Stampede Does Hickory smoke really makes meat bitter

[Foodkid]

My family really likes heavy smoke so I just purchased some Lumber Jack 100% Hickory pellets. Unfortunately, all I read about hickory is that it will make your meat bitter if you smoke too long. Does anyone have experience with using hickory that you would like to pass along? We like heavy smoke but do not want it bitter

 

[Wslayer]

I personally don't think that it does.

 

[Waterboy]

I did a 18 1/2 hour brisket, unwrapped, using Lumberjack Hickory. Ran at 200 overnight then ramped to 225 after about 8 hours. Then bumped to 250 to finish. It had a nice mellow smoke flavor. If your family likes a lot of smoke and you are cooking on a pellet grill I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Your problem may be not enough smoke flavor.

 

[Bytor]

I have been using LJ and cooking pellets Hickory for some time now. This has become my favorite pellet to use. I haven't noticed anything bitter, I really like the flavor it imparts. I also like how it smells outside the smoker too.

I did use a bag of Charhickory and while I did like the aroma and smoke flavor, it did seem to produce a dirtier smoke. Maybe others can chime in, but the pit just seemed to have more soot residue, maybe it's just from the darker color, not sure.

But, back to your question, I really like Hickory.

 

[ndfan6464]

Yes it will when doing real smoking with real wood. With pellets you wont have to worry about it.

You may get bitter taste from pellets if done for a really really long time..

 

[Uncle Bob]

First thing is the common warning........you can read just about anything on the net, but that don't necessarily make it so.

Some number of people out there eat cilantro and claim it tastes like soap. To them. It's because their body chemistry, taste buds in particular, are more sensitive to aldehydes in the herb. Aldehydes are also a bye product of combustion, older diesel equipment could give off a noxious odor mostly from aldehydes. There, it was a product of incomplete combustion, which also can be a case in burning wood products, which corresponds to the comment from @ndfan6464 . Grillers usually use the term "dirty smoke" (not entirely accurate either), and usually report it from smoldering, lower temp fires. So in the pellet world you might induce some of that by using the lowest of temps though by the nature of their design that's a low likelihood. And your family may not be as sensitive to it, in which case it's a non worry, or should be.

 

[ndfan6464]

The thing whith mesquite is that in stick, chunk or chips form the wood needs to be aged properly for it to be useful as a cooking wood. Mesquite also cooks hotter and faster.

So with that, if your not familiar with how to cook with mesquite then said person can and will usually use to much of the wood or improperly seasoned mesquite and that leads to the bitter taste. Anything over 5 hours using just mesquite your % of bitterness goes up.

Yes this is for REAL WOOD SMOKING ONLY. Your chances of getting a bitter flavor out of pellet is going to very very slim due to it just being sawdust filler rather then a whole chunk

 

[Waterboy]

How’d we get to Mesquite?

 

[ndfan6464]

How’d we get to Mesquite?

Hahahah...good catch...I was actually in the middle of doing two things at once and must have had my wires crossed when typing...

Just switch mesquite with hickory... Ugh.. been one of those weeks. My Bad all, heading back into my hole now...

 

[Foodkid]

When I research something on the internet I notice that a lot of times everything you read comes from the same original article and so that information gets repeated several times like Hickory will make your meat bitter. So I went to you all for the real answers. Thank you for all your input!

BTW I smoked some beef crossed cut short ribs last night with 100% hickory from Lumber Jack. The taste was fantastic and I love the smell of hickory while it is smoking.

 

[DD owner]

I have been using LJ and cooking pellets Hickory for some time now. This has become my favorite pellet to use. I haven't noticed anything bitter, I really like the flavor it imparts. I also like how it smells outside the smoker too.

I did use a bag of Charhickory and while I did like the aroma and smoke flavor, it did seem to produce a dirtier smoke. Maybe others can chime in, but the pit just seemed to have more soot residue, maybe it's just from the darker color, not sure.

But, back to your question, I really like Hickory.

Just smoked some butts yesterday on the deck and the wife couldnt believe how dusty the sliding door became as she had just cleaned the day previous. LJ also, good flavor and scent but definitely more soot and dust.

 

[Buckeye1]

Just smoked some butts yesterday on the deck and the wife couldnt believe how dusty the sliding door became as she had just cleaned the day previous. LJ also, good flavor and scent but definitely more soot and dust.

I use my RT grills in the driveway right outside garage door. I notice a lot of dust on vehicles after cooks . I use RT and Bear Mountain pellets.

 

[Foodkid]

The reason that LJ has more sot is that the 100% pellets are processed with the bark on to enhance the flavor. If you move over to their blends they will have less sot because the base wood, OAK in many cases is not processed with the bark on. It is there to mainly to provide the heat and let the primary wood flavor come through. so with a blend, you should have about 50% less sot.

 

[ghuns]

In my life I have completely ruined only one cook.

I had three slabs of baby backs on a janky old, homemade charcoal grill. I burn wood to heat the house and had just cut down a massive hickory tree. I reasoned that rather than soaking some dry hickory chips in water, I could cut off some small green hickory limbs to add some extra smoke flavor. I cut up a half dozen hockey puck sized pieces and threw them on the charcoal.

It added flavor alright.

 

[C. Keeper]

In my life I have completely ruined only one cook.

I had three slabs of baby backs on a janky old, homemade charcoal grill. I burn wood to heat the house and had just cut down a massive hickory tree. I reasoned that rather than soaking some dry hickory chips in water, I could cut off some small green hickory limbs to add some extra smoke flavor. I cut up a half dozen hockey puck sized pieces and threw them on the charcoal.

It added flavor alright.

Only one cook ruined? I wish I could say that, I write it off as a education.

 

[Uncle Bob]

In my life I have completely ruined only one cook.

................. I could cut off some small green hickory limbs to add some extra smoke flavor. I cut up a half dozen hockey puck sized pieces and threw them on the charcoal.

It added flavor alright.

Yep..........that's why only seasoned wood should be used fort smoking.

 

[charlesrshell]

Yep..........that's why only seasoned wood should be used fort smoking.

I've heard of Fort Smoking before!! LOL

 

[Uncle Bob]

I've heard of Fort Smoking before!! LOL

See........................if you stack the little logs just right, you build this cute little fort that smokes like crazy..................

 

[Boostmeister]

My family really likes heavy smoke so I just purchased some Lumber Jack 100% Hickory pellets. Unfortunately, all I read about hickory is that it will make your meat bitter if you smoke too long. Does anyone have experience with using hickory that you would like to pass along? We like heavy smoke but do not want it bitter

Don't put the hickory pellets on top of your burger as they are hard on your digestive system and will make the burger taste bitter. On a more serious note, I just smoked an 8 pound prime rib with hickory pellets and it came out GREAT! No bitter taste. My "go to" choice is apple, but hickory is just fine.

 

[CarpeInferi]

I will say in nearly 30 years of cooking BBQ the only time I've had a wood other than excessive mesquite cause bitterness if a bunch of ash landed on the meat.