Grilling With Australian Pine

If you’re a barbecue fan and love grilling as much as I do, I want to share with you something to add to your smoker. Australian pine. Now I know (I thought this too) that some people would ask “why would you want to cook with pine?”

Truth be known; the Australian pine is really an oak. The needles that grow on them are actually the leaves. As far as I know the tree probably isn’t from Australia either. In fact, I have sometimes heard it referred to as a “Brazilian oak.”

This would explain why it is a good choice for adding to a smoker. You can even cook with it just like you would charcoal. It tends to burn more evenly than other oak woods, and I have at times, mixed it with hickory or mesquite.

Funny thing is, we have had tons of Australian pine available, and I was too ignorant to know it was safe to cook with until I heard that some seafood restaurant down in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl buys the stuff and uses it almost exclusively in some of their cooking.

Before I finish I’ll share with you a recipe you wouldn’t think would be good for grilling, but it’s really different.

Smoked spaghetti sauce. Crazy? Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.

I kind of did this by accident, as our power was out following the beating we received from our “lovely” Florida qualities: Hurricane Frances. Being that we live in a fairly remote (and flooded at the time) location, and had one of those big Australian pine trees in the driveway, I got creative at supper time.

I fired up the grill with the Australian pine, and when ready, I made the sauce. I forgot to put a lid on it when I closed the grill, so “lo and behold:” Smoked spaghetti sauce. (By the way it takes forever to boil water this way).