Osage orange (hedge)

[new smoke]

Anyone know about using Osage orange, aka, hedge wood. Using it for its high heat along with some fruitwood or nutwood. Have seen some places that say yes and some say no.

[BBQ Engineer]

my buddy uses it to preheat his rig...but then switches to apple or oak when the food is getting ready to go on.

I don't know the ultimate answer, but that is where a good experiment should come in...and unfortunately you get to be the guinea pig. I say at the tail of your next smoke, throw in some hedge, and then pop some brats on the grate...that way you aren't out a bunch of coin if the experiment goes awry.

[SMOKE FREAK]

When I was first learning....I knew of a guy who smoked ribs with hedge all the time...so I thought Ill try it, right? And it may have turned out OK except for the fact that I really didnt have fire controll figured out yet...and hedge burns HOT...more so than mesquite...so I spent most of my time trying to slow down the fire.............well you can guess what kinda smoke I had from that...Things didnt turn out so fine and after a couple trys Mamma said NO MORE HEDGE!...I didnt disagree...

Might work out better now but Im not gonna find out...

[morkdach]

Osage Orange has got lots of fire flies built into it, burns extreamly hot!!!
It has a harsh flavor that i do not care for meat. I have used it on beans and abt's that was ok. Try it on a side or small portion first.

[hog warden]

Have never used it for smoking. My guess is it would not be good. As others have said, it does burn hot......probably the hottest burning wood we have in the midwest, but there is the issue of those sparks. The pops, screamers and fire shooting around can get exciting in a wood stove or fireplace. Makes for a fun campfire.

The only cooking use I've ever heard of was back when I was a kid. The local Farm Bureau would host a community wide BBQ each summer. The meat was beef. They soaked big chunks of beef in a marinate, then wrapped them in cheese cloth and then in burlap.

Large fire pits were dug in the ground. These were filled with a large pile of hedge posts (hedge never rots.....makes a great fence post....50 to 100 year longevity with no treatment added). So they tended those fires for one whole day to fill the pit with a bed of burning hot coals (I'm sure they used the extra time for prayer meetings or some such thing.....I doubt beer was ever involved.......but I'm fuzzy on that). They would then cover that two feet deep bed of hot coals with a thin layer of limestone gravel and lay the meat on top of the gravel. The hole was covered with sheet metal and dirt piled on top of that. They left the meat in the pit about 15 to 20 hours. Essentially, a large crock pot.

When it was time to eat, they dug em out, unwrapped them, slapped them on a table and went to carving. The only complaint I can remember was standing in line for an hour waiting to get my plate filled.

[davidmcg]

Have never used it for smoking.

The only cooking use I've ever heard of was back when I was a kid. The local Farm Bureau would host a community wide BBQ each summer. The meat was beef. They soaked big chunks of beef in a marinate, then wrapped them in cheese cloth and then in burlap.

Large fire pits were dug in the ground. These were filled with a large pile of hedge posts (hedge never rots.....makes a great fence post....50 to 100 year longevity with no treatment added). So they tended those fires for one whole day to fill the pit with a bed of burning hot coals (I'm sure they used the extra time for prayer meetings or some such thing.....I doubt beer was ever involved.......but I'm fuzzy on that). They would then cover that two feet deep bed of hot coals with a thin layer of limestone gravel and lay the meat on top of the gravel. The hole was covered with sheet metal and dirt piled on top of that. They left the meat in the pit about 15 to 20 hours. Essentially, a large crock pot.

When it was time to eat, they dug em out, unwrapped them, slapped them on a table and went to carving. The only complaint I can remember was standing in line for an hour waiting to get my plate filled.

When I was a kid 40 years ago they were doing that. Great food and fun times. I've never used it in my smokers either, but I use it in my fire pits and corner posts. One of the 80 acre fields here at this place is still lined with fence posts made of this. They easily date back to 1940 and still more steady than any steel T-post. The stuff can really do a job on a chainsaw. When I was a kid we made walking sicks, clubs and even nunchukas out it. If you have never been hit by a piece of this stuff you missing out on a real piece of pain. Now about all we use it for as far as burning goes is in our late evening fire pits in the spring or fall and in the winter about an hour or so before bedtime we'll throw a stick on. In the morning the oak coals will be gone to ash and cold, but that osage orange will be hot coaled and ready to go.

[new smoke]

I'm going to give it a try. See what happens. I have lots of it available. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.