Does wood pellet SPECIES make a difference?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มิ.ย. 2023
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I'm exploring whether different brands of pellets really make a difference when it comes to smoke flavor.
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Thanks the shout out! I always use mesquite when I want more smoke so glad your findings confirmed I am doing the right thing!
I've been intrigued by your steam experiments. I'm not a pellet grill man myself, but it would be interesting to see if steam would help the smoke flavor of a pellet grill. Future video maybe 🤷🏾
Coming up!
Came here to post the same thing. Being that pellet smokers don't produce a ton of smoke I was wondering if your steamer would pump more smoke into a brisket.
Thanks
^^ Ditto
makes sense, even cherry wood doesnt come off as heavy as post oak does. great video, look forward to the steam pellet smoker video!
Thanks! Coming soon!
Great video! I use a blend of hickory and fruit wood pellets in a a-maze-n smoke tube for cold smoking, enjoyed the video!
Great video great information
Hey mate, is it possible to get a video of your warming freezer you made? Interested to see how it’s done. Thanks mate.
Interesting test thanks
Thank you!
I have only been using a smoker for 3 years now and all on pellet grill so still a total rookie :0). . I started with a Green Mountain and then wanted a larger model so now have a larger Traeger Timberline. I find I get more than enough smoke from this grill and if I want more I start at a lower temp and use the Traeger Super Smoke setting (only works under 225 degrees). A couple of people (including my wife) have said they would like less smoke on some things. I definitely can get more smoke out of my current pellet smoker than my previous and do also get good smoke flavour no matter what pellets I use. Just a different smoke ‘flavour” (yes Canadian spelling haha). Cheers and thanks for your great videos.
Yea everyone has different thresholds for smoke for sure.
One time I smoked a brisket low and slow with Mesquite Pellets AND used a 12 inch smoke tube with Mesquite Pellets mixed in with Mesquite wood chips. Brisket was on the edge of being a bit over smoked, but was delicious nonetheless. No one complained when Brisket was served.
Nice. I think a tube or tray could easily do that for sure
Great video. I think all the different types of wood pellets have their place. I think the more robust the meat the more smoke you need. For example Cherry or apple works great with fish and oak with chicken but as you showed they arent great on brisket. I think of the wood as being another ingredient and as such you need to pick 1 that works with the food rather than overpowering it
Big fan of Furtado Farms cookwoods, I'm expecting a pallet this week actually!
What do you think about adding a smoke tube with cherry or apple wood while using mesquite wood in grill hopper? I was just thinking it could add some additional sweet smoke flavor while creating a minimal risk of getting any bitter aftertaste. Just a thought. Great video again. Thanks so much for having such a great channel for all of us.
I agree with you 100%. I’ve been using pellet grills for a number of years, just upgraded to Lone Starz Grill. I’ve thought for a long time, that pellet type just didn’t make much difference. I few months ago, I decided to do an actual blind taste test. Over the course of a few days, I smoked a chicken breast, tesax style, just salt, pepper and wrapped in butter after smoking for 90 minutes,using 6 different pellets. I vacuum sealed them so we could taste all at the same time. Invited some friends over, my suspicion was verified. If really really pushed, we could detect slightly more smoke from Knottywood Plum also Lumber Jack hickory. The other 4 (lumberjack comp blend, Bear Mountain gourmet blend, Bear Mountain oak and Traeger) these just happened to be what I had on hand. All of us tasing agreed, there was just no discernible difference. Perhaps we are all have compromised taste buds, lol.
Sounds like I’ll be experimenting on the crowd on the 4th. Thanks for the idea of mesquite
Great video. I don't own a pellet smoker, but I'd been suggesting friends and family to get mesquite for pellets, now I feel more confident. I have been contemplating about what if one kept two cast iron pans handy, put some wood chunks. get the chunks lit with a torch then move the pan to the pellet grill next to the meat. Repeating this several times during the smoking session. I wonder whether the full burning chunks will add even a better smoke flavor than the smoldering chunks in the smoke cage?
Great idea! I've been experimenting with a makeshift cage on top of the pellet burn pot similar to the WWP as well. I could try the cast iron method too.yes, I think mesquite in moderation, maybe blended 50/50 or less, is good because it actually imparts SOME flavor when using a pellet grill. It all depends on the person though, I have friends who are super tasters and everything is too smokey for them. It's hard to gauge what's good for people like us who smoke meat constantly and other people who have smoked meat only a few times a year.
Can’t wait to see the video about separating the point and flat.
Think I did that years ago lol. But I could do a new vid if you are interested in cooking that way. Maybe separate vs whole packer comparison?
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ more bark.
Have you used an insulated cabinet smoker before, or like a gravity fed smoker? I can't seem to find any consistent knowledge/comparison between them and offset smokers
I wondered about the Mesquite... I will try it...
Been saying for yrs that it matters. Mesquite is where it's at. I've cooked with every pellet i can find. I keep going back to B&B Mesquite pellets. If you want a darker smoke ring, add a little cherry with them. I've also had success with pit boss classic pellets. (Hickory, Mesquite, pecan) Mesquite is very versatile when talking pellets. Pork likes Hickory. And it's a good change up when I'm wanting a different flavor.
Out of the 3 briskets you smoked, none looked tender. I would rethink 300°. 225-250 depending on pellet grill will get you better results as far as finishing after the overnight smoke.I start out at 225-250 depending which pit I'm smoking on, and let it ride until tender. Of course i turn over and rotate throughout the cook. As well as mop on the later half of the cook to keep things moist, and add a little flavor. Keep your meat wet, helps with smoke flavor.
I've never had anyone complain about lack of smoke from briskets i serve. I've had my fair share of briskets that were over smoked on a offset.
If you're getting bitter flavor from Mesquite, it wasn't cured enough. And is still green. Bark should slide right off and should have a sweet smell when split.
Thanks for your input man! I agree mesquite is where it's at in moderation.
When using mesquite on an offset smoker, one has got to make sure to run a clean blue smoke. Dirty smoke from mesquite will impart a kerosene like flavor. Valentina's in Austin uses mesquite, their strategy is to feed small logs
at short intervals in order to generate clean smoke and they wrap the briskets early in order to avoid over-smoking.
@CoolJay77 Mesquite is definitely not the best choice for offsets. I'm not a fan of offset pits. I first cooked on one 30 yrs ago. Didn't care for them then, still don't today. They were originally built for those that couldn't build open fires. Still a lot to be said about the old brick pits that use to be all over Texas. Once all the old pit masters died off, they were torn down and replaced with offsets. Shoveled a many Mesquite coal in my day. Anything from small pipe pits, all the way up to the large pipe pits that needed a 10 ft extension welded on the shovel to get the coals to the middle of the pit. I'm lazy now and content cooking with pellets. A lot easier to open up a bag, rather than fire up the chainsaw and go cut a pickup load of wood. Then have to split it all with an axe.
Test out the Smokin Pecan pecan shell pellets. Holy cow do they impart great flavor. Hands down the best pellets by far!
Just ordered some!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ Looking forward to a review on those.
I love to use apple wood but honestly It's just to bring some conversation to the table lol I can barely taste it, I am gonna have to try mesquite
Lone Star Grillz has mixed wood pellets with wood chips. This combination is said to have an offset flavor.
Based on this and your other experiments on the OK Joe's with the steam nozzle resulting in what you said was "the smokiest brisket I've ever had", which you enjoyed: have you ever had what you would consider to be too much (non-acrid) smoke flavor? For example, if you exclusively used mesquite on an offset smoker brisket. Other YT channels have tried this and generally said it was too smoky.
With mesquite yes, I've overdone it. It has an intense clove smell that gets up my nose if it's overdone. With other woods no, I've never oversmoked with clean smoke. With dirty/smouldering/low oxygen smoke or too many pellet tubes, I've oversmoked plenty of stuff that way regardless of the wood used.
Smoke should be used as a flavor enhancer and be in the background of your pallet. You want to be able to taste the meat and not be overpowered by smoke. You also taste by smell, if you can smell the smoke on the product you should be able to taste it as well whether you like subtle smoke or heavy smoke.... I prefer a little less smoke due to indigestion that heavily smoked meats cause me.
I've used lumberjack oak which is great for a no wrap pork butt, but the mesquite/oak blend is awesome for anything beef.
I'll have to try the blend!
+1 on Lumberjack Oak
Lumberjack pellets were the best ones I’ve used. Wish I could find them local but unfortunately it’s like finding a needle in a hay stack
Have you ever tried cooking a brisket to 190, wrapping it in butcher paper like you normally do, shoving it in a sous vide bag, vacuum sealing it and holding it in a normal sous vide at 150?
Yep it works great. Washes out the bark a bit though
Hello Steve. I wonder if you would consider doing a video on grease management? (Yes I said grease management). I have been smoking 4 or 5 butts a week recently for different events and I spend more time managing and cleaning grease than I do prepping and serving meat! Greasy smoker, greasy grates, greasy pans, greasy gloves and utensils ... grease everywhere. Especially when you finish a smoke at midnight and you just want to go to bed but you don't want to wake up to a greasy porch and kitchen. (And we have bears so you have to degrease the smoker so the bears won't try to take it apart overnight.) Am I the only one? Thanks for all your great stuff. Scott
Have you tried smoking them in aluminum pans? That's the cleanest way
Good test. Gotta find mesquite.
Steve, how old is your boy now? Haven't seen him in a video in a while. What age in you opinion do you start letting them help with fire management? My soon to be 2 year old girl helps me clean out ashes and stack charcoal, but definitely not ready to play with fire yet.
He's 2. Maybe soon
Really the point looks like you were cutting up the flat
You can tell the difference with Lumber Jack pellets. I used B&B, Campchef, pit boss, and royal oak. the all been subpar. Pellets with the Steam injection.. hmm..
Dude what do you do with all that left over brisket?
Give it away!
This should have been a blinded taste test. Your hypothesis lends to a bias you may not think you have, but it can still affect your palette. I’d be interested to see a blind test with other people. I think most people won’t be able to tell the difference. Or, if they do, they might like the less smoky brisket.
Ideally everything would be a double blind test. I just don't have the resources to do that for every video at this time. What I like to do is a series of videos to bracket in and learn the low hanging stuff and then a big video that's more rigorous. I'll probably do that here and culminate with a blind test with other people. Good point though!
What about the charcoal pellets?
I've tried them before. Not revolutionary but I could try them again.
I guess a Bronco is somewhere in between a pellet and stick burner!
Yep I think it's something like that.
Smokin joes bbq is using a pellet made out of pecan shells and he swears by it being a better smoke flavor than regular wood pellets
I keep hearing about it. Maybe I'll try it
Best ones I’ve used so far!
I used Knottywood pellets for the first time after using about 7 other big brands. The brisket I cooked was FAR and away more flavorful, smoky, and rich than any other piece of meat I’ve cooked. It’s also one of the only pellets that uses the entire tree including bark in the pellets. Don’t care what anyone says, they make a difference or you’re just not doing it right
I thought Oak would be a heavy smoke since that's what's used in Texas BBQ
Oak is light-ish....
Oak has a lighter flavor profile. Hickory is stronger than Oak from what I've had. Mesquite is definitely the strongest.
The way I think of it, oak is like vanilla - super common, kinda the baseline. Not everyone’s favorite but still universally liked. Hickory is like chocolate - almost more popular than vanilla, but every once and a while you’ll find someone who doesn’t like it. Mesquite is like peppermint. Can pair well with and enhance other flavors, but if you do too much it can overpower the whole flavor.
@@parkerwilkin Great way to describe the flavors!
I've never noticed the difference in flavor
You wrapped in tallow and clarified butter. Isn’t clarified butter ghee?
Yes more or less
So, mad scientist bbq says WSM's and presumably weber kettles have a dirty smoke flavor and don't give anywhere near the results of quality pellets or an offset. . . What's you take on it? How might we optimize the flavor from a kettle or WSM? "Pane County Rust" (who I assume you've seen since you know the oil in rub trick) seems content tat even with some of the white-is smoke from a WSM or mettle, the actual flavor compounds are all still present in more or less the correct amounts, and as long as you set it up right, the smoke flavor will be about the same, but dialed up or down based on the cooker. . . So I'm not sure which it is. BBQ restaurants I visit always have such a deep leathery smokey flavor, whereas my kettle tastes like a campfire or a hotdog.
Never heard of pane country I'll look it up. I think you can get great quality on any smoker if you know the cooker and use some tricks.
It’s not the pit, it’s the person. Don’t blame flavor on the pit, blame the flavor on the individual.
Harry Soo wins competitions on a smoky mountain
@@benshaw2341 hundreds of competitions
Pellets in general have a very low smoke profile I cant say i can really tell the difference.
Get some Post Oak
Oak is the best, imo!
Sounds like a pellet grill issue, not getting smoke flavor
I don't think so. I have 4 pellet grills and I get similar results on all of them in terms of smoke flavor.
Lumberjack mesquite blend are the way to go, they also sale 100% mesquite as well. Highly recommend and pecan are my top 2.
I'll have to try it out!
I’ve tried the Lumberjack brand. Never tasted a difference. Now the pellet grill I own was $300 from Grilla Grill. It works great but have never detected any smoke flavor on any food I’ve cooked on it. I love a strong smoke flavor on my food, I didn’t know what to expect when I purchased that pellet grill so maybe not a fair comparison to my Ok Joes Highland and Bronco.
Why wouldn’t you do oak? Knowing everyone just about uses oak when they do briskets.
Can't do em all.
Harsh mesquite smoke how dare you sir. Every back yard grilling Texan takes offense to that. One last thing..... BOURBON! 🤣🤣🤣
Haha!
I love you man, but its time to ditch the peninsula. You'll look fine bald, don't sweat it
I don't look good bald
First
And?
@@danielploy9143 littering and?
I'm going to be that guy. Thank goodness I have a real smoker and a field full of mesquite and oak trees.
Yes oak & mesquite is good stuff. People complain of mesquite because they don’t let it combust properly.
That's amazing!
No, it doesn't.
No one uses fruit wood pellets on briskets.
I like using apple with brisket.
Whaaaaat? Tons of people do.
No one in America is gonna buy those pellets resulting in a not as good video that your capable of making. The issue from a pellet style verses a offset is. Pellet grill may consume 20 pounds of compressed wood compared to a offset using easily 5 times the weight in wood. Less wood less flavor.
That's my theory exactly. Offsets simply run through a higher volume of wood.
Quality, Brand, Wood Type all make a difference. Stop comparing everything to offset. Most of the time offset tastes nasty and not any better than a pellet grill. Using the right wood for the meat completely makes a difference. Fruit wood for white meat is obvious. The easiest argument you can make is mesquite/hickory pellets kills meat flavor at best it can be mixed in with an oak. So wood type does matter
What is your reference for offset smoke? If one is not competent, one can produce nasty smoke flavor on an offset smoker. I suggest you pay a visit to the reputable BBQ spots in Texas.
@@CoolJay77 most people aren’t competent. They spend 12 hours and put in a lot of work. I understand the commitment to the process but it’s too easy to mess up.