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Well. I smoked another meatloaf, and while I followed Chef Boy Arnie’s recipe, I changed it enough so I made a separate thread with pictures.
I wanted to try something a little different again, so I went with the meatloaf with ground beef and mild Italian sausage. A few different ingredients and wound up with something quite tasty. I made 2 loaves…each exceeding 3 lbs so I could, once again, vac seal one and freeze it for a later time. Here's the recipe:

3 lbs mild Italian Sausage (loose, extracted sausage from casings)
3 lbs ground beef-93% lean (lean cause of sausage)
1 large red onion (coarsely chopped)
2 Tbsp garlic powder
4 eggs
2 Tbsp Canadian Steak seasoning
4 oz ketchup
4 oz Big Bob Gibson’s Red Sauce (any you like)
2 oz Memphis rub (use your own)
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
8 oz Italian 4 cheese mix

Mix the ingredients thoroughly, form into 2 loaves, and place them on a single broiler/cookie type sheet (Pam or such is a good idea here) with holes in it so the smoke can get to the underside of the meatloaf and fat drippings can escape. Here’s a picture just before they went into the smoker:



Throw the sheets with the loaves into a 210* preheated smoker (2 oz hickory, 2 oz white oak or your choice) until internal temp hits 150*. Here they are fresh from the smoker:



Let the meat loaf rest for 20 minutes and coat the top/sides of the meat loaves with Big Bob Gibson’s Red (or sauce of your choice). Here coated before their visit back to the smoker:



Then throw them into a 250* preheated smoker for apprx. 20 minutes to set the outside of the meatloaves. Let them rest for 10 minutes and slice:



Very very good. They finished with a tasty, smokey barbecue flavor. Nice consistency...the hamburger meat and sausage melded well. I must be getting
anesthetized to the smoke flavor cause I mentioned to Mrs. Pags that I thought it could use more smoke flavor, and she said, "Are you kidding? The smoke flavor was strong. Right on. But no more."

If you recall from a previous post, I was going to incorporate horseradish into this endeavor, but I forgot until too late. Horseradish flavored meatloaf will have to wait for another time.
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See the crud, er, seepage next to the meatloaf in the second picture. I couldn't tell if it was melted cheese, fat or both. The liquid was all over both meatloaves when I first took them out of the smoker. Used a paper towel or two to soak it up.

No problem. Tasted great. Just making people aware. Guess I could try high melt cheese next time to see what happens.
I use Frogmats when smoking meatloaf. Allows all that "goo" to drip out. I don't wrap the meatloaf up in a roll, just form the meatloaf in a loaf pan then flip the pan over and the formed loaf comes out onto the Frogmat. I use a quarter sheet pan, place a grill over it, place a frogmat over the grill, then place the meatloat on the Frogmat.

We devour smoked meatloaf. We like it better warmed up the next day (if we can wait that long).
Hey guys, I happened to have just under 4 lbs of meatloaf mix (veal pork beef) and I am gonna make this recipe. I will be adjusting the ingredients accordingly.

Two questions: What seasonings do u think were in the sausage u used as I can add a little bit of them to emulate the sausage in the pork portion of my mix.

How high would u say u made your meatloaf at its highest point in the middle. I think it looks like just around 2 inches. Oh, I know it's done when it's done, but I need to know apx how long it will take so I can make sides and have dinner done at a reasonable time.

Thanks, Vicki
I shoved mine into a 3 inch loaf pan to shape it. Then I smashed it down in my aluminum pan to end up with an even 2 inches all around. at 200 degrees it took about 2 hours to get to 150. I did crank it up to 275 the last 20 minutes to speed it up. We were hungry. I also did the 20 min with sauce. So total time was 2 hrs.

I used pre-made italian sausage. Not sure what's in there.
I'm guessing Italian Spices in the sausage. Since it was mild, I'd go easy. If you don't have a container of Italian Spice, I'd use Lawry's Season Salt or such and maybe a little oregano. I think this would also taste good with a garlic or onion sausage, so you could always use whatever sounds good to you at the time.

Like Padrefan, mine was flat and 2" all the way.
there are a number of Italian sausage recipes online. The one I used last for 2.5 to 3 lbs of meat included:
5 cloves garlic finely minced
5 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely minced basil
1 small onion finely chopped
1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

I always fry a small patty of meatloaf or sausage to check the seasoning before smoking.
Well, the meatloaf came out great.

Pags, I followed your recipe of ingredients except that I used the 4lbs of meatloaf meat mix (veal, pork, beef). I adjusted the spices accordingly. I used a little over 4oz apple wood.

TN Q, I added the italian seasonings in your sausage recipe, crushed fennel, basil, parsley and garlic cloves (never enough garlic for us).

I cooked to your specifications Pags and I used a BBQ sauce already open in the fridge called FunniBonz.

My 15 yo who hates meatloaf said, it's still meatloaf, but I like this one the best out of all that you've made. My other kids and me and hubby loved it.

Oh, I got a veggie on the plate too!

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WOW! Looking good! Who would have thought smoked meatloaf would have such a following?

Pags I think the crud on top of the loaves is a combination of fat, blood and cheese. I could be wrong, but I started using 90-95% ground chuck and don’t see near the amount of crud on the tops of the loaves

I like to do 10 lbs of meatloaf at a time, because I love the leftovers. I love meatloaf sandwiches hot or cold. I always thought they were hard to beat, but I have never tried one lightly fried in butter or olive oil. You can bet that’s on my to-do list now.

Like SmokinMAINEiac and Padrefan98 I like to form the meatloaves in loaf pans, and I like to put them back into the fridge for several hours to let them firm up before I pop them out of the loaf pans and put them in the smoker. Silicone loaf pans work real well for that
You gonna love that meatloaf sandwich. I think that's the only time we fry anything at home. Worth it. Actually, grapeseed oil vs olive oil for health conscious. Place a slice of cheese on top of the hot meatloaf before placing the bread with mayo of top of it. Cheese will melt some.

Kinda funny, huh? Fried meatloaf infused with sausage on bread with mayo and a slice of cheese...fry in grapeseed oil for health reasons. Eeker
I grew up in a family that believed that meat needed to be cooked until it was like shoe leather, so my memories of meatloaf aren't that great. I hadn't even considered eating it for many years until I read this thread the other day.

So today I decided to give it a try, it was the best meatloaf I had ever eaten, and one of best tasting items that has come out of my sm025 yet.

I didn't follow a recipe exactly, just put some of what I had in: ground chuck, leftover breakfast sausage, onions, garlic, Worcestershire, ketchup, a little leftover rub from yesterdays ribs, breadcrumbs, an egg, salt and pepper. I used a small chunk of hickory and cherry. Turned out smoky, moist and delicious.

My only mistake was not making more, there isn't any left. I'll know better next time.

Thanks for the inspiration.

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then, Pags, you must feel quite flattered right now. Seems you got just about everyone talking and thinking about meatloaf.

I followed your recipe to the letter- DANG, that's a lot of meatloaf! Everybody loved it.
Thanks for the inspiration.

Pics here and next thread.

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That looks spectacular and tasty. Nice job.

I am flattered, but I'm just flattering someone else cause it wasn't my idea from the beginning.

I agree...there's a lot of meatloaf there. I make a couple loaves and have one for the future. Plenty of next day sandwiches from each loaf.

You should have seen Mrs. Pags and the kids laughing when I smoked 19 lbs of pork butt. I mean I'm not a restaurateur here, ya know. Big Grin
I just put the meat loaf in the smoker. I cut the recipe in half, and made some changes. I used a combination of Hot, Sweet, and Mild Italian sausage. I cut the amount of "Memphis Rub" down, and used 1 Tbsp of Wild Willy's rub. I figured the extra spice in the Hot and Sweet sausage would make up for this. I added some diced Bell Pepper, and diced Celery, and used Mexican 4 cheese mix. I will use Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Most of the changes were simply because I had these things on hand. I will let you know how it turns out. Pictures to follow.
I have a couple meatloaf recipes that I use. But one thing I've found very useful from Alton Brown's Good Eat's meatloaf recipe that I use all the time is to shape it in a loaf pan, but then take it out of the pan for cooking. You get the perfect shape but then all the grease drains off since you're not cooking it in the pan.
Here is the picture of my meat loaf. Since this was the first time I have done this in the smoker, I learned several things. I will not use the Sweet Italian Sausage again, and may just stick to the Hot Italian Sausage. I will use all of the rub seasoning called for, and may replace the Ketchup with Mustard, or Salsa. The Meat Loaf turned out great, but everyone said it was "Sweet", and needed more bite. These comments were coming from people that usually complain about food with a bite. I used a Loaf pan to form the 2 individual loaves, and it worked out great.

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Dakota. Glad it turned out well, and you liked it.

The sausage gives the meatloaf a richer flavor in my opinion. Key is very lean ground beef cause of the sausage. The smoke adds a nice flavor to it also. Meatloaf is just a natural for these smokers, but you don't hear much about it...cause folks just don't think of meatloaf as barbecue. If they only knew.
quote:
Originally posted by Sgt Rock:
Is the ketchup and the Big Bob Gibson's Red Sauce added to the mixture before it goes on the grill or smeared on after


I'll defer to the OP, but there was this line between a couple of photos:

quote:
Let the meat loaf rest for 20 minutes and coat the top/sides of the meat loaves with Big Bob Gibson’s Red (or sauce of your choice). Here coated before their visit back to the smoker:
Both. Ketchup and Big Bob Gibson's Sauce goes into the mix. Then the Sauce goes onto the meatloaf later and back into the smoker to set the sauce.

Lately, I've not used the ketchup but have gone with barbecue sauce.

Also, use whatever barbecue sauce you'd like. Last week I used Sweet Baby Ray's, and it turned out very well.

Next day, take the meatloaf, lightly grill the meat slices then add it to a couple slices of bread with mayo. Great grilled meatloaf sandwiches.
Oh gawd! Everytime this post resurfaces I get a hankering for some smoked meatloaf. Sunday dinner this weekend for sure. I just need to remind myself that my last two batches have come out a little salty. I think I need to lay off one of the rubs I was using.

Everytime I make it, I think to myself...I could open a restuarant with this as the main dish... Or at least a food truck.

Meatloaf sandwiches
Meatloaf grilled cheese
Meatloaf tacos
Meatloaf and Mac n' Cheese
Meatloaf salad

Million dollar idea right there!

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