Santa Maria California is the propertied home of "Tri-Tip". This delicacy
is cooked (usually grilled) over coals (fires) made from red oak which
imparts a unique flavor.

http://santamaria.com/section_visitor/barbecue.html

Yesterday I visited a local joint which specializes in this style of food.
I asked the owner where he gets his red oak and/or where I could purchase
some for my smoker. He explained every few weeks he makes a trip up to
Santa Maria and brings back the wood for his BBQ place.

He asked if I wanted a piece which I could chop up and soak. I accepted.

He gave me a pretty good sized piece of well seasoned (dried) wood for which
I thanked him.

The question is; Can/should I use the bark in my electric smoker? The bark
on this piece is quite a thick (1'' Maybe)

What do you think?

Thanks

Dimitri

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 18:22:30 GMT, "Dimitri" >
wrote:

>The question is; Can/should I use the bark in my electric smoker? The bark
>on this piece is quite a thick (1'' Maybe)

I have burned it with the bark in my Kamado, having procured a sample
from the local Santa Maria bbq. The cooks there burn it with the bark
on.

--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"Anything, when cooked in large enough batches, will be vile."
--Dag Right-square-bracket-gren, in alt.religion.kibology

"Dimitri" > wrote in message
>
> He gave me a pretty good sized piece of well seasoned (dried) wood for
which
> I thanked him.
>
> The question is; Can/should I use the bark in my electric smoker? The
bark
> on this piece is quite a thick (1'' Maybe)
>
> What do you think?

I remove thick bark, but I've heard of people using it.

I know a fellow that makes wonderful jerky. He was taught by an old guy that
made jerky for many years and was considered one of the best. He said the
secret was taking the time to remove the bark. As always, YMMV.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

>From: "Dimitri"

>I asked the owner where he gets his red oak and/or where I could purchase
>some for my smoker.

>He asked if I wanted a piece which I could chop up and soak. I accepted.

>He gave me a pretty good sized piece of well seasoned (dried) wood for which
>I thanked him.

>The question is; Can/should I use the bark in my electric smoker? The bark
>on this piece is quite a thick (1'' Maybe)
>
>What do you think?


Dear Dimitri,

I think you should take that log he gave you and that your electric smoker
outside and beat on it with that log until that electric piece of crap is
smashed beyond repair and all the bark is off of the log!!!

Here's the thing about burning wood guys. If you are using "bark-on" logs, you
build a "fire pit" and you burn down several logs into a bed of embers, once
you have a bed of wood embers, you can then put wet chips or wet pieces of wood
on the coals to make smoke, but truth is, wet wood makes nasty acrid smoke.

It's much better to just burn fresh-cut logs down to low embers naturally then
put the embers in a closed smoker grill.
The light white smoke is gentle, smells great and flavors great.
Any time you put wet wood on fire, it makes a nasty smell & flavor. Fresh-cut
white oak, red oak, white hickory, blackjack hickory, etc - when fresh cut at
certain times of year have a higher sap content than at other times, the high
sap content helps to wood burn slower and gives more flavor. Wetting the wood
just makes it burn nasty. The key is quite simple. Just burn down a simple
wood fire to embers and toss some meat on top.
Ya don't need an electric "smoker" or a propane rig or even a $$$ ceramic egg,
....ya just need a good wood fire.

Wet chips in those crappy electric "smoke boxes" are a joke, but IF you MUST
use them, at least DO NOT USE BARK.
You will get a better quality of smoke from slightly damp wood chips from logs
without the bark. Just get a $6 hatchet at Walmart and whack the bark off and
then whack that log into chips or do it with a saw. it's easy. But using bark
in those wet elec. smoke things makes nasty smoke that does not smell or taste
good. Bark makes a bitter flavor unless you're burning a low natural log fire
where the bark is only part of a larger log and you're not burning just bark by
itself. Never burn bark by itself and also never use pieces of lumber scrap
where it the barky outside planks - they suck for barbecue.

Hope this helps put you on the right path.
The secret to smoking is not simply making a lot of smoke - a pack of
cigarettes will do that - the secret is making smoke that smells good and
produces a nice aromatic flavor.
It's all about the smoke baby.
Smoke from fire, not from a AC/DC plug.

Wildweed Thomas
Pit Master @ CafeMojo