Best wood to smoke a brisket?

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Dec 30, 2006
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What is the best wood to smoke a brisket to get the smokiest sweetest flavor? It's been a while since I've made one and I honestly can't remember which wood I used. The store has several different ones. Cherry,peach,pecan,hickory,and mesquite.
 
you need to control you smoke. you want a light blue smoke not a big billowing cloud. Too much oxygen caused too thick if a smoke that make a bitter bark on the brisket.

You can cheat on the smoke ring by using pinking salt in your rub.
frown.gif
Shhhhh..... dont tell anyone.
 
I'm thinking on a combo of hickory and cherry. Gotta love those cherished crunchy ends!
 
Hickory's probably the most common, followed by mequite and post oak. I've never tried cherry or apple, but if you're going for a more sweet flavor then that might be the ticket. I don't think you can go wrong, really. I don't use a lot of oak though, that gives a real heavy smoke and that's what will cause the bitter flavor if you're not careful.
 
Hickory. I do my brisket Texas-style with just salt and pepper(lots of it). The fruit woods are good for pork but I feel brisket needs a little more oomph. Texas traditionally is post-oak.
 
I would recommend pecan as have others.
Pecan is related to hickory so it's similar, but seems to be milder to me.

This is the fun of smoking meat. Chasing down smoking wood. My wife and I do a lot of road trips, and wherever we go, I like to ask the locals what kinds of hardwoods they have around there. I'll end up with a box or two of it in the trunk.
 
For brisket, my wife and I really prefer mesquite. But 100% mesquite can be a little strong of a flavor for some people. So I always buy a mesquite blend, which is about 60% oak and 40% mesquite. Oak has a very mild flavor to it, so it hides in the background when you get a great mesquite flavor.

My friends use a competition blend, and really like it.

Find your local distributor for Lumberjack pellets. You will be glad you did. Then you won't go back to other pellet brands.

https://bbqlumberjack.com/our-pellets/

What? You're from Texas. Why are you even asking? Isn't it like, sacreligious to smoke brisket in Texas with anything other than mesquite?
 
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