Wood and smoke

In short

• The best smoke forms when wood smoulders at roughly 300–400 °C (570–750 °F), without flame. Flame and a hot fire make more tar and PAHs.
• For smoke: beech, hornbeam, oak, ash, hickory, maple and fruitwoods (apple, plum, cherry, pear); alder for fish.
• Never: pine, fir, spruce and other resinous softwoods, varnished, painted or treated wood, chipboard, plywood, pallets or mouldy wood.
• Wood seasoned for 1–2 years; sawdust dry to the touch. Wet wood gives thick, bitter smoke.
• Good smoke is thin, bluish or greyish. Thick white, yellow and black smoke mean something is wrong.
• A sawdust smoke generator gives 8–12 hours of cool, even smoke from one filling.

What's inside

Chapters

1. From wood to smoke
2. Which wood for smoke
3. Wood that never goes into a smokehouse
4. Forms of wood
5. Firing for cold smoke
6. The sawdust smoke generator
7. Smoke for hot smoking
8. Reading the smoke
9. Tar and PAHs: how to cut them down
10. Getting and storing wood
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Smokehouse wood card
• Wood and sawdust calculator
• Wood calendar
• Wood and smoke log
• Labels for wood and sawdust