BBQ smoking pellets: oak vs cherry (and apple, and whisky barrel)
Margaret, Marketing Manager (fictional)
Barbecue season in Nottinghamshire starts the moment the sun is out for more than forty minutes. Every year we get the same questions from pellet-grill owners: which wood should I use, and does it really matter?
It does, though not as much as the internet would have you believe. Smoke flavour is a seasoning, and like any seasoning it can lift a dish or flatten it. Here is how our four main woods behave, and how we make them.
What makes a good smoking pellet
Heating pellets and smoking pellets are different products. Our BBQ pellets are made on the “Maid Marian” line, kept separate from the stove pellet lines, and they are:
- 100% hardwood, with no fillers, no flavoured oils and no softwood to add resinous bitterness
- Pressed without added binder, relying on the wood’s own lignin
- Dry and dense, so they burn evenly and give a clean, thin blue smoke rather than a thick white one
- Sourced from known timber, such as oak furniture offcuts, orchard prunings and ex-cask staves
If a bag is vague about what is in it, be wary. A bag labelled “hickory” that doesn’t say whether it is a blend or a base wood with flavour oil may not be what you hope.
Oak: the dependable all-rounder
Oak gives a medium, rounded, slightly sweet smoke with a clean finish. It is forgiving, which is why pitmasters reach for it first. It suits beef brisket, ribs, lamb shoulder, sausages and game, and it is a good base wood to blend with milder fruitwoods.
Our oak comes largely from furniture offcuts supplied by Rufford Oak Furniture. It is local, kiln-dried and ready for the mill.
Cherry: colour and a gentle sweetness
Cherry is mild and faintly fruity, and it gives meat a lovely deep mahogany colour. It is excellent on pork shoulder, chicken, duck, turkey and salmon. It is gentle enough to use alone, but also good mixed with oak for beef, which gives you some of that colour without losing the backbone.
We source cherry from Vale of Belvoir Fruit Farm, where old trees are removed and replaced as part of normal orchard management.
Apple: light and sweet
Apple is the lightest of the three. The smoke is delicate and sweet, which suits poultry, pork loin, ham, fish, cheese and vegetables. It takes longer to colour a joint than cherry does, and it can seem shy if you put it on something robust like brisket. Apple prunings come from Southwell Orchards, which will surprise nobody who has had a Bramley from the area.
New: the whisky-barrel blend
This month we launched BBQ-WHISKY-9KG, a blend made from oak staves of retired whisky casks, sourced through Newark Cooperage & Barrel Co. It came out of an R&D project that started with a simple question from the lab: what if we smoked with the barrel itself?
The staves have spent years holding spirit, so the oak carries subtle vanilla, toasted and caramel notes. The smoke is a touch richer than plain oak, with a warm, slightly sweet edge, and it works beautifully on beef short rib, pulled pork, bacon and smoked cheese. To be clear, it contains no whisky and no added flavouring. All the character comes from the wood.
We have also made a house blend, BBQ-SHERWOOD-9KG, if you cannot choose.
At a glance
| Wood | Intensity | Good with |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | Light | Chicken, pork loin, fish, cheese |
| Cherry | Mild | Pork shoulder, duck, salmon, ribs |
| Oak | Medium | Brisket, lamb, sausages, game |
| Whisky barrel | Medium to rich | Beef short rib, pulled pork, bacon |
A few practical tips
- Keep pellets dry. Damp pellets swell, crumble and jam your auger. Store them in a sealed bin, not an open bag in the garage.
- Don’t overdo the smoke. Meat absorbs smoke most readily in the first couple of hours. More isn’t better.
- Clean your grill. Old ash and grease will taste worse than any wood you choose.
- Use heating pellets for heating only. Stove pellets are for stoves. Please don’t put them in your smoker.
- Blend freely. Half oak and half cherry is a classic for a reason.
Where to start
If you are new to this, try our taster pack, or start with a 2 kg bag of oak and one of cherry and cook the same cut twice. You will taste the difference.
Good smoke takes patience. Like a long walk through Sherwood, it’s best not rushed, and you may find a feast at the end of it.
