now that I’m using them as guinea pigs when I apply what I’m learning from you. I’m from Costa Rica and our favorite wood for smoking is coffee wood. I love the flavor that it imparts. Have you tried it? I know it’s difficult to source here in the US, but I would love to hear your expert opinion on this particular smoking wood.

Great short video clip. Straight to the point and very informative .. Thanks

Very informative info on wood chunks. Thanks..

I prefer to use a nice seasoned chunk of pressure treated 4x4 post.MMMM delicious specially used on a butt roast or brisket.

I have a propane smoker and use hickort and mesquite because theyre bold. Just moved to TN and saw pecan as an option. Ive read through the bullshit of do apple/cherry with pork and hickory mesquite with beef etc.. hickory and mesquite for everytjing.. i been leanin on mesquite a lot latelty and feel its a strong but food flavor.. used it on salmon and it was amazing... Man i just realized he's talkin bout wood for heat managment and also wood chips for flavor. Malcom is a bbq Guru

My favorite is using Post Oak and Pecan together. However, if you do not smoke alot, I would not recommend it as it could be way to much smoke if you dont know what you are doing

Nice format Malcolm on these new vids short and sharp. Hope you get some good feedback. Do you sell those killer Hog shirts they look pretty cool:)

Hi Malcolm, I wanted to get your take on this. For babies and St Louis I primarily use pecan and about 60 min after meat is down, throw one or two cherry sticks on for bark color. Pecan is my primary source but I'm definitely going to try an all cherry chicken or fish in the near future.

Excellent Tutorial Malcom!

This video was amazing, super informative.

Does anyone have insight on persimmon wood? I have someone who's giving a bunch of it away and was wondering if anyone has used it for smoking?

Love ya videos all the way from Australia you da man Malc!! Keep it up 🤙🏼🤙🏼

Hello from The Nethelands! Thank you for video, getting Cherry and starting with chicken, hope to not poison wife and make great food!

I'm from Louisiana I love that pecan myself

Thanks for the video. I cut and split firewood all throughout the year. I've recently come into some Cherry wood and I am wanting to sell it individually for those who smoke meat. When you purchase your smoking wood, what do you look for when you buy it? Does packaging matter or the size of the chunks? Just want to give the best product to those who will use and appreciate this. Thanks so much. I'll watch some more of your videos.

Malcom makes me want to quit my job and open a bbq stand. If I ever do Malcom is going to be a co-owner with me not know it and gets checks sent to him 🤙🏼🙌🏼

Nail, meet hammer! On the head, Malcom. Thanks, that was quite informative.

When you say Oak - I work with a tree care company in Illinois and I have ready access to many tree species and wood types. Red, White, Bur, and Pin. I would assume that White Oak is the preferred material, but I don't know. Cherry around here we have SOME Canadian Cherry, but mostly Black (choke) Cherry. Hickory, mostly we have Shagbark. There's some pure Hickory, but not much that anyone will let me cut chunks off of. Is there a preference among these? Is Also, is Crabapple tree the same as Apple tree when it comes to smoking? I know you say to play around with them - but certainly I'm going to ask for a public opinion of educated peoples as part of my research. Also, do you cut to chunks THEN season, or leave the logs whole for a year or two then split / chunk. Man, the more I think about this the crazier it gets!

Alder plus sugar cane is good with spicy chicken. Good sweet/spicy flavor.

Hey, love the videos, just throwing it out there, maybe you could do a video to show the different color that different types of wood puts on the meat. Like a side by side thing, just an idea.

Pound for pound, I gotta give the strong nod to post oak as the best smoking wood.

I prefer to start with hard lump then use the combination that best suits the meat I never use briquettes just hard wood lump. Mostly Royal oak but I also like that Texas hardwood lump that they got I can't remember the name of the company that makes it but it burns a good long time

Give citrus a try sometime. I use a lot of it in my BBQ because I can get it locally for free.

I prefer backwoods for my smoke 😂

can you use avocado wood for smoking?

Good information Malcom..Thanks

Awesome! Love the short and very informative video. Question: Do size of the chunks ever matter? I have a bag of softball-sized apple and a bag of less-than-tennis-ball-sized apple. Is there ever an advantage/disadvantage of using one size over the other?

thanks for the info - its very helpful !

Malcom, do you recommend using charcoal and chunk wood in a offset smoker, or just charcoal to start and use only logs as your fuel? I have a horizon 16 offset. Not a cheap offset and I can only get lump charcoal and chunks to last about 2 hours. 3 max. Then I gotta add more 1-2 more times for 8 hr cook. Thanks!

Exactly what I was looking for. Amazing. Cheers man

I personally enjoy applewood for brisket

Love these instructional videos. Keep 'em coming

I use lump charcoal for fuel, how often should I use wood for smoke? Only for the first few hours of the cook? Or for the whole cook

Malcolm, do you have a vid about all of your smokers and how they work? I have had mostly electric smokers, different types, and want to get into coal and wood chunk instead of pellets/chips. Nice cooking too man!

I love all your videos.

How do you feel about grilling with citrus wood? Maybe chicken or fish?

What if doing a bbq in a public park grill or at the beach- Can i use just wood chunks and no charcoals at all ? Trying to go only natural wood & smoke flavor. How about just Hickory wood chunks to make burgers, adding some wood chips in the last few minutes ?

Hey Malcolm, great video! What's you opinion on wood chips like those Jack Daniels oak wood chips?

Thanks for the information... Your videos are very informative!!!!

I plan on grilling oysters, steaks, lobsters and a few vegetables what wood would you suggest.

I’m new at smoking meat. Should I use logs and charcoal or just chunks? I’m having a hard time smoking brisket right.😔

Great share thank you

Great informative videos Malcom,keepem coming Thanks

Whats available is always the best choice.

Nice Job ! Well said

I work in food science & BBQ. This notion that different woods create much different flavors is wrong. The primary compounds (though there's many) which survive the combustion process & flavor meat are vanillin & cis and trans isomers of lactone. These compounds are found in higher amount in oak than other woods, but not in such an amount that effects any outcome of meat flavor after wood combustion. It does effect flavor when the wood is raw, thus the use of oak in whiskey barrels. There is one outlier to this: mesquite. Mesquite is high in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which can lead to a bitter flavor if used too heavily. Apple, peach, oak, pecan, hickory, etc, etc, etc, does not impact flavor as much as soil does. The quality of the soil which the wood is grown in allows the trees to create more flavor producing compounds than species of the wood itself. Again, besides mesquite, the choice of wood means nothing. I've seen reviews that swear pecan is stronger than hickory & vise a versa. Truth is, pecans have evolved from hickory & have similar compound profiles. Grown in the same soil they will produce the same tasting meat. This is the reason there are no "professional wood tasters". You cannot tell "this is apple wood smoked, pecan, oak, etc, etc, etc. Tl;dr get hardwood from great soil & don't obsess over the type of wood

What's your thoughts on Apple wood? I've been using that for pork and I love it.

Just cut up a face cord of cherry. Was wondering how important it was to debark it for smoking. I took a minute per log round with an axe and got 75% of bark off. Guess that's good enough or maybe not even necessary?

You talked about dry wood and impurities. How do you dry the wood (if you have pecan trees to make smoking chips)

So you can use just any wood? I see people selling fire wood on Facebook but they dont list the species.

Question, how long do the wood chunks last on a bed of charcoal before having to add another, particularly for longer cooks?

Thank you sir.

Got maple trees on my property so the choice is easy. its super strong so go easy with it but taste great. Maple will turn your meat grey if you use too much. But for me its free. C

Malcolm, have you ever used Bradford pear tree wood?

What are your thoughts on bark on wood or do you prefer no bark... Which produce better product... Also love your videos

Do you have any options on orange or tangerine tree wood for smoking?

it's hard to find good wood to bbq with in melb Australia

Some other sources have suggested soaking the chips in water for use in a chip box with a gas smoker. Is there ever a situation where you would recommend soaking wood chips?

Hey Malcom nice vid again i have a pitbarrel smoker my problem is every time i do chicken the skin comes out rubbery can you give any tips on how to correct this thanks.

Hey Malcolm, Thanks for the great videos. I have a question, how much smoking wood should be used to smoke ribs?

I searched for a video like this because I just smoked my first chicken breast but used the hickory I had on hand. Just too much for chicken. I'll try it again with the cherry.

I have plenty of juniper wood and wattle wood "Fruits wood does not exist in my region" what do think about using it to smoke beef?

Love ur channel, very informative brother 👍

How do you feel about smoking with Birch wood

Thanks for the informative video. Would like your opinion on Applewood.

Hi. Nice video. I have a question. What about olive wood ? Is it suitable for smoking ?

How come I don’t see a lot of pros using mesquite wood? It’s quite a common flavor here but, I usually see pros picking woods like hickory or pecan. I was curious why more don’t use mesquite?

Hi Malcom, would you cook with the bark on ?? I’m using oak !!

Really enjoy your products as well as videos. DO woods that you use to smoke work the same as the wood pellets? I just started smoking using a pellet grill. Could you give some simple but helpful tips to a newbe like myself please?

Would you know why ... when you season your smoker you can get a creosote that forms on the metal

How’s it going I live in Michigan I have a big pear tree that I cut down In my yard I wanted to know have you ever smoked barbecue with pearwood or can you use Pear wood?

Great video

What's your opinion about using Mulberry on your pork meat.

I live in Michigan and I want to do a brisket . What oak would be better red or white ?

I have always bought my wood chunks at a store to add to my charcoal but my friend cut up and gave me an apple tree and I have cut the logs into discs and branches into smaller pieces to use with my charcoal. My question is do you think the bark needs to be removed or is it ok to leave it as is?

Malcom, you're awesome Have used many of your recipes with success Another great video Just curious if you have any suggestions as to where to order online good quality wood as I can't find a constant source locally in the urban area I live. Occasionally Home Depot has them but it's not consistent. Thank you!

Is it better to bury your wood chunks or put them on top of your coals?

I have a cool little GoBq grill and I occasionally throw wood chips on it. Should I stop soaking the wood chips?

Good stuff as always, we believe naturally-aged is best.

I have small wood chips, how much do I put in? Do I always keep the tray full what do you recommend?