# Should I mellow out hickory with some alder?



## Omnivore (Aug 22, 2019)

Hi all,

I have some belly curing away for bacon in a week. I use an a-maze-n tray and have bag of Lumberjack hickory pellets for mostly everything, and then a bag of Camp Chef alder pellets for fish. I don't want the hickory flavor to be too strong on the bacon so I'm wondering if I can add some alder (maybe 30%) to mellow it out. I know applewood is well loved for bacon but I mainly just don't want to store another bag of pellets in the house right now. Thanks for any advice :)


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## oldsmokerdude (Aug 22, 2019)

You could do anything you like as far as wood goes, though personally wouldn't use alder. I understand not wanting another bag of pellets. Have you thought about just using hickory but smoking for a shorter period of time to "lighten" the smoke flavoring.


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## Omnivore (Aug 23, 2019)

oldsmokerdude said:


> You could do anything you like as far as wood goes, though personally wouldn't use alder. I understand not wanting another bag of pellets. Have you thought about just using hickory but smoking for a shorter period of time to "lighten" the smoke flavoring.


Thanks for the info. I feel like alder is a subtle but specific flavor so you've talked me into holding off on doing that. I thought about smoking for less time - problem is l really like smoke flavor, but maybe not full blown hickory this time around. I think I'll bite the bullet and add another bag of pellets to the collection.


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## daveomak (Aug 23, 2019)

Have you tried Pitmasters Choice from Todd...  It's a tri mix that has a great mild flavor...
I use my own tri mix...  Cob, Alder and Mesquite.. 40-40-20...


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