Just did my first cook using cherry. Pork roast came out fantastic. Just a hint of smoke from cherry chunk. Nothing like the overpowering flavor from mesquite. Wife loved it. Cooked it on my Performer. Came out presentation quality. Just thought i'd share my experience.

What cut of pork did you use? I recently cooked a pork loin with apple wood - took it up to 135* internal in my performer. Wowee!!

Doug,
My experieces w/ Cherry has not been good. It seemed to leave a bitter taste. I prefer an apple/hickory mix, especially for pork.

I think fruitwoods are milder in taste than most hardwoods. As for mesquite, I won't touch it for smoking, and rarely using it for grilling. It is very powerful. Some people dislike it (my wife) immensely.

I have found that using less wood/smoke is usually safer than than going all out. Too much wood can very easily turn your meat bitter.

Apple and cherry are excellent with poultry-it doesn't take much.
Peach is a good compliment to poultry and pork too.

Many thanks for the opinions/suggestions. I may try apple next time.

quote:

Many thanks for the opinions/suggestions. I may try apple next time.

Doug,

I personally have apple, cherry, mesquite, hickory, and pecan chunks. I only use mesquite when I want that particular flavor. My favorites are apple and pecan. I use cherry with poultry as it imparts a reddish color to poultry - but I still use pecan with the cherry. Personally, I do not like cherry alone.

If I had to go with only two woods, they would be pecan and apple.

Hope this helps.

Ray

I recently tried wood from a fig tree on chicken and was amazed by the results. I have not had alot of experience smoking meats, however, the one that I enjoy the most is oak wine barrel wood. I not only enjoy the scent while queing I realy enjoy the flavor it adds to the meat. I have also used nectarine, orange and apple with pleasant results.

Robert

I use Maple, Apple, n Cherry. I use Maple like hickory since it's mild, then add some flavor with a chunk or two of apple/cherry. I agree, there's nothing better than cherry for poultry.