Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Hickory Smoked Meatloaf



There's nothing like enjoying a piping hot plateful of meatloaf on a cold winter day. It's comforting and flavourful and it warms the soul. I've always been interested in creating a summer version of this classic comfort food so barbecued meatloaf became the first culinary challenge of summer vacation.

After consulting some cook books and looking on-line, my ideal meatloaf began to take shape. I started with two pounds of lean ground beef, which I bought from Stephen Taylor's Farm at the Moncton Farmer's Market. The ground beef from this local farm is fresh, juicy and incredibly flavourful.

I broke up the beef and placed it into a large mixing bowl. Then I chopped some onions and sauteed them with a package of sliced baby bela mushrooms, in a mixture of garlic butter and olive oil.

I tossed the onion-mushroom mixture with the beef and a generous portion of homemade classic red barbecue sauce, and lots of shredded jack cheese. I added kosher salt, cracked black pepper and garlic powder. I then worked the ingredients together with my hands and packed the mixture into two disposable loaf pans.

I created a two zone fire and placed two handfuls of soaked hickory chips onto the hot coals, then I placed the loaves over indirect heat and put on the cover. The aromatic smoke quickly started to seep from the barbecue.

After about forty minutes, I drained the fat off the loaves and brushed each loaf with more barbecue sauce and sprinkled cheese on top. After ten more minutes, a nice smokey cheesy topping had formed.

This meatloaf was fantastic. It was smokey, spicy and absolutely juicy. It will definitely be added to my summer repertoire. I served it with a mashed potato medley and sauteed green beans. It was a fantastic dinner fit for sharing. We can't wait to invite people over to share this new favourite.


Ingredients:

2 pounds of lean ground beef
1 large Onion
A bunch of mushrooms
garlic butter and olive oil
barbecue sauce (I will share my homemade BBQ sauce recipe in a future blog)
shredded cheese
garlic powder
salt and pepper
two handfuls of hickory chips (soaked in water for at least 30 minutes)

2 comments:

  1. I just read the title of this post to my husband and his response was an emphatic "YUM!" Can't wait to try!

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  2. Thanks for the feedback. I hope you enjoy.

    ReplyDelete