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Thread: Scrap wood in the BBQ ccooker

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
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    Fairbanks AK
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    Scrap wood in the BBQ ccooker

    What ya got? I am always looking for new recipes.

    I have been working with a piece of white oak lately and decided to try Steve Raichlen's Tuscan style grilled porterhouse (googlable).

    The chunks of oak go in the chimney with the charcoal. If I had enough I would use no charcoal at all, the goal is to have the oak chunks blazing hot glowing bright orange/ red for grilling at high heat not smoking at low heat. i only had this many today, so I filled the chimney the rest of the way with lump charcoal.

    i have plenty of leftover rosemary and sage, the wife approves doing the recipe again tomorrow with a ribeye and a strip to see how they do with this style, which means I'll just have to spend some time in the shop tomorrow to make more oak scraps so I can make dinner ;-)

    chunks.jpggrill.jpgplate.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
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    Northern Michigan
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    4,963
    https://www.amazon.com/Cook-Air-EP-3.../dp/B00I058WKM

    I have one of these, nice small unit I can easily take with me. I use different scraps depending on what I am working on, and have found Jatoba to be my favorite. Plus, its turbocharged! Cooks in less time but comes out like it was slow cooked.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Jacksonville, FL
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    859
    I have a Big Green Egg and I just buy chips and chunks at my local Ace Hardware when I need them. I'm hesitant to use lumber from my woodworking as I don't know if it was chemically treated for bugs or not.

    I'm glad to see you using lump though as most charcoal briquets are chemically glued together. I prefer my fires to be all natural. I don't use lighter fluid either.
    Marshall
    ---------------------------
    A Stickley fan boy.

  4. #4
    A son of mine uses his air compressor in conjunction with a 3 ft. long tubing at the grill that keeps his mesquite wood scraps glowing red.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Kamiah, ID
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    280
    All my alder, cherry and maple scraps go to a neighbor friend who uses it in his home made smoker. Just about the opposite of your high heat set up. He gave us a bear ham last year and we've had other various game he's smoked. High heat or low....hmmmm....this may require some intensive sampling. Yum!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    McKean, PA
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    I have some hickory scraps that get used when camping.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
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    I use oak pallet scraps in my electric smoker. It is soo.. easy to make smoked cheese in a loaf pan. I also save fruit tree prunings for the smoker.
    Bill D

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    Here is a list of different woods used for cooking and smoking and their effects on food:

    https://www.allqdup.com/bbq-woods-2/

    Before using wood, you may want to look it up. Some woods can cause allergic reactions in some people.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Woodstock, VA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    I use oak pallet scraps in my electric smoker. It is soo.. easy to make smoked cheese in a loaf pan. I also save fruit tree prunings for the smoker.
    Bill D
    Bill, how long do you keep it in? And what kinds of cheese have worked for you?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
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    2,645
    I dont have a smoker, but I do throw a piece or two of cherry on the grill (not over the direct flame) when I do burgers.

  11. #11
    I have not used charcoal or propane in decades. Cook over good dry oak chunks. When you get the hang of it, a good bed of coals can be set up in less than a few minutes. I cook up ten pounds of chicken breasts at a time, so we have plenty for lunches. I get a bed of coals going on one side of the grill. I coat the meat, chicken or even fish with olive il and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning and then sear the out side over the hot fire and then place the meat on the other side of the grill and close the gill so the food bakes in the hot smoke. The smokey flavor is so much better than anything cooked over charcoal or propane. We have a special pan with 1/4 inch holes for cooking fish and especially like salmon or shrimp cooked over a wood fire. We often grill vegetables too. A thick slice of onion, with a slice of tomato on top, or even a slice of pineapple. Sweet corn roasted in the husk is good. Spray summer squash lengthwise slices with cooking spray and seasoning and grill. Same for sweet potato slices.
    Last edited by Perry Hilbert Jr; 04-30-2019 at 12:15 AM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Northern UT
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    762
    I have a 'Black Egg', a knock off of the Green Egg. I use lump charcoal, but add various scraps of lumber that I save up. I use hardwood like cherry and maple, but also use some cedar and pine as well. I only use actual wood scraps that I have cut up myself to stay away from anything treated or processed in any way.

    I did a ham about two weeks ago. We only have one oven in the house so I use my ceramic grill to help out. I just used it to heat up the ham and it came out great. A good smokey flavor, and I left off the spice/sugar sauce that they send with the ham. It is 98% sugar and I decided no reason to add more sugar to the diet. I do my turkeys on it every year now and they are fantastic. I use lots of wood to get things started, then add more pieces as time goes on to increase the smoke. Seems to work real well. Always looking for new things to cook on it.
    I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love.... It seems to me that Montana is a great splash of grandeur....the mountains are the kind I would create if mountains were ever put on my agenda. Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans. Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.

    John Steinbeck


  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    somerset, ca.
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    i use manzanita in my business so have lots of scrap. i have a special recipe i use to soak the manzanita in before smoking my meat. turns out unbelieveable. add flavor to the wood instead of the meat.
    Last edited by jim carter; 05-01-2019 at 8:36 PM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
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    Cherry scraps. And a brine. And bacon grease.

    15# turkey, 5 gallon bucket (clean enough to lick), 2 gallons of water at room temp, 2 quarts of boiling water.

    Per gallon of water turkey brine ( I used three gallon worth with 2.5 gallons of water)

    1.5 cups salt
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    3 cups apple cider (I have used orange juice and papaya juice with excellent results also)
    1/2 teaspoon ginger
    4 Tablespoons black pepper
    1/2 cup lemon (lime, orange) juice

    Put the turkey in the bucket. Split the dry ingredients into two mixing bowls. A quart of boiling water into each bowl, stir to dissolve, pour over bird with two gallons water. Maybe a pie plate to hold the turkey immersed over night. Fridge, probably take the plastic drawers out of the bottom to fit the five gallon bucket. In the morning rinse with tap water, air dry.

    Flower power air intake wide open on 22 inch Weber, 5-10 chunks of cherry 1x1x1 to 2x2x2 per chimney of charcoal. Large bowl in the middle of the fire grate under the bird. Pour the lit charcoal onto either side of the bowl. Start with the grease from a pound of bacon, there will be some left over at the end. Work some under the skin all over the turkey, and then paint the outside of the turkey with bacon grease before it goes in the cooker.

    Put the turkey in the cooker, directly on the grill, but over the bowl. Reload charcoal and cherry chunks about every 45 minutes (+36 dF day of cook for me, May 4). Rotate the bird every little bit, hotter in the middle and cooler at the edge, you want the breast and thigh meat to be done at the same time, 165 dF and clear juices. The cherry smoke will make a smoke ring in the turkey meat, you cannot judge doneness by meat color here. After about two hours baste outside of turkey with more bacon grease using a small paint brush about every thirty minutes.

    Total cook time for a 15 pound bird at +36dF was 3:23. Likely faster in warmer weather, try to keep the ambient temp inside the cooker to 350dF of less. You will have less leftover bird than ever before.

    20190504_110124.jpg

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    Deep South
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    3,970
    I routinely use lumber scraps in my Primo smoker (similar to Green Egg). I prefer Hickory for pork and Cherry for poultry. I only use lump charcoal in addition to the wood blocks and it will burn for 10+ hours while keeping the interior at 225 - 275 degrees. I normally don't open the smoker after I put the meat on until it is done. The exception is ribs. I normally add sauce and wrap the ribs in foil for the last hour.

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