Smokin' wood - with bark or not?

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Gark

Gark

Minister of Fire
Jan 27, 2007
808
SW Michigan
Our apple tree snapped off another limb (second one this summer, wow the fruit trees are heavy laden this year) and we gathered some sticks and 3" chunks for the smoker. I'm a noob at smoke-cooking. Some say the smoking' wood should be barkless, others say no matter. How about the skinny 3/4- to-one inch dia. sticks, they have a higher percentage of bark-to-wood ratio... are those usable too? Should smoking wood have bark removed?
 
Oh, we use both a Webber charcoal kettle grill and a Brinkman smoker which I'm learning to use. Started with charcoal dribbled with wetted chips (hickory, mesquite, pecan) but I hope to graduate to using just wood for cook-smoking. Have a lot of cherry and mulberry in the stacks for the BTU's, but will set aside some for smokin'.
 
I know of several people locally here who use nothing BUT the bark for smoking.....and some of the best deer jerky I've ever eaten came from being smoked with shagbark hickory bark.....

That bark won't hurt a thing, so long as it isn't covered with fungi......
 
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Scotty Overkill said:
That bark won't hurt a thing, so long as it isn't covered with fungi......
Click to expand...

Ding, ding, ding.

Bark is fine. Stuff growing on bark...not so much. Apple trees are kinda notorious for this as well. Inspect for "clean" bark.
 
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Jags said:
Ding, ding, ding.

Bark is fine. Stuff growing on bark...not so much. Apple trees are kinda notorious for this as well. Inspect for "clean" bark.
Click to expand...
speaking of applewood bark, is that stuff not one of the most amazingly aromatic smoke smells on the planet?? WOW, does applewood bark ever smell great when smoldering! I got a large apple tree branch this summer and I contemplated shaving the bark off with a peel and freezing it in ziplock bags, just to keep it from getting fungi all over it! I may still do that!
 
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I smoke a lot of stuff with a mix of apple branches and shagbark bark. The bark seems to be more potent than wood, so a little hickory bark goes a LONG way but delievers great results.
 
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