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A good general guide. I have found that fruit woods are good with just about any kind of meat. I do agree that mesquite should be used mostly for beef because it is so pungent. But it really depends on how long you keep food in the smoke.

5 comments

  • glen

    glen 7 years, 9 months ago

    I'd agree with your assessment on mesquite. It's a beast of it's own kind.

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    • Razorback

      Razorback 7 years, 9 months ago

      One trick for using mesquite with poultry and fish (both of which absorb smoke quickly) is to grill the meat first. Remove it from the grill and place in an aluminum pan (or similar). Set up an indirect fire and throw a small amount of mesquite on the coals. Once the thick white smoke starts to billow out, put the pan with the meat back on and let it absorb the smoke for a few minutes. Because it is indirect, almost no heat will be transferred to the food (aka, overcooking) but the mesquite smoke will have time to penetrate the meat slightly. I did this once with a rotisserie chicken I bought fully cooked, pulled apart, stuck in a pan and "smoked" for about 3-5 minutes. Everyone thought I had spent hours getting it to taste that way (shhh...don't tell).

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      • glen

        glen 7 years, 9 months ago

        You dirty dog! I've never done that.

        I guess my biggest secret smoking meat is that once (for my brother's wedding), I was in a time crunch, and got started waaaay too late smoking a pork butt for pulled pork. The meat only got to about 30 degrees from done by 2am, and I was falling asleep. So, I pulled all of the meat off the smoker, put it in a sealed container in the fridge, and then the next day I threw the pork butt in the oven until it hit the perfect 202 degrees.

        I thought it was going to suck, but it turned out surprisingly good. Everyone loved it. Thankfully pork butt is really, REALLY forgiving.

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