Choosing Smoke
The Right Wood
One of the important steps of any cook is pairing the correct smoke flavour profile with your chosen protein and vegetables. Even the juiciest meats can be ruined by an overly heavy smoke taste. Alternatively, your expectations of a nicely smoked meal can be dealt a savage blow using a timber that is too mild or subtle in flavour and end up with a cook that has little to no smoke taste.
PAIRING PROTEINS
There is no "best smoking timber" but there are some recommendations of meat/wood combinations that have stood the test of time. There are also some really versatile timbers that work well on any meat such as ironbark and cherry. The general rule of thumb is stronger red meats pair best with heavier stronger hardwoods while white meats enjoy a lighter milder smoke such as a fruit wood.
Mix And Match
An enjoyable part of smoking is experimenting and a great experiment you can do is mix and match different timbers to create new flavour profiles. For example, take a strong timber such as hickory and mix it with a milder timber such as apple to mellow the flavour a little and find out what works best for you. It’s important to avoid using resinous softwoods such as pine, cedar, eucalyptus, fir, spruce, cypress, sycamore and mango.
