johndeereg
ArboristSite Member
Maybe a dumb questions, but are there any types of wood that you can't use for cooking out over? Is hemlock ok?
Are there any woods you can't cook over?
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Red Elm
Ridgerunner
Well, I wouldn't say you CAN'T cook over it, but rail road ties kinda leave an after taste on s' mores!
Just kidding!
Just kidding!
Red Elm
Ridgerunner
Red cedar can give stuff a "sappy" or "sooty" taste.
don't believe, id use walnut,,nor certain pines, because of the pine sap.. me thinks it would be funky tasting..
Cheesecutter
Addicted to ArboristSite
In my opinion never cook directly over anything of the pine family(if your cooking in a pan, that's different). They produce soot as mentioned above. I know southern yellow pine will coat your food with black soot that can make you sick. Red pine burns hot enough to melt aluminum "pudgy pie" makers, OOPS.... If you let it get down to just the coals , I would guess it would be alright to use almost any kind of wood.
Red Elm
Ridgerunner
I'd probably steer away from black and honey locust for the same reason, sooty I suspect.
true dat........
steved
ArboristSite Guru
Tree of Heaven...and probably any other Sumac...
Natale
? green treated preserved lumber??
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Anything that had/has any poison ivy on it! 
Really not likely. Not pitchy woods.
bert the turtle
ArboristSite Operative
I've used TOH a lot in my pizza oven without trouble. That isn't direct cooking over the flames, but rather cooking adjacent to live fire. Never noticed any stink from it. Some of the TOH trees seem to stink and some don't. The ones I used happened to not be stinkers.
Winn R
Rambling Wreck
sassafras, or the oil in it, is a known carcinogenic. It used to be my favorite smoker wood and I've got no idea if the smoke is actually hazardous but after I looked at a beautiful smoked brisket and didn't want to eat it, I knew I couldn't cook over it anymore.
7sleeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
As a general rule most softwoods are a no go. For me the hardwoods that I like a lot is birch, beech and of course apple or similar but they are seldom available. If you are afraid of any carcingenics or bad tastes then just wait until the wood has turned to a nice glowing coal pile. All "tastes" have burned off by then.
But we have to determine WHAT you mean by cooking over. If it means over live fire in a open pan=> then I go after above rule. If it means a closed pot => I don't care what wood it is. If it means having a traditional wood stove in you kitchen => I don't care what wood it is.
7
But we have to determine WHAT you mean by cooking over. If it means over live fire in a open pan=> then I go after above rule. If it means a closed pot => I don't care what wood it is. If it means having a traditional wood stove in you kitchen => I don't care what wood it is.
7
I've cooked over pine, cedar, hemlock, poplar, in a pan, roasted hot dogs, fish, cuts of meat, and toasted bread. Over a hot fire and hold it out of the smoke and it won't matter, you are using the heat and not the smoke.
If'n I'm cooking and the smoke is part of the flavoring process than I've used cedar, pear, plum, apple, hickory, juneberry, hawthorne and a bunch of others I'm forgetting ATM. Other than cedar they are all hardwoods, but there are plenty of hardwoods you don't want to use because of what they leave in the meat. I don't have a list of the undesirable hardwoods off the top of my head but I know I've seen one online somewhere.
Mr. HE
If'n I'm cooking and the smoke is part of the flavoring process than I've used cedar, pear, plum, apple, hickory, juneberry, hawthorne and a bunch of others I'm forgetting ATM. Other than cedar they are all hardwoods, but there are plenty of hardwoods you don't want to use because of what they leave in the meat. I don't have a list of the undesirable hardwoods off the top of my head but I know I've seen one online somewhere.
Mr. HE
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
+1
I don't much care what wood I use when I cook with my wood cook stove,
Mostly I burn small scraps that are laying around my BSM,
but I like the pine knobs I saw off logs best. No matter, it all makes heat!
SR
For cooking directly over a fire, just about any unseasoned/green conifer is going to be pretty sooty. That can be an issue when camping as seasoned wood isn't always available. My favorite "first night" dinner in canoe country is t-bones on the fire grate so I've had this issue a few times.
Much prefer something that coals up if available. If you can get a fire going with whatever and then throw some green birch or especially maple on you can get some nice smoke.
Much prefer something that coals up if available. If you can get a fire going with whatever and then throw some green birch or especially maple on you can get some nice smoke.
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