Cooking steaks the first night. Wondering what kind of wood gives the best flavor? Wood easily found in the Bdub, pine or popple?

I doubt I'll find any apple or cherry so what makes the best cook fire wood?

Adam

Maple or Oak would be my choice.

about all you will find is Pine or Aspen..dry,solid Aspen will burn down to large solid coals.back in the old days using wood from beaver lodges that was stripped of bark and dryed in the sun was a common practice that along with using driftwood is no longer allowed.

Balsam fir is good if nice and dry. It splits beautifully, and burns well!
Birch will be rotten by the time it's dead, I think the bark holds the moisture in so it gets punky fast.
Cedar is awesome if you can find any dead ones.

Wetcanoedog,
The driftwood rule is new to me. Where can I find more information on that? Thanks!

If it's the first night I would bring a small bag of hickory chips, and I would wet them before putting them in the hot fire, then cook the steaks. There's lots of hickory where I come from, and that's the best for smoking meat in my point of view.

Yea, Where can one read about not being able to use driftwood?

Never heard of it. It's dead and it's down.

What? Nobody brings in their Weber kettle and a 20lb bag of Kingsford?

Better then half the wood we burn is driftwood. When out fishing we usually stop at islands and look for it....

dogwoodgirl is right, the best cooking wood (if you can find it dead and down) is the northern white cedar

Most of the wood I have cooked tasted lousy, but cedar does put a nice hard black coating on your pots and pans.

butthead

i'm still checking the driftwood thing..last year i'm sure it was in the movie or on the list of no-no's the ranger went thru.

The only rule I have seen or read about is not cutting down trees. I have even heard that the USFS suggests you gather wood away from the campsite along the shore.

If it wasn't illegal butthead, I would bring you mesquite or hickory from Texas. See you on Long island in a few weeks.

From page 2 of the BWCA Rules and Regulations under “Campfires”, “When making a fire only use dead wood found lying on the ground; collect it away from campsites, portages, and shorelines to prevent enlarging and defacing these areas.” Rangers will interpret driftwood, as well as beaver wood and overhangs falling under this rule.

In their Angler Ethics brochure they spell it out better. Page 3, Item #4 Minimize Campfire Impacts: “Don't use driftwood, snags arching over water, or wood from beaver dams and lodges.”

I'm sure other references can be found. Call the ranger station and they'll tell you and it is in the video.

Thanks Bannock!

Bannock..thanks..for awhile i thought some of my old brain cells were fuzzing out!!--

Not to get or keep this off topic, but why would drift wood be considered a no use? To me I think it falls into the dead and down catagory.

As to the what wood to use portion of the post, I like the idea of bringing in chips with you to wet...small sacrifice in weight for the first few portages IMO.

I've been wondering if anyone has figured out a way to make a portable smoker out of common items most would already have with them. Personally I've been wondering if using my Outback oven as a smoker would work. Wet chips in the bottom, meat suspended above with sticks etc...Might give it a try!

Cedar is nice but the downside is that it sparks. Those sparks can put a nice hole in nylon and fleece. My fleece jacket has a few nice repair spots from cedar sparks. Also, if burning cedar you may not want your tarp too close to the fire.

I don't think popple burns real well and it has a weird flavor.

I'll use whatever is dead, down, and dry. It does seem that I use a lot of pine. It doesn't coal real well, but IMHO it doesn't need to, at least for cooking steaks in the BWCA. It seems to me that the steaks cook from contact with the hot cast iron firegrate. So it's not like home with charcoal. It's more like cooking on a cast iron pan with the addition of smoke.

The number of oaks and maple in the BWCA in recent years has been amazing to me. They used to be very rare, but now I see many of them. However, nearly all that I see are still very young ... perhaps 25 years or less. I don't think there is going to be a lot of dead and down oak or maple anytime soon, but in a couple of generations, there may indeed a ready supply of oak and maple fire wood in the BWCA.

Cedar burns the best, make sure you bring plenty.

There is quite a bit of white ash in some areas.nice long burn (it leaves coals for even heating and doesnt make your cookware so darn black) hope that helps

If you do bring wood in with you to cook those steaks, make sure you got it in Minnesota.

From the Minnesota Department of Agriculture "The Chippewa and Superior National Forests [BWCA is in the Superior NF] prohibit firewood originating outside of Minnesota on their lands." They're trying to prevent the spread of invasive species (gypsy moths, asian longhorned beetles, emerald ash borers...).

Same with MN state parks. Firewood must be purchased from an approved firewood vendor/facility.

Oak then Birch then Poplar for steak on the grate.

The sap woods put out toxins and soot I don't want on my food. Of course I've seen tennis shoes cooked on the grate as well so I'm sure its not any worse than the garbage that's been there before I started my fire.

Shoot, I'll just cook with whatever wood I can get my hands on!

Yup, I cook with whatever I find.

I know that pine is lousy for cooking, but I'm not going out of my way for something better. If I find anything other than pine, I'll use it.

Frankly, as long as I get a hot set of coals, I cook.

I concur with huntnfish...pine resin puts up a nice black soot that I would avoid if I could...but I'll take whats within reach. By the time pine gets to coals most of the really nasty black smoke is gone. If you really want good coals I'm convinced you need a hatchet so you can split some bigger sticks regardless of wood type.

take sum hickory or apple wood cip in a bag(not much maybe 2 cups)soak in water for a bit and add to a good fire!

My wood pile here at home contains hickory, cherry, white oak, and apple. For my wood pile up in the BW I utilize the 3 D's. Dead, down, and dry.

Whatever you can get that will make a nice bed of coals will cook a nice cut of meat. Most of the soot/funny taste comes out when the wood is still flaming.
Just make sure you don't cook over flames, only coals, and you're good to go.

If I had a pick, it would be dry and non-coniferous though.
Most often, it's take what you can get.

I like to use dry wood!