BBQ for Thanksgiving

[sherpa]

We are having the turkey but The wife and I decided to smoke a boston butt for Thanksgiving.
I can't wait for my city relatives to taste this good homemade BBQ.
It is outside smoking with some good old NC hickory chips right now.
I heard you could use some other hardwoods for smoking.
What kind of wood do you use for smoking?
sherpa

 

[om21braz]

Boston Butt, that'll be our Christmas Day fare here. I've never tried it, but heard friends of mine have good results w/ cherry and apple. Oak does well too with some mesquite chips mixed in.

 

[jinman]

Pecan is an excellent smoking wood, either exclusively pecan or mixed with other hickory or mesquite. Of course, pecan is a type of hickory, so it may be already in the wood or chips you can buy. Traditional Texas open-pit smoked BBQ is done with oak.

Oh yes, we are going to my wife's mom and dad's house for Thanksgiving, but the Sunday after I'm having over my daughter and her family for dinner. I'm marinating and smoking a spiral sliced ham for that meal and may pitch in some baby back ribs in the extra space in my smoker. I'll use a 50-50 mix of hickory and mesquite chips with wine and beer in the water pan for flavor.

 

[Car Doc]

BBQ is good for every meal lol I know it is for me sounds like a winner!

I have a big competition Traeger and use a 1/2 - 1/2 mix pecan and cherry pellets usually.

Here lately I am getting to where I just use hickory its pretty hard to beat. Thats what my turkey breasts will be smoked with tonight when they come out of the brine. happy thanksgiving y'all btw

 

[czechsonofagun]

OK, I bite. What is boston butt?

 

[Car Doc]

Top 1/2 of a pork shoulder. yumm

 

[nickel plate]

Just across the Nevada border at lake Tahoe, my FIL would bring back what he called Mountain Mahogany-the dead falldown trunks and branches about 2" to 4" in diameter. The stuff is so hard it generally takes a couple of weeks to soak it until it sinks, then it's ready to use for smoking. I keep a couple bags of presoaked in the freezer to cover that sudden urge to barbeque. I still have what I consider a life time supply of Mountain Mahogany as it doesn't take much to flavor even a lesser cut of meat.

 

[KPark]

Apple and Maple, mostly. Apple for smoking our bacon (delicious!:licking.

 

[DennisArrow]

Got my turkey out in the smoker NOW.......When the temp gets up a bit the foil covering will come off and then will use Sweet Gum chunks to smoke it with. Gotta go down in a moment to get a 2" or so tree. I take these and cut it up like a salami in 1/2" or so slices. Put 4 or so in the smoker perhaps every 30 minutes.......MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM good.....gives the meat a pinkish color and a definate sweetish smoke taste with the outside a beautiful red/brown.....My land is covered with oak and hickory but I totally prefer the gum as it doesnt have that heavy strong taste....Anyway, am thankful that I have a choice...God bless OUR country........Dennis

 

[sherpa]

More questions about this smoking:

Do you cut fresh wood or use dry wood that has been cut awhile?
How long do you soak your wood in water prior to the smoking?
Also, do you put the meat in the smoker as it is or do you wrap it in alum foil?
sherpa