Pizza, Wings and Meatballs

[oconeeal]

The weather was nice so I wanted to smoke something for dinner tonight during the game tonight.  Wife came up with having pizza for lunch so I start up the charcoal smoker and added some oak to it.  Once the pizza was done I put the meatballs and wings on.  The pizza only had a very small smoke flavor to it.  I cook the meatballs for 3 hours at 225 to 250 with the wings.  When the meatballs came off I ate one and had great flavor to it.  After I took them off the smoker I put them in the spaghetti sauce and just before the game made meatball subs.  The meatball sub had no smoke flavor.  The wings came out great.  The pizza only had a little smoke flavor while the meatball had none.  Any idea why?

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't understand why, because pizza & meatballs really pick up smoke easily. Did you have smoke the whole time they were in the smoker?

 

[oconeeal]

Yes I cook with 90% oak and 10 % charcoal.

 

[hooligan8403]

You precooked the meatballs? Id try just making your meatballs like normal but not precook them before you smoke. view it like your smoking a fattie.

 

[oconeeal]

No I did pre cook just put them in the pan and put in the smoker.  

 

[hooligan8403]

Strange. Sounds like you did it all the way Id have done it to get the smoke flavor. I havent done meatballs yet but yeah it should have had a smokey flavor. as for the meatball sub do you make your own spaghetti sauce as it might have overpowered any subtle smoke flavor that was imparted.

 

[hooligan8403]

Also maybe next time leave them out of the pan and just put it underneath like a drip pan so the meatballs can be fully enveloped in the smoke and heat. dont know if that will help but i could see it helping.

 

[smokinhusker]

The look good! I had the no smoke flavor with the last wings I did.

 

[oconeeal]

Yes we make [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]own spaghetti sauce an d put the meatballs in there for the last hour in a slow cooker.  Maybe I should have left the meatball out to the very last?[/color]

 

[SmokinAl]

Putting them in the sauce should not make a difference. We make chili with sausage & beef meatballs that are smoked then cut into small pieces & put in the chili for a couple of hours and they give the chili a smoky flavor. And the meat still has a smoke flavor to it too.