Best Wood for Smoking Ribs /
Best Smoking Wood- Piggy Ribs

Many types of wood are good, but different woods are used to achieve different flavors and strengths of flavor. Since our goal is great tasting smoked ribs, it may help to remember the word H.O.M.E. when learning the best wood for smoking: Hickory, Oak, Mesquite, and Everything else.

But...(fill in the blank)

OK, we've named wood names and made a claim, and now the impassioned do the same. One wood is too hot, one wood is too strong, another isn't available...etc. Our goal is great tasting ribs, not to hamstring folks or be dogmatic (except when necessary...lol). All of the mentioned woods are time-tested for enhancing ribs, and you can trust the pro's....usually. We will not tell you to use pine, cedar, and treated lumber*. If you want to be a renegade and buck hundreds of years of tradition, we'll forgive you, but you won't get a Christmas card. *You might be a redneck if....

Before we wax eloquent about woods-

Your choice of woods is important, and we realize the field has been narrowed, already. HOW you use the woods is probably more important. Think of each element as a tool: the smoker/grill, the rub, the wood, the sauce... We are aiming to build the best tasting ribs, but you have to use the tools right.

Tips for your wood-
• - NEVER use pine, cedar, poison oak, oleander, treated wood, or worse.
• - NO GREEN WOOD makes good smoke flavor.
• - Remove any bark from wood chunks. Bark produces a nasty, acrid flavor when burned.
• - Use less to begin. Avoid overpowering the meat's flavor.
• - Be timely. Good wood over too long a time makes bad, overpowering smoke flavor.
• - Wood chunks are best, because you have to replace them less often. If you must use chips, protect them with a foil pouch that has a few small holes.
• - Based on fuel type, you might need to position chunks or planks to avoid flames.
• - Yes, you CAN have too much smoke. Less is more.

Hickory- For great tasting smoked ribs and about everything else, Hickory is King. The quintessential Southern wood, its flavor impact has been described as bacon-y, sweet, smoky, and strong. Since it is noted for the strong quality, use care with how much and how long hickory smoke is around your ribs.

Oak- If hickory is king, then oak is the fairer Queen. Oak is the second-most commonly used wood for smoking, and it is slighly more mellow, less smoky than hickory. If you feel you must smoke your ribs over a longer time, you're less likely to overshoot and get bitter if you use oak. For versatility, there is no better wood.

Mesquite- This wood more common in the southwest has been described as sweet, earthy, smoky, and always strong. Even more care should be used than with hickory over how much and how long mesquite wood is used. I prefer 3/4 hickory and 1/4 mesquite, with an occasional 'everything else' wood for extra flavor.

Speaking of fractions, many pit masters and champion smokers use varying combinations of wood. Try it. Using just one type may cause you to miss out on the addition of other subtle flavors.

Everything else- The fact that the connective tissue collagen in ribs breaks down over time into gelatins and sugars helps determine what other woods are good to use. Ribs cooked without smoking (yikes) will tend to have a sweet taste, so you can add a bit of the woods like cherry, apple, maple, or pecan to complement that with their own light, sweet, fruity undertones. But beware, most folks who eat your ribs will NOT be able to pick out the exact woods you use, nor will they care. They will only care that it tastes smoky, not bitter or like creosote.

Use the woods and combinations you think make the best tasting ribs, because you care about Piggy Ribs, and he cares about YOU.

Smoking Wood articles-

• How To Prepare Your Own Wood Chips For Smoking
  17 Mar 2011 at 11:18am
  Any enthusiastic amateur smoker knows that the wood chips that you require for smoking can these days be bought almost anywhere from the supermarket to the.
  
• Smokin' 1 ~ The Smoker & Smoking « Mindy Bakes
  9 May 2012 at 10:39pm
  We buy the wood for the smoker chipped at any hardware store kind of place by the bag and snag up any wood we find in the wild to use when we come across it. Hard wood is required, it makes the most aromatic smoke, and ...
  
• The Disadvantages of Portable Electric Smokers
  16 May 2012 at 8:51pm
  Portable electric smokers have a lot to answer for because they are probably the main reason for the epidemic of smoking enthusiasm across much of the USA These products are low cost and relatively speaking are getting even lower in cost as manufacturing moves out to China. ... The basic design is an aluminum shell and a single chamber with an electric hotplate on the base to act as a heat source and on top of that sits a wood chip pan to provide the smoke.
  
• Wood Smokers Grills | Enjoy Big Grill Flavor
  29 Apr 2012 at 1:56pm
  Real hickory wood chips in disposable smoker tray. Use with gas or charcoal grills! Place unwrapped tray on cooking grate over the hottest part of live coals. Tray will begin to smoke in about 3 to 7 minutes. When the chip tray ...
  
• The best smoke hollow wood smoker to do is satisfy around and ...
  2 May 2012 at 10:35am
  The best smoke hollow wood smoker to do is satisfy around and inactivate some gadgeteer draining to. May 2, 2012. Today Sales Lace Bud Lady Leather Round Headed Flats Discount code: If you could know where you fall – you would ...
  
• how to stop smoking weed forever |
  18 May 2012 at 4:51am
  Pipes are constructed with different supplies like clay-based, wood etc. Hookahs: Hookahs, also called sheeshas, are drinking water pipes working on ... According to the antagonists associated with smoking, the non-smokers are put through passive smoking, which is actually equally dangerous since the smoke coming out of the cigars etc has been inhaled through the non-smokers. Hypnosis may be the state of deep sleep where the sleeping person is controlled by ...
  
• Ideal Characteristics of a Charcoal Smoker
  15 May 2012 at 5:33am
  You had to build a smoke room in order to get the desired result. Choosing the right wood or wood byproducts was also essential to getting the perfect taste. Today however, with charcoal smoker grills, it's now easier, faster, and more ...
  

Best Wood for Smoking Ribs

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