When smoking at home, there are plenty of different types of wood you can try: Bristol-based Ben Bartlett – also known as BBQ Ben – explains the differences.
Hickory
There are 19 species of hickory tree native to the South Eastern states of the USA, and once upon a time frontiersmen used hickory-handled axes to chop hickory logs for their campfires. Thus hickory became an important ingredient in the distinctive taste of the Southern style of barbecue.
Hickory trees are related to walnuts and pecans, making pecan pie another firm favourite with sweet-toothed Southerners, but for the time being we are not interested in desserts. What we want is hickory wood because it’s tough, resilient and hardwearing, and these qualities are ideal for making axe handles, golf clubs, baseball bats and barbecues.
Nowadays pre-packed bags of chipped hickory are readily available from good garden centres, supermarkets and DIY stores. If you still can’t find hickory wood the taste can be replicated by using hickory flavoured marinades and rubs but nothing beats the real thing.
Mesquite
Hickory trees become less common west of the Mississippi, so Texan, Arizonan and Californian barbecuers traditionally use wood from the mesquite tree.
Mesquite is a thorny, drought-resistant plant which thrives in arid and semi-desert conditions. Where water is abundant it can grow to a height of thirty feet, but if water is scarce the plant will rarely grow higher than the surrounding shrubs. There are several species including Screw-Bean, Velvet and Honey whose flowers are favourites of bees. Mesquite honey has a nutty taste, as does the flour made from the tree’s dried seedpods.
Ranchers regard mesquite, also called Texas Ironwood because it is so hard to cut, as a troublesome weed which is perhaps why they started burning mesquite wood on their campfires. Luckily for hungry cowboys, mesquite makes fantastic firewood as it burns slowly with a lot of heat.
For barbecuers hoping to recreate the Texas brand of Southern Barbecue, a smoker box of mesquite wood is a must. You can use it to add the characteristic nutty flavour to steaks, chicken, pork, fish and vegetables.
Other Woods
Besides hickory and mesquite, most barbecue supply stores now sell a range of wood chips for smoker boxes. Oak, apple and beech are also popular barbecue woods and with a little experimentation you can blend different woods to create your own special recipe.