BBQ Meatloaf with a Bacon Weave

First, a big shout out and thanks to Susie Bulloch over at heygrillhey.com. I actually saw the photo of her BBQ Meatloaf with a Bacon Weave on her instagram account (@heygrillhey) and I had to try it on the Big Green Egg.

Susie has a terrific post on her blog on How to Make a Bacon Weave. I couldn;t have said it any better, so if you don’t know how to make the weave – check it out at heygrillhey.com/how-to-make-a-bacon-weave/.

The meatloaf was nicely seasoned with peppers, onions, garlic and BBQ sauce, then wrapped in an awesome bacon weave! What’s not to love?

So, here’s my recipe for BBQ Meatloaf with a Bacon Weave on the Big Green Egg.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 lb (14 slices) of regular sliced bacon (not the thick sliced bacon – it takes too long to cook)
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• 1/2 cup red onion – diced
• 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper – diced
• 2 tsp garlic – minced
• 1 lb lean ground beef – I used 93% lean
• 2 eggs – beaten in a medium sized bowl
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs – I used Traditional Breadcrumbs from Kroger
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce – pick your favorite
• 3 tbsp or more BBQ sauce to glaze the meatloaf on the grill
• 1 tbsp mustard – I used Dijon. Susie called for Whole Grain Mustard but I didn’t have any
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp hot sauce – I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• Parchment Paper
• Disposable food preparation gloves are really helpful!

 Instructions

 

1. Prepare your Big Green Egg for an indirect cook at 375(F) with the plate setter legs up. I recommend having a foil lined drip pan to catch the grease from the bacon and meatloaf.
2. In a large skillet or saute pan, heat the EVOO. Stir in the onions and peppers and cook for 6 miniutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add the ground beef. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper on top of the ground beef. To the medium sized bowl with the beaten eggs, add the 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Whisk the wet ingredients together until combined and then pour over the ground beef.
4. Wearing your food preparation gloves, combine the ingredients with your hands until uniform.
5. For the bacon weave, divide the slices into an equal number and then create the weave on a piece of parchment paper as instructed in the link at the top of this post. I used the entire pound of bacon which had 14 slices in it.
6. Place the meat mixture in the center of the bacon weave and form it into a log.
7. Roll the bacon weave over the meatloaf and secure any loose ends with toothpicks. (Don’t forget to take them out after the meatloaf has cooked.
8. Move the meatloaf onto the Big Green Egg and close the lid. After 45 minutes, check the internal temperature of the meatloaf in several areas. You are shooting for an internal temperature of at least 160 (F). Glaze the bacon weave with BBQ sauce. I flipped the meatloaf after an hour to get the bacon to crisp up on the top and bottom. I cooked mine for a little longer than an hour (1:15 or so).
9. When it is to your desired internal temperature and the bacon has crisped up to your liking, take it off the grill.
10. Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving.

The meatloaf was tender and juicy. The bacon weave was crispy. We plated this with some mashed potatoes and green beans. Yum!

MOINK Balls (Updated 9/5/2015)

A MOINK ball is a beef meatball wrapped in bacon (MOO + OINK = MOINK) sprinkled with BBQ rub, smoked outdoors and glazed with BBQ sauce. THEY ARE DELICIOUS!

In the past, MOINK Balls were only made with frozen, store bought all beef meatballs. Due to the lack of availability of store bought ALL BEEF meatballs in some areas, HOMEMADE meatballs are now acceptable, provided the meatballs are made ONLY with BEEF. (Do you get the idea that MOINK Balls are made with beef meatballs?)

Here is a recipe for “Make Ahead Frozen Meatballs” by Kristen Michaelis.

Reverse Seared Ribeyes

If you Google it, there are plenty of tips on how to reverse sear a steak. The videos and suggestions are typically spot on, so mine just adds to the mix.  I got a 4 pack of really nice 1.5 inch thick ribeyes from Sam’s Club.  I froze two and we had two for dinner tonight.

I got the grill stabilized at 250 degrees for an indirect cook – plate setter legs up with my standard grate (because I don’t have a cast iron grate.)  As the grill was heating up, I liberally covered all sides of both steaks with Dizzy Pig’s Cow Lick rub.  Terrific stuff!  I haven’t found a Dizzy Pig Rub that I haven’t liked.

Mr. Griffin’s Meatloaf

Another shout-out to Griffin’s Grub for another awesome recipe. Mr. Griffin calls this 1770 House Meatloaf. He made some changes that were terrific. Since this has morphed into his own creation, I think it is fitting to call this “Mr. Griffin’s Meatloaf.” In full disclosure, I tweaked a little from his original recipe, but it was very minor, mainly dealing with availability of onions and roasted garlic.

This is a different type of meatloaf. First, it is smoked on your Big Green Egg and not baked in your oven. There is no ketchup glaze on top. There is no thick brown gravy served with it. Instead, a buttered herb gravy is spooned on top. Finely ground Panko is used as a binding agent. Fresh herbs give it a wonderful and unique flavor.

My First Smoked Brisket and the Lessons Learned

This is a late Blog post, but I think the information is worth relaying. So, here goes!

I decided to smoke a brisket for Christmas. As I started my research, I read – don’t make a brisket for an important occasion – they are hard to cook and get them right. Oh well – too late now! I decided to step through my process and lessons learned, to contribute to the Big Green Egg community. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes. Fast forward to the end – the brisket was awesome – tender and tasty! So, even with a few challenges, you can do this!