MadMedik Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 I saw an outdoor pizza oven. It smelled great. I asked about the wood they use and I was told cedar. Has anyone ever added cedar chunks to a cook for their smoke profile/flavor? I may give it a try?
MadMedik Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Posted March 3, 2014 Answer to myself: "The simplest answer to this question is: Sure! But you'd be crazy to do it! Cedar is a kind of wood that has a lot of resin (oils) directly in the wood itself. This makes it perfect for building or shingles for your house because it takes forever to rot. However, as a source of smoke for smoked meat products, it is really nasty. If you use cedar as the source of smoke for your smoking efforts you'll end up with a meat product that tastes pretty much like turpentine. Not only will it be impossible to eat, it will probably be at least a little toxic. The same is true for any other wood that is in the "Evergreen" category - Pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, redwood and others." The pizza was good!! 1
tony b Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 Cedar planks are pretty popular for cooking fish, especially salmon. I've used them for many years.
dstr8 Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 Like most things taste related...all things cedar smoking/cooking being no exception...its very subjective I don't like cedar plank cooking for fish (ditto for meat)...even stronger flavored fish like salmon. The flavor impart, for me at least, gets in the way of the fish instead of complimenting the flavor of the fish/meat. I moved on to alder and maple planks for plank grilling for fish and meats. Although I haven't smoked using cedar, pine, etc., I can't imagine I would like it any better than cedar plank grilling... And paraphrasing my first sentence: YMMV!
tony b Posted March 4, 2014 Report Posted March 4, 2014 chacun à son goût - French for YMMV! I've used alder wood planks and chunks for years, too. I like both alder and cedar equally for planking fish. Use the alder chunks for cold smoking.
lee grabowski Posted March 6, 2014 Report Posted March 6, 2014 Hello, I have used Cedar for smoking because I noticed it was being used at a pizza oven in a restaurant, also I have it available and I like the smell of Cedar. Mostly I use Cherry, Hickory for Pork, Apple wood for Turkeys. Cedar Planks for Salmon too.
mguerra Posted March 9, 2014 Report Posted March 9, 2014 If you go to any source that sells smoke wood you won't find cedar. "Cedar" is used to refer to a lot of different woods, by the way. Here in Texas it means Ashe Juniper, which is a nasty, awful tree that we all hate for several reasons. It would be terrible as a smoke wood. I'm curious about this pizza reference and will look in to it.
mguerra Posted March 9, 2014 Report Posted March 9, 2014 Ok, over at the Forno Bravo website for pizza ovens, it seems that the pizza isn't getting a lot of smoke from the wood used to fire the oven. The pizza oven guys are looking for heat, not smoke. I think the pizza oven design sends most of the smoke up and out and not on to the pizza.
