2014 Gift Guide: Day Six

A Wood for the Wise

People who obsess about barbecue are in a class by themselves.  Blessed with patience, they spend endless hours standing by slow fires, waiting for meat to soak up the fine scent of smoke.  They worry about every detail along the way, but their two main concerns are meat and wood.  

Great barbecue demands smoke - and smoke demands wood.  Not just any wood. Wood that burns clean. Wood that burns slow. Wood with character. Wood with flavor.

The most obsessive pitmasters I know order their hickory, pecan and mesquite  from Gourmet Wood in Texas.  The wood is dried so it burns low and slow. It comes in chunks or logs - and makes a very affordable gift. (A carton is $43.95 delivered.)

If you know someone who loves slow-smoking meat, they will be extremely grateful for this gift.  Not just for the wood itself - but for an introduction to such a great source. If you're lucky, they'll invite you over to taste your share of this smoke.  

(Care to call? The phone number is 1-888- GET-WOOD.)