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Threw some cherry wood chunks on a brisket smoke and got a weird bacon flavor
I did a 12 hour smoke on a prime packer last weekend using cherry chunks mixed with hickory in my WSM, and the meat came out tasting more like candied bacon than beef. My buddies said it was good but I couldn't shake the feeling something was off. Has anyone else had cherry wood overpower a cook like that or was it just my fire management?
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seanjackson18d ago
Man that candied bacon thing really hit home for me. I had almost the exact same experience with cherry on a brisket last summer and it totally threw me off. I kept thinking something was wrong with my meat but everyone else was raving about it. Cherry is just really sweet and can totally dominate if you're not careful with your fire. I think you're spot on asking about fire management because I found that using smaller cherry chunks and keeping a cleaner burn helped balance things out. It's frustrating when you put in all that time and the smoke flavor just doesn't match what you were expecting.
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