Meat loaf

[Rob Babcock]

My recipe is pretty simple.  I start with 5 lbs of meat (3 lbs of burger & 2 lbs of ground pork is ideal).  I dice 1 onion, 1 red pepper and 1 green pepper and sautee them.  Then I mix the meat and the pepper/onion mixture and add salt, pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic, a little cumin, a good blast of Sriracha sauce and some ketchup.  Form it into a single long loaf and place it on a strip of greased foil.  Usually takes about 2.25 hours at 250-ish.

I usually smear the top with Sriracha & ketchup before I smoke it but that's optional.

[Spence]

Sounds like a winner.  Thanks Rob!

[Rob Babcock]

Here's a little more detail on how I make it.  I keep it pretty simple.  The first thing I always start with is 5 lbs of ground meat.  My preference is 1 lb lamb, 1 lb of pork and 3 lbs of beef.  This can be adjusted to whatever you prefer and have on hand.  Next I'll dice 1 red & 1 green pepper along with 1 med onion (Vidalia is my favorite for loaf).  I then sautee the veggies til they start to carmelize.

Dump the meat in a big bowl and combine.  Next add about 1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce.  Add about 1 tsp salt, 1 TBSP ground black pepper, 1 TBSP granulated garlic, 1 TBSP granulated onion, 1 TBSP chili powder and 1 tsp cumin.  I like to add a little cayenne pepper and about 2 TBSP of Srirracha but you can back off if you don't like heat.  Lastly add 1.5 cups instant oatmeal (or bread crumbs if you prefer) along with 2 eggs + 1 extra yolk.

Combine all the ingredients well and dump it out on a bit of greased tinfoil.  I form it by hand into one long loaf that will go into my #3.  I suppose it's a loaf about 5" wide by 4" tall and maybe 15" long.  The exact dimensions don't matter but keep it uniform so it will cook evenly.

Lately I've been using about 2oz of hickory dowls (from Smokin-It) along with a puck of Cherry.  I like to top the loaf with a bit of ketchup and Srirracha right before it goes in.

In my #3 it takes about 2 hours 15 minutes give or take @ 250.  I go until the internal temp is around 160-ish or so.

To  me meatloaf is a procedure more than a recipe.  You need meat + eggs to help bind it + some kind of filler to make it meatloaf as opposed to a really big hamburger.  Anything else is subject to substitution and tinkering as you like.