Different wood smoke flavor.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Uncle Al

Senior Cook
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Messages
483
Location
Raynham, MA
Just wondering, aside from mesquite and hickory, can you taste a distinct diffrence the taste imparted by different smoke woods. Could you do a blind test and be able to say "Yup, this one's been smoked over apple and this here one's been smoked over guava."

As far as I'm concerned they are all very much alike.

Al
 
Al,

I tend to agree with you. I honestly can't tell the difference when I'm eating whether the meat was smoked with apple, maple, oak, or whatever. However, I think if it was over smoked with hickory or mesquite, you might be able to.

Where I CAN tell the difference is standing next to the cooker, I can tell apple from pecan and sugar maple from hickory etc...to me they all have a distinct aroma.
 
I can only tell if it was cooked with a strong wood like hickory over a mellower wood like alder. I couldn't tell you about different tastes though.
 
I think I could tell the difference between some of the woods...hickory,cherry...and such..but when you start to mix the woods...no way
 
Well then,

I feel better knowing that, like me, most of you folks can't REALLY tell the difference.
Thats why I smoke everything with apple, cherry and hickory.

Al
 
Now I can pick out mesquite any old day..but not sure I could tell hickory if push come to shove. Actually its all in the smell not in the taste unless you consider smell part of the taste process. In addition to a blindfold make folks hold their nose before tasting and see if they can pick out anything. Mr Wizzard done the no see no smell expuriment on TV one time. The kids said raw apples was potatoes and roast beef was tissue paper. Thats odd huh? I think you got to live in Hiwaya to get Guava wood.

bigwheel
 
bigwheel said:
Now I can pick out mesquite any old day..but not sure I could tell hickory if push come to shove. Actually its all in the smell not in the taste unless you consider smell part of the taste process. In addition to a blindfold make folks hold their nose before tasting and see if they can pick out anything. Mr Wizzard done the no see no smell expuriment on TV one time. The kids said raw apples was potatoes and roast beef was tissue paper. Thats odd huh? I think you got to live in Hiwaya to get Guava wood.

bigwheel

They can actually ship now to the lower 48.
12.gif


http://www.hawaiiguava.com/
 
i can tell the diff when they're in the smoker, and i can pretty much tell the diff between most hardwoods and say apple and cherry afterwards, but i usually throw all that out the window when i'm running a blend of woods, which is almost all of the time.....

must be due to a decent nasal photoionization detector ;)

Rob
 
I agree Brian...I would add that to the smell and taste recognizable catagorey...so I think that is 3 in total for me! ;)
 
Well yepppers anybody can tell cheery by the way it makes the meat look which is like a black cat eating liquorish in a coal car with the door shut at midnight on a moonless night. Turns it blacker than the ace of spades in other words. Thats why it good to save it for whut the Lord intended which is making furniture.

bigwheel
 
bigwheel said:
.... is like a black cat eating liquorish in a coal car with the door shut at midnight on a moonless night. bigwheel

I cant wait to work that line into conversation...

It was darker than......
 
How come when people cook poultry with cherry they say it comes out a nice dark mahogany color ????? :scratch

Al
 
I agree it's a aroma thing. Scent and taste.... the smell sets up expectations for the tounge. Except for Lutefisk.
 
Back
Top Bottom