Smoke food only with dry, untreated hardwood such as oak, hickory, apple, cherry, maple or alder, in chunks that smoulder rather than logs that blaze, and never with pine, spruce, cedar, fir, eucalyptus, painted or treated timber, or wood that is rotten or mouldy. Oak and hickory suit red meat and bacon, apple and cherry suit poultry and fish, and alder is the traditional choice for fish.
Part of Large-Scale Smoking & Curing
Smoking wood is the fuel burned to produce smoke for flavouring food, chosen for the flavour compounds its smouldering produces and for being free of resin and contaminants.
The Wood Is An Ingredient, So It Must Be Clean
Smoke deposits what the wood contains on the food. Resin in softwoods gives harsh, bitter, sooty smoke and tars the meat; the parent article calls resinous woods toxic and foul-tasting and bans them. The first rule is therefore a negative one: use only hardwood, and only wood whose history you know.
The parent article’s list:
- Oak: strong, all-purpose, excellent for red meat and sausage
- Hickory: strong, the classic bacon and ham flavour
- Apple and cherry: mild and sweet, best for poultry and fish
- Maple: mild and sweet, good for pork
- Alder: very mild, traditional for fish
Also avoid:
- Treated, painted or varnished wood, and plywood or board. Preservatives (including arsenic-based ones), paints and glues volatilise into the smoke and settle on the meat.
- Rotten or mouldy wood. It makes acrid smoke and carries mould spores.
- Driftwood and salvaged beams whose past is unknown, as they may carry salt, chemicals or preservatives.
- Vines and plants that are irritants. Burning poison ivy, poison oak and similar plants carries the irritant oil in the smoke and can cause severe lung and skin reactions.
Dryness, Size And Combustion
Season the wood so it is dry (Seasoning & Drying). Green wood produces thick, wet, bitter smoke. The parent article advises chunks or chips rather than logs, aiming for smouldering smoke rather than a roaring fire, and soaking the wood for 30 minutes to slow and cool the smoke. Soaking is debated: wet wood first spends heat boiling off water and can produce dirtier, steamier smoke, so use it as a way to slow the burn only if the smoke stays thin and pale. Thick white or yellow smoke that stings the eyes is bad smoke and makes bitter food. Thin, pale blue smoke is what you want.
Thick, dirty smoke carries more tar and more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a family of compounds that includes carcinogens, and so does fat burning on embers; a smouldering fire also makes carbon monoxide. Heavily smoked food made with dirty smoke is a long-term health cost, not an immediate one. Clean wood, steady thin smoke, a drip tray that keeps fat off the fire, and sufficient airflow reduce it (Ventilation control and draft management).
What You Need
- Seasoned hardwood chunks or chips, from a source you can identify
- A dry store for the wood
- A way to replenish smouldering wood without opening the chamber too often
Method: Choosing And Preparing Wood
Step 1: Match wood to food: oak or hickory for red meat and bacon, apple or cherry for poultry and fish, alder for fish.
Step 2: Split to chunks, season until dry, store under cover.
Step 3: Reject any piece with mould, paint, rot, resin pockets or an unknown history.
Step 4: Feed small amounts often to keep a thin, steady smoke.
Common Mistakes
- Using softwood offcuts because they light easily.
- Using pallet or demolition wood. Unknown treatment.
- Burning fresh-cut wood.
- Over-smoking. More smoke does not mean better; a bitter, acrid surface is the result.
Safety
The smoke goes onto the food
Smoke from treated, painted or chemically contaminated wood coats the food with whatever the wood held, and some of those chemicals (arsenic in old preservative-treated timber, for example) are poisons. Burn only wood you can identify as clean. Never burn poison ivy or similar plants, and never use any wood that has been in contact with preservatives, fuels or oils.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Fish, poultry, and red meat methods — which wood and which method for each meat
- Combine with: Coppicing & Fuel Management — growing the hardwood supply