Bacon-Covered Smoked Meatloaf on the PBC

[fzxdoc]

Kathryn's Bacon Covered Smoked Meatloaf on the PBC

Makes three (3) 2lb 12 oz meatloaves
(adapted from http://www.afeastfortheeyes.net/2011...-its-best.html)

Ingredients:
2 Tbl Olive Oil
3 cups onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
4 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper
2 lbs ground beef
2 lbs ground pork
1 lb ground bison
3 cups dried breadcrumbs
1/4 to 1/3 cup dried parsley or 1 cup fresh parsley, minced
18 slices center cut bacon, thin-sliced

Instructions:

1. Add oil to skillet over moderate heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and cook less than 1 minute, until you can just smell its fragrance.
3. Set skillet aside to cool
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, mustard, milk and hot sauce together. Add the marjoram, thyme, salt and pepper.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the meats. Add the milk-egg mixture, bread crumbs, parsley and the cooled onion mixture and mix well.
6. Optional: Take a teaspoon-sized lump of the mixture, flatten it and cook it in the skillet you used for the onions. Taste. Adjust seasonings.
7. Line three pans with plastic wrap. I use Rubbermaid plastic storage containers, 2.2 liters in size.
8. Evenly divide the meatloaf among the 3 containers, pressing down so that the mixture conforms to the container.
   
9. Put containers in the freezer for 1 hour while you prepare the smoker
10. Pulling on the plastic wrap, remove the firmed meatloaves from the containers and turn them onto an oiled grate. The third meatloaf will be smoked after the first two are finished.
    
11. Place 6 slices of bacon on each meatloaf.
    
12. Place in smoker and cook until temp reaches 160 deg F. Pit Barrel Cooker at 315 ave temp: 1hour 15 minutes. After removing the meatloaves from the PBC, put the other one in. At a lower temp 270 deg F, the second cook may take 2 hours.
    

13. Place smoked meatloaves under a broiler for 1 minute to crisp up the bacon.



Enjoy!!!

Kathryn

P.S. I would like to give a shout out to Jerod whose bacon-covered meatloaf pictures over on the general PBC topic (not The Pit) several months ago inspired me to work up this recipe and technique. Thanks, Jerod!

2023 edit: Nowadays I put a small piece of parchment paper, just slightly larger than the meatloaf, under each loaf on the grill grate for easier removal without breaking off those delicious crispy bits at the bottom edge of each meatloaf.

[Jerod Broussard]

You only have 86 more ingredients, and one more species than me.

Forget Little Caesar's, "Pizza Pizza." You have, "Bison bison."

Geez that barrel is CLEAN!!!!

[fzxdoc]

You keep saying how clean my barrel is. I haven't cooked the equivalent of several full steers and hogs in it like you have! I'm always eating your dust, PBC-wise. Seriously though, thanks for the continued inspiration.

K.

[cdnichol]

Looking nice Kathryn!!! Do you have pictures of it sliced up?

[fzxdoc]

I have these photos, cdnichol, but you can't really see the nice smoke ring on it. It sure eats good!






ETA: Here's another one from a later cook:



Kathryn

[cdnichol]

It's looks incredible... I could go for a Meatloaf Sandwich right now

Cam

[The Burn]

That plate was like an optical illusion to me - at first glance I thought those were probe wires running out of the meatloaf and potato :-)

[_John_]

Looks great, thanks for posting. My PBC is really pretty dirty though a lot has fused with the barrel. I got it in April and I calculated a little while that I've run through just about a half ton of food since then, mostly pork.
Surprisingly the lid is what I have to clean the most, moisture gets on it and it will rain down when you heat it back up if you get too much.

[fzxdoc]

Wow, half a ton of meat. I've had my PBC since June and I don't think I've cooked close to that much. I should tally it up and see, just for grins 'n giggles.

How do you clean your PBC, John? Noah says it doesn't need to be cleaned but I wonder, especially since you make the comment moisture accumulates on the lid. I wouldn't want that residue dripping on my meats.

Kathryn

[_John_]

I wipe the lid down after every cook, and have power washed it twice, mostly to remove the ash that accumulates when dumping. The sides get like a shell, power washer doesn't come close to getting it off, gonna try to get it back to new before starting next year though.

[fzxdoc]

I don't dump ash; I like using the two layers of aluminum foil under the basket, folding the cooled ash up into an Al foil envelope, and tossing it in the trash.

Jerod uses an ash pan under the basket and Ernest uses a big pizza pan, as I recall.

Kathryn

[carolts]

I'm gonna have to try this! Looks great.

[fzxdoc]

Carol, once you try it you'll never make another meatloaf in the oven!

Kathryn

[carolts]

When I told my husband about this, he looked at me with a straight face and said, "How do you keep it from falling off the hooks?" He loves to tease me about the PBC but looks forward to every time I crank it up.

[fzxdoc]

My husband says I spent $300 on the PBC and $500 on toys for it. Whenever I fire it up, though, he comes sniffing out of the man cave like a hungry woodland animal.

Kathryn

[Spinaker]

Thanks for posting Kathryn!! looks amazing. How do you keep your Barrel so clean. Mine is no where near that and I've only had it for about a month. I do cook a lot of food on it but probably not as much as you have on yours, since Iv only had one for a month. Anyway, great work!!!!!
-JR

[fzxdoc]

You're welcome, Spinaker. My PBC (delivered in June) was replaced when I discovered some rust on the lid after only two cooks. Noah and Amber from the PBC Co. sent me a whole new PBC instead of just replacing the lid. Talk about customer service!

I received the new one in September, as I recall, so I've only been using it for just over 2 months. I cooked the heck out of the first PBC, though, right up until the day I shipped it back (free of charge) to Noah and Amber. Then I broke in the new one right away and have never looked back.

Kathryn

[7x57mm]

fzxdoc , I made your bacon wrapped, smoked meatloaf on the kettle this evening. I'm still dizzy and weak kneed....sooooo delicious!

[fzxdoc]

I'm glad you liked it, 7x57mm . It's a family favorite for us.

Kathryn

[TheGrizMan]

Made this for the first time, I even took pictures but continue to struggle with uploading them (if I figure it out, I'll post them!)! Anyway, with the 3 loaves, we kept one, gave one to our neighbor and one to friends. Everyone said it was the best meatloaf they've ever had! The bison was on quick sale and even then it was pretty penny! I lucked out that it was reduced to sell, ha ha! Thanks for such a wonderful recipe fzxdoc !

[fzxdoc]

TheGrizMan I'm glad the recipe worked out for you. I like the rich flavor that the bison brings, but you could just substitute ground beef with lower fat content for it. There will be plenty of fat from the 80/20 ground beef and ground pork already in the recipe. Sounds like you made family, neighbors and friends happy with your cook. Congrats on being a BBQ hero!

Kathryn

[cgrover60]

Beautifully done. Gotta love meatloaf on the PBC.

[Baker Dan]

Can't stop thinking about the next days sandwich at lunch

[Thunder77]

Dayyumm! Yer killing me here, Kathryn! I think I shorted out my monitor from licking the pictures!

[ecowper]

Alright, this is on the list to do on my WSM!

[Craigar]

Thanks for the info. Once I'm able to expand the patio area for an outdoor kitchen, I will have to take a serious look at the Hasty-Bake.

[ecowper]

Hasty-Bake makes a version of their cooker that can be built in to an outdoor kitchen Craigar .... Just saying :-)

[Craigar]

Whoa! I overlooked those bad boys. Nice!