When it comes to cooking brisket, everyone has a favorite method. For many, smoking is the only option, as no oven or grill can come close to producing the flavors of wood for smoking brisket.
Ah, but what kind of wood is best? Here again, everyone has a favorite, but you can bet that they’ll all agree it has to be kiln-dried.
Lumberjacks has been selling the best kiln-dried cooking wood in the Chicagoland area since 1993, and we have everyone’s favorite woods available. Below, we will discuss several popular woods for smoking brisket, and we’ll give you some tips to make sure your brisket is smoked to perfection!
Brisket is Brisket – Until it’s Smoked
Brisket is one of the best cuts of meat: it’s tender, moist, and incredibly flavorful. The rich marbling in this cut of meat makes it one of the best for smoking. When you smoke a brisket, that smoky flavor really sinks into the fat, penetrating the surrounding meat and creating a rich taste.
Many people just toss a brisket in their crockpots, but that doesn’t do this cut any justice and can result in a lackluster outcome. There is no doubt that smoking is the superior method for cooking brisket. But what elevates the flavor is selecting the best cooking wood.
Choosing the Right Wood for Smoking Brisket
Whether you are new to smoking a brisket or looking to expand the flavor profile of your brisket, Lumberjacks is here to help you select the best cooking wood for smoking your next brisket.
Why Picking the Right Wood for Smoking Brisket Matters
Not all woods are created equal. Each type of wood produces different levels of heat, smoke, and aromas as it burns. Choosing the right wood is essential to complement the meat’s natural flavors; going with the wrong woods can leave your brisket unevenly cooked, bitter, or just generally off-flavor.
How Wood Type Influences Flavor and Texture
Each wood type has its own flavor profile. For example, chicory and oak foster bold flavors to come through in your brisket, while smoking your brisket with cherry will give you a milder and sweeter profile. The type of wood you pick to smoke your brisket doesn’t just flavor the meat; it transforms its texture. Each wood’s different burning temperatures and levels of smoke released impact the outside of the meat. Whether you enjoy a crispy, flavorful, thick crust or a more subtle layer, it will impact which wood you select.
Understanding the Basics: Wood and Smoke Flavor
Understanding the basics of how smoke, wood type, and moisture impact your brisket is crucial to smoking a succulent brisket. Smoking meat is an art; you can’t just throw any wood in a smoker and come back to the perfect brisket. The longer you smoke meat, the more you will hone your craft, but we have a few basics to get you started.
Smoke and Flavor
While a traditionally cooked brisket leaves you with a uniform and potentially dull flavor, the smoking process makes the meat multi-dimensional. You need consistent smoke to achieve the robust flavor in a high-quality smoked brisket. The best way to ensure a steady and clean smoke is to use only kiln-dried hardwoods to smoke your brisket.
When you smoke with softwoods or improperly seasoned logs with inconsistent moisture levels, there are risks. Common issues with these subpar woods are having overly thick smoke or impurities that can ruin the flavor of your meat.
How to Choose Your Wood
There are a few key factors you want to look at when selecting wood for smoking brisket: density, burn time, and moisture content. For starters, you want dense wood; hardwood has a hotter and more powerful flame, which is important when smoking a thick cut of meat. These woods also have longer burn times. When you’re smoking brisket, you need wood with a long burn time to create a consistent temperature and smoke level.
Lastly, you want to look at moisture level. High-quality cooking wood contains less than 20% moisture; you only consistently get this moisture level with kiln-dried wood. Seasoned woods can vary drastically in moisture level, usually in the 20-30% range. You need a steady 20% moisture level to create an intense smoke level that doesn’t leave your meat with a bitter taste.
Top Woods for Smoking Brisket
When it comes to smoking a brisket, there are a few different kiln-dried cooking woods worth considering.
Hickory
Flavor Profile
Hickory is the epitome of the smoky profile you think of when you think of smoked barbeque. It has a bold, intense, and strong smoky flavor with just a hint of sweetness. If you are looking for that traditional barbeque flavor, hickory is right for you.
Best Uses
You can use hickory alone or blended with other woods for a more complex flavor profile. Kiln-dried hickory creates a consistent burn and robust but not overpowering and bitter smoke. Using hickory, you will cook your brisket low and slow for maximized flavor and tenderness.
Oak
Flavor Profile
Oak provides a milder flavor than hickory, but its medium-strength flavor and smokiness still elevate this cut of meat. Its smoking is consistent and smooth, which is important for the long cook necessary to smoke a brisket to perfection.
Best Uses
Oak is a go-to for smoking brisket, and for good reason. If you’re new to smoking brisket, oak is a good choice because it’s forgiving. You can’t really go wrong with its steady burn and even heat distribution. This reliability is also why seasoned pitmasters often rely on oak.
Mesquite
Flavor Profile
Mesquite has a unique flavor profile. It is intense and earthy, perfect if you love a strong, smoky flavor. But beware, mesquite can quickly overpower the natural taste of your brisket if not monitored closely.
Best Uses
This type of wood burns hot; make sure you keep a close eye on your brisket to prevent burning. That being said, just because mesquite can be a little tough to handle doesn’t mean you should write it off. Its unique flavor makes it worth the try. Mixing mesquite with milder woods can help with heat control and overpowering flavors.
Pecan
Flavor Profile
Pecan is a really fun wood to try when smoking a brisket. It offers a rich, nutty, and slightly sweet flavor that is definitely different than any brisket you’ve tried before.
Best Uses
It is a milder smoke than others with a more subtle flavor. If you are looking for a more intense flavor but with the unique nutty and sweet flavor of pecan, you can add pecan with oak or other woods for a more complex flavor profile.
Cherry
Flavor Profile
Smoking with cherry highlights the brisket’s natural flavors, adding a mild, fruity, and subtly sweet undertone.
Best Uses
When smoking your brisket with cherry, it is best to add a mixture of other woods, such as oak or hickory. Paring cherry with stronger woods creates a balanced and layered flavor. Cherry is also great for creating a mahogany color for your brisket’s bark.
Blending Woods for Unique Flavors
If you’re reading about smoking meats, this likely isn’t the first brisket you’re making. Even if it is, it certainly won’t be your last, so have fun with combining different woods and finding a blend you love. Each brisket you smoke with a different blend allows you to tailor the smoke profile to your taste preferences on the next go-round.
How to Combine Different Woods for Smoking Brisket
If you’ve only been smoking with the go-to choices like oak, you might not know where to start on blends. Some favorites with the staff here at Lumberjacks include:
- Hickory and cherry for a robust, smoky foundation with a slight fruity sweetness undertone
- Oak and pecan for a balanced, nutty, well-rounded flavor
- Mesquite and oak for a smooth and mellowed version of the mesquite’s earthy and bold flavor
Tips for Smoking Brisket with Wood
Selecting the right wood isn’t enough; you need to know how to prepare and manage it to ensure your brisket is cooked to its full potential.
Prepping Wood for the Best Burn
One of the great things about kiln-dried hardwoods is that they are ready to go. With properly stored kiln-dried wood, you never have to worry about moisture levels, pests, or other impurities. You should never soak your kiln-dried wood; it can cool the fire and produce steam instead of smoke.
When you order wood, you want to keep the size of your smoker in mind. Full-size logs (16 inches at Lumberjacks) are great for large offset smokers. But if you buy full-size logs and have a smaller smoker, you’ll be adding “chop logs” to your to-do list. If you’re working with a medium size or smaller smoker, extra-spilt wood may be a better option. At Lumberjacks, our extra-split wood is cut down to 6-8 inches and has a 1-2 inches diameter.
Best Practices for Smoking Brisket
To successfully smoke a brisket, you need constant smoke moving around the meat. Start with a moderate amount of wood in your smoker; if you add too much, you could create heavy smoke. You want the smoke box to reach your ideal temperature before you add the brisket. Once the brisket is added, keep an eye on your thermometer to make sure the temperature remains consistent. Gradually add wood as it burns down; adding too much at once can lead to an inconsistent cook.
Get Smoking!
We hope after reading this, you’re hungry for tender, juicy, smoked brisket—we sure are. When you use properly sized kiln-dried hardwood for your brisket smoking, you can’t go wrong. When using Lumberjacks kiln-dried hardwoods, you know you’re always getting high-quality wood with consistent moisture levels, free of insects, mold, pesticides, and fungus.
The most important thing when smoking your brisket is to have fun—don’t be afraid to experiment. Blending woods or trying new combinations is part of the fun of barbecue. If you have any questions about what type of wood to order or how much or are ready to place your order, call us at 815-337-1451 or complete our online form. You can also visit one of our locations in Woodstock, IL, or Lake in the Hills, IL.
