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Smoking with hickory

KingTM

KingTM

All Big 10
5 Year Member
Dude at work just gave me a bunch of hickory from a fallen tree on some land he just bought. This will go nicely with my stack of cherry and apple.

What is your wood of choice? I like a more mild smoke flavor. For pork, I normally use cherry and/or apple. For beef, I like hickory.
 

Hickory, Mesquite and Apple. I have some Oak that I haven't tried yet but I've some BBQ shows that use oak exclusively.
 



KingTM said:
I've always wanted to try Pecan but I can't seem to find any, around these parts.
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I use a pellet smoker so all types of wood are a lot easier to come by and you can blend them. For Thanksgiving turkey i use an apple pecan mixture.
 
chicago husker said:
I use a pellet smoker so all types of wood are a lot easier to come by and you can blend them. For Thanksgiving turkey i use an apple pecan mixture.
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Nice. I smoked my first bird last year with some apple and it was incredibly moist, juicy and tasty. Roasted a backup in the oven but it really wasn't necessary. I cannot wait for the 24th to get here, its a fat kid's dream come true. :Biggrin:
 
KingTM said:
Nice. I smoked my first bird last year with some apple and it was incredibly moist, juicy and tasty. Roasted a backup in the oven but it really wasn't necessary. I cannot wait for the 24th to get here, its a fat kid's dream come true. :Biggrin:
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do you brine your turkey? I have always used a wet brine but this year I am going to dry brine. I also spatchcock the bird and point the legs toward the hot side of the smoker.
 




I stopped brining thanksgiving turkeys a couple years ago. The effort wasn't worth it. Turkeys take on smoke fast so there's no reason to go slow., and in fact, I like going pretty fast. Get that skin vaporized quickly and get the meat up to temp. Nothing worse than rubbery skin.

I use apple for turkey, but can't say I really care all that much. Hickory would probably over-punch the smoke flavor, but who knows.

Hell, maybe I'll brine this year just to change it up. It's not like it's that much effort. I go about 300-315 degrees in the smoker. When I go 225 like most do, I get that crap rubbery skin. Even the dogs won't eat that.
 
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chicago husker said:
do you brine your turkey? I have always used a wet brine but this year I am going to dry brine. I also spatchcock the bird and point the legs toward the hot side of the smoker.
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That's exactly how I did mine (I've also done tons of whole chickens, this way), brined it for 24 hours, spatchcocked it and threw it on. I actually smoked that one on my Weber kettle using the snake method and it turned out great. Weather was crappy that day and I have a covered deck where my grills sit but my smoker is down on the patio, exposed. Easy choice. :thumbsup:

jikastew said:
I stopped brining thanksgiving turkeys a couple years ago. The effort wasn't worth it. Turkeys take on smoke fast so there's no reason to go slow., and in fact, I like going pretty fast. Get that skin vaporized quickly and get the meat up to temp. Nothing worse than rubbery skin.

I use apple for turkey, but can't say I really care all that much. Hickory would probably over-punch the smoke flavor, but who knows.

Hell, maybe I'll brine this year just to change it up. It's not like it's that much effort. I go about 300-315 degrees in the smoker. When I go 225 like most do, I get that crap rubbery skin. Even the dogs won't eat that.
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I go a little higher, as well but not into the 300's. I flip my chicken over and place it directly over the coals for a few minutes if the skin isn't crispy enough, already. Should work on a turkey.
 
jikastew said:
I stopped brining thanksgiving turkeys a couple years ago. The effort wasn't worth it. Turkeys take on smoke fast so there's no reason to go slow., and in fact, I like going pretty fast. Get that skin vaporized quickly and get the meat up to temp. Nothing worse than rubbery skin.

I use apple for turkey, but can't say I really care all that much. Hickory would probably over-punch the smoke flavor, but who knows.

Hell, maybe I'll brine this year just to change it up. It's not like it's that much effort. I go about 300-315 degrees in the smoker. When I go 225 like most do, I get that crap rubbery skin. Even the dogs won't eat that.
Click to expand...


Yep. No low and slow for birds.
 



KingTM said:
That's exactly how I did mine (I've also done tons of whole chickens, this way), brined it for 24 hours, spatchcocked it and threw it on. I actually smoked that one on my Weber kettle using the snake method and it turned out great. Weather was crappy that day and I have a covered deck where my grills sit but my smoker is down on the patio, exposed. Easy choice. :thumbsup:



I go a little higher, as well but not into the 300's. I flip my chicken over and place it directly over the coals for a few minutes if the skin isn't crispy enough, already. Should work on a turkey.
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if you dry brine with a 3 kosher salt to 1 baking powder ratio it will dramatically help crisp up the skin.
 

KingTM said:
Interesting. I'll have to look into that. I brine mainly for moistness, how do you fare in that regard, with this method?
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it has the same effect but tends to make the skin much crispier. Go to Serious Eats website and they have a current article on it. I have using it on chicken for quite some time but for some reason i have always wet brine my turkey. old habits of old farts hard to change.
 
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