Smoked Meatloaf...Catch up post with pics

hapster · February 12

Meatloaf is one of my wife's favorite meals. She it requested for her birthday recently, being a great husband how could I say no? We have been watching our carb intake in an effort to get a little healthier and more creative in our meals; so instead of making some kind of potato dish, I decided to do some mashed cauliflower. The meatloaf was cooked on my Big Green Egg, set up for indirect, and cooked at about 400 with some hickory chunks until the internal temp was 160.

I am always looking for new ways to try making old staples; and meatloaf is no exception. I did a little searching on Google and found several mentions of using a mixture of saltine crackers and milk to the meatloaf to keep it moist. There where also tips on the how finely ground the meat was before being mixed. Sauteing the veggies until they are tender before using them in the mix was also something I hadn't done before. Well, here we go...

Ingredient List

For the meatloaf...

3lbs of 80/20 ground beef
2 medium onions diced small
1 large green pepper diced small
4 slices of bacon
2 cups of crackers (didn't have saltines, so I used some Cheese Nips)
1/2 cup of milk
About a 1/3 of cup of seasoned bread crumbs

For the mashed cauliflower...

1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
Butter
Milk
Salt & Pepper
Garlic ( to taste, it doesn't take much)

Now for the pictures...

Saute the bacon for a few minutes; once it renders a little fat into the pan, add the peppers and onion. Cook on medium heat until they are tender. Add a little salt & pepper.

While the veggies where on the stove top, I began to prep the rest of the meatloaf. Here is my crackers and milk mixture. In hindsight; I think I would continue to use these instead of saltine crackers. The cheese crackers added some really good flavor to the meat.

Once the cheese nips and milk were blended well in the food processor; I began adding the ground beef to the mix of crackers in the processor. The meat was originally a courser grind, and as I was going for better texture, I decided to blend the meat in the processor with the cracker mixture.

Then it was time to add the rest of the ingredients. Once I had it all mixed up; I placed the mixture in an aluminum loaf pan and set it in the fridge for a few hours.

When the egg was up to temp; I took the loaf pan and turned it upside down in a baking dish so that when cooking the meatloaf, it could get more of crust over more of the meatloaf. I have it a quick coating of Dizzy Pig's Dizzy Dust as well...

Once the meatloaf was on it's way, I started to make the side dish. I simply cut the cauliflower up and cooked it until tender in the microwave. Then into the food processor with some milk, salt, pepper, melted butter, and garlic. Process just like if you were making potatoes...

Once the meatloaf reached an internal temperature of 160, I pulled it off the egg and set it aside to rest.

Here is the finished meal...

My wife loved the meatloaf; saying the taste with the addition of the cheese crackers out it over the top. My family also like the texture of the meat, saying it was unlike any meatloaf they'd had before. The cauliflower was a big hit...

I will have to continue practicing making meatloaf, while this tasted very good, it didn't stay together as much as I wold have liked.

Solson005 · February 12

Looks great! Both meatloaf on the egg and cauliflower like that is on my short list of things to do.

R2Egg2Q · February 12

I love meatloaf on the Egg! Yours looks good Hap! The cauliflower looks interesting. Might have to try that.

rolltideegghead · February 12

Meatloaf is one of my favorite things off of the egg.

shtgunal3 · February 12

Meatloaf is my wifes favorite too. I egged some last week with ground venison and venison sausage. She said it was the best she ever ate. Good looking cook Hap, keep on keeping on.

FlashkaBob · February 12

What if you used half the milk and added 1 or 2 eggs? That might help to bind the meatloaf together better. No?

rolltideegghead · February 12

The loaf recipe I use calls for 6 eggs and 1 1/2 tubes of ritz crackers.

Griffin · February 12

Meatloaf looks great. Love the addition of the cheese crackers.

We did mashed cauliflower once. I think I added so much butter and milk and/or cream it probably wasn't healthy. :)) Need to try it again.

Chubbs · February 12

Yep, about time for another meat loaf. Looks great Griff

SmokinDAWG82 · February 12

Looks great Hap, like the cheese nips idea, we use oatmeal but I think the flavor of the cheese crackers would be awesome! Also love the cauliflower but agree with Griff, after doctoring it up it's probably just as bad as potatoes

Charlie tuna · February 12

The meatloaf looks great, i like the way you got it to crisp up !! And i have to remember the cheese crackers trick !

jgdusc · February 12

Looks great to me. I agree on the eggs to bind. Love the bacon, gonna add that next time!

Griffin · February 12

@Chubbs - it wasn't me....

carlharper · February 12

Nice job! When you incorporated the meat into the cracker mixture in the food processor did you use the blade or the dough hook?

Springram · February 12

Griffin said:

Meatloaf looks great. Love the addition of the cheese crackers.

We did mashed cauliflower once. I think I added so much butter and milk and/or cream it probably wasn't healthy. :)) Need to try it again.

As a diabetic trying to avoid the carbs in potatoes, the faux mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower ) has been a staple in my house for years. You are right about not using too much butter, etc., it just does not need much to taste great.

Springram

Spring, Texas

RAC · February 12

Man that look's good! Great job.

Greeno55 · February 12

Just fired up the beast to make one based off this recipe (only a slight variation). Been forever since I've had meatloaf. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty pumped.

bccomstock · February 12

I wonder if you added some cheese nips to the cauliflower if that would give it a nice flavor?
:-?

Great looking meatloaf! BTW, I did one recently and had no problem with it sitting directly on the rack.

hapster · February 13

Thanks everyone... I appreciate the feedback and tips. I will likely try adding a few eggs next time.

I just used the blade when I mixed the meat and cheese nips and milk.

The butter and milk are no where near as bad as the carbs in traditional potatoes ;)

Chubbs · February 13

Griffin said:

Meatloaf looks great. Love the addition of the cheese crackers.

We did mashed cauliflower once. I think I added so much butter and milk and/or cream it probably wasn't healthy. :)) Need to try it again.

:))

Springram · February 13

hapster said:

Thanks everyone... I appreciate the feedback and tips. I will likely try adding a few eggs next time.

I just used the blade when I mixed the meat and cheese nips and milk.

The butter and milk are no where near as bad as the carbs in traditional potatoes ;)

Regarding the carbs in mashed potatoes, if you not diabetic, enjoy everything, just in moderation. Just like all things....except the number of nights you cook on the Egg :<) The more the better!

Little Steven · February 13

Hap,

The only binder I use in burgers and meatloaf is dehydrated onion. Try it sometime.

henapple · February 13

Would an aluminum pan work?...I put my swmbo glass in the egg...I'll be lonely.

SWVABeanCounter · February 13

Cheese Nips, what a great way to improvise. Meatloaf has quickly became one of my favorites. Thanks for posting.

jlsm · February 13

@heapple: Try a cheap aluminum pan with holes punched in the bottom. Put it, raised on AF balls, into another aluminum pan. That way, the grease drips away from the loaf. I do like the crust from the rub on this one!

henapple · February 13

@jlsm....thanks

Browninggold · February 13

Excellent cook. Going to try meatloaf with cheese nips and the cauliflower mashed potatoes

henapple · February 13

Any smoke chunks?..@Hapster?

bigguy136 · February 13

I'm making both this weekend. Thanks for the idea.

rtt121 · February 13

Have never made/had meatloaf.

Made cauliflower mashed potatoes a few times... they come out best in the microwave!

A note: I have gotten cauliflower were the inside of the stalk is sort of harder than normal. That has made the mash really griddy in the past and IMHO is best when the innermost core is removed prior to cooking.

hapster · February 14

henapple said:

Any smoke chunks?..@Hapster?

I used hickory chunks on this one :)

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Smoked Meatloaf...Catch up post with pics

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