Why we burn post oak and nothing else
Aug 17, 2026 · 1 min read
Mesquite is faster and cheaper. It also fights the food. Here is what a year of testing taught us.
When we opened we burned whatever the yard had. Mesquite one week, pecan the next, a pallet of hickory when the supplier ran short. The food changed every week and not in a way anybody could explain.
The test
For three months we cooked the same cut over four woods, every Tuesday, and wrote down what came out. Mesquite burns hot and fast and pushes a hard smoke into anything with fat on it. Pecan is gentler but goes sweet. Hickory is somewhere in the middle and disappears under salt.
Post oak sat still. It burns clean, holds a bed of coals for hours, and lets the beef taste like beef.
What it costs
About forty percent more than mesquite, and it needs splitting. That is the trade. It is the one line on the invoice nobody argues about.