Nailed Malcom Reed's Meatball Subs on the PBC!!

[Michael_in_TX]

Wow, I absolutely nailed it on this one.

Here's is Malcom's original recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFvEWBxjsQo

I've been tweaking this to my tastes/smoker for several cooks.

My modifications are to do a full 2 lbs of ground 80/20 chuck (no sausage) and omit the red pepper. (The red pepper tends to clump and my wife is not into spicy foods and does not like Italian sausage.)

I light my PBC with 40 KBB in the basket and 40 KBB in the chimney. (This is a short cook.) Chimney lights for 15-20 minutes. I use about 6 ounces of small pecan wood chunks....small....like the size of cut-up door moulding. I think the small size keeps the meatballs from being oversmoked.

I do not alter anything from the marinera sauce or the meatballs, save leaving out the red pepper flakes on the meatballs.

Pour lit coals on top of the unlit coals and wood, place grill grate down, oil with canola oil then put meatballs down.

30 minutes later, they are all 160-165. Put them in a metal disposable pan and pour the (35 degree) marinara sauce (that I made the night before) onto all of them. Return to smoker. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Then cover for 15 more. Done.

So, so, so good.

[latenight71]

Looks great! why the bricks on top of lid? high winds or just tighter seal?

[shify]

Crushed it!
I loved smoked meatballs and even better in a sandwich. Do something similar in my PBC but typically do the sauce/braise on the stove as I have the sauce simmering when the meatballs smoke.

Being your wife doesn’t like spicy, I highly recommend making pickled Fresno chiles and then adding to your sandwich. Something about picked fresnos and meatball parm just work so well together.

[Michael_in_TX]

The bricks are a holdover from when the PBC was new. Second-Generation PBCs run very hot for their first 5, perhaps even 10 runs or so (of 5+ hour cooks). Lid leaks are the problem, but after a time the lid gets "gunked up" and the problem abates. Many of us just keep using the bricks as a matter of habit, including myself.

[HawkerXP]

+1

[marshall]

Thanks for the inspiration, I love meatball subs and yours looks fantastic!

[Michael_in_TX]

The key is to NOT oversmoke this!

[DavidNorcross]

Great work. His recipes are the best.

[HawkerXP]

That looks great!

PBC, PBC, PBC!

[Soonerpop]

Yum. I’ll try this. Looks great!