I know this is a 3 year old post, but I figured I'd share my insight on cooking with lilac wood. I have never smoked with lilac before reading about it today (more of a berry and citrus tree man myself), but, I pulled a seasoned branch off this lilac bush and gave it a shot. The flavor was very similar to cherry wood, I cooked turkey wings and a portion of deboned breast with it and the results were great. I added the chips, which were slightly wet from the rains, but otherwise fairly well seasoned, when the coals on my weber reached cooking temperature, then added the meat pieces and covered the grill. The only issue I had with it is the skin on the dark meat took the floral flavor very well, which made it taste like i was eating fried flowers, but otherwise the meat itself was good. As per usual, the white meat took the smoke better than the dark meat, but over all it was good. Adding to the fact that I butchered the bird and used the gizzards and bones to make turkey gravy, the meal as a whole was good. Long story short, cooking turkey with lilac wood works, but I personally would still prefer a citrus or berry tree over the lilac for birds, however, the flavor would have been perfect for lake or stream fish, I don't think most ocean fish would take the flavor too well, but I've never myself smoked deep water fish and am basing that simply off of my own personal preference. So yeah, lilac is good, but it's better for fish than it is for poultry and game birds. I'm going to give it a shot with some pork and maybe some fish if I can get a good deal on it or have the chance to head out to the mountains this summer to do some fishing.
