Smoked Meat Balls

[peter]

Want to try something fun? Try this

I was reading about smoked meat loaf and thought, why not meat balls? Well it was a great success!!

I simply made meat balls up with no filler, just beef and eggs mixture and laid them out in the smoker. Once they were done, I cooled then froze them loose, then bagged them.

Now, when we make pasta sauce, I dump a few in. Simmer the sauce for a short time and the whole sauce picks up the smoky flavor. Delicious!

We had such good luck we picked up about 25 lbs, on sale and rolled, smoked, and froze a bunch. We also made a couple dozen patties. All turned out great.

Hope some-one tries this. I am sure I am not the only one to experiment with this idea, Any one else try this sort of thing?

 

[joed617]

Hi Peter, I haven't tried that.. but what I have done when making chili is smoke the beef fiirst <I don't use hamburg> I season the meat with the rub and smoke it for a few hours to pick up that smokey taste.. brown it in the pot and I'm on my way to a great pot of chili.

Joe

 

[meowey]

Peter and Joe,

Those are great ideas!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey

 

[cajun_1]

Joe..thanks for the chili tip. With the weather the way it is..I can vision pots of chili this winter. :D

 

[cheech]

It was nice to see this thread. My very first smoke was meat balls. I just got the smoker and wanted to try something and meatballs were the only thing I had in the house.

 

[ultramag]

I smoke meatballs 3 or 4 times a year and freeze them with the FoodSaver for spahgetti and also meatball sammies. There is a pretty good recipe that came in the Brinkmann recipe book. It is called Mazo's meatballs. If anyone that doesn't have the book is interested I'd be glad to post the recipe.

 

[abraxasil]

Hey Ultramag, if you would post that receipe I would really appreciate it. Me and my honey love good spahgetti - and with smoked meatballs I bet it would be awesome.

 

[ultramag]

Here ya go: Mazo's meatballs

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground veal

1/2 lb. ground pork

1 large onion (chopped)

8-10 garlic cloves (chopped)

1/2 - 3/4 C. Romano cheese (grated)

1/8 C. Parmesian cheese (grated)

1/2 C. Italian bread crumbs

2 large eggs (slightly beaten)

Fresh basil (chopped)

Fresh oregano (chopped)

Fresh parsley (chopped)

Coarsely ground black pepper

Garlic salt

Blend all ingredients together well. Wet hands to keep from sticking to mixture. Roll meatballs into golf ball sized balls. Brush with olive oil. Place in a single layer in a roasting pan or a smoker basket and smoke for 2-3 hours indirectly, or grill over a direct heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until done. Drop into your favorite red sauce for fabulous spaghetti and meatballs or place on top of french bread and ladle with marinara sauce for a great meatball sandwich.

This will make about 20-25 meatballs depending on how big I think golf balls are at the moment. :roll: I usually at least double it and freeze them with the foodsaver. They keep very well and you can't tell fresh from frozen really. Also, just a note, where I live veal is pretty well non-existant. I have never made them with veal and always just go 50/50 with ground pork. I do pretty much the same thing with meatloaf and chili and like the combination.

I hope you and your honey enjoy!

 

[abraxasil]

Sounds fantastic!! Gonna give it a try this weekend. Many thanks!