Smoking in pizza oven

[jr07]

Hello all. New guy here
I recently purchased a Napolino 70 wbo from Forno Bravo, with great success making pizzas

One thing I have noticed is that in the ealry stags of firing up my oven an incredible amount of smoke comes out from the oven door and the oven chimney, which is going to "waste" . Yesterday I left my iphone sitting on the prep table I have next to the oven and today it has had an amazing smoked smell all day! I need to accomplish this with food

So.....

1. I suppose I need to leave either my meat or fish inside the oven as soon as I start the firing process? Should I cover the chimney to avoid smoke escaping through there?

2. Do i close the oven door too? I understand that will not allow the fire to burn but will the smoke be better captured?

3. Some people burn the fire and then add smoking chips to the resulting coals. Is this better? And do I do 1. And 2. Also?

J

 

[noboundaries]

I'm only going to address one part of your question, the smoke at the beginning of the fire starting process.  It may smell great, but it is not good smoke for meat, fish, or your taste buds.  It is dirty smoke, filled with all kinds of unburned particulates that would make any food in it taste like you licked an ashtray. 

Good smoke occurs later in the burning process, after the wood's exterior has charred.  As the temperature in the core of the wood increases substantially, the chemical process of pyrolysis begins acting on the elements in the wood, carbonizing them.  It is the smoke that is released from this cleaner burning state that is desirable for smoking.  You see to it around here referred to as TBS, thin blue smoke. 

A pizza oven is designed to operate efficiently at extremely high temperatures, 700-1000F.  I can get smoky flavor on my meat in my Weber Grill at 450-500F, but it isn't close to the same depth of smoke flavor as my WSM running at 225-350F.  The smoker exposes the meat to the good smoke for a significantly longer length of time.

The challenge would be finding the process of burning wood at a lower temp in the pizza oven without ruining the taste of the pizzas made at a higher temp at a different time.  At low temps you get wood particulate and meat fat buildup on the interior of the device.  Not sure I'd want to mess with a $5000 pizza oven in that way.  Just buy a $400 smoker and do it right.