“Grilling, broiling, barbecuing – whatever you want to call it – is an art, not just a matter of building a fire and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.”
– James Beard, Beard on Food
This is for the guys at Fire It Up.
Everyone knows how much Michael adores meatloaf and tonight is a new take on the meatloaf in our house. The second meatloaf for a friend covered with sauce and bacon, baked in a 350° oven, but with the temperature in the high 60°’s it is once again a great opportunity for us to crank up the Primo Grill for what I hope will be a fantastic meatloaf and roasted potatoes dinner.
I stayed pretty basic with the ingredients because I really want to taste a little smokey accent, apple wood is the wood I used going light with the smoke of course. Again using what I had on hand, mostly freshly ground beef (3 lbs), 2 pounds homemade sausage and a pound of ground veal ending up with about 6 lbs of meatloaf for several dinners.
The standard additions of minced vegetables ingredients:
Celery (2 ribs)
1 onion
1 large green pepper
1 large heirloom tomato, diced
1 can meatloaf tomatoes
Marjoram
Garlic (granulated)
Parsley
Thyme
1-1/2-2 cups panko or bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper
BBQ rub of choice for lightly dusting the outside of the meatloaf and about 2 teaspoons added to 1/2 can of meatloaf tomato sauce (simmered) to brush the meatloaf toward the end of cooking time.
Prepare grill for indirect drilling using the griddle grate and maintain a 350° temperature. I used apple wood chips for a light smoke flavor. Place the meatloaf on a piece of parchment and slide onto griddle, turn around not over once during cooking time of at least 1 hour and begin basting at the 145° continuing every 5 minutes or so until the meatloaf reaches about 160°. Allow covered meat to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing. We grilled small red potatoes (in a foil packet) seasoned with garlic oil and herbs alongside the meat loaf and served with sautéed spinach and a little of Ina Garten’s “garlic sauce” over the meat and potatoes.
The second loaf was baked by a friend, sauced on the top with smoked bacon slices. Either meatloaf can be basted with the garlic sauce alone or add garlic sauce to BBQ sauce for the basting sauce.
