What's on the Grill #207: Planked Meatloaf

I had meatloaf a lot growing up, which most likely explains why anymore I almost never make it myself.  As my Mom is fond of saying while looking back over our childhood dinners, "I didn't like to cook".  Well that bombshell wasn't exactly a shocker.  It was my babysitter, after all, who gave me my earliest cooking lessons and furthermore, it explains why upon Dad's retirement he became the full-time chef/griller in the house.  He had years of chicken dinners to purge from his memory.

Now although I had meatloaf a lot in my younger full head of hair days, I did actually enjoy it.  It was after all, meat, shaped into a loaf and cooked.  Really, what isn't there to like?

In my never ending desire to move everything from the kitchen to the grill, I had one of those "who put their peanut butter in my chocolate?" moments and decided I needed to try meatloaf on the grill.

Instead of a pan, I went back to the plank.  Meatloaf never sounded so good.

Upon doing some quick research, I wasn't completely surprised that BBQ guru Ted Reader actually had a recipe for Planked Meatloaf in his great book, King of the Q's Blue Plate BBQ.  I've talked about Ted before, as he really puts the extreme into extreme grilling.  His recipes have three common features: lots of ingredients, lots of creativity and booze.  He's my kind of griller.

Since Ted had already blazed the path, I decided to not totally re-invent the wheel.  The end result? Let's just say meatloaf will be back in rotation on the grill.

Planked Herbed Beer Meatloaf

Based on the recipe by Ted Reader

1 cedar plank, soaked in water for at least an hour

1/2 ground sirloin
1/2 lb ground pork
1/4 cup + 1 cup BBQ sauce
1 medium onion, minced
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp fresh herbs (I used rosemary, thyme & parsley)
4 oz + 4 oz beer
Salt & Pepper
6 strips of bacon
2 tbsp rub of your choice

1.  Grind your own meat!

Very rarely these days do I buy pre ground meat.  I would much rather using my own grinder and make the magic happen at home.  One word of note, when I use my Kitchen Aid mixer attachment to grind, it tends to shoot meat all over the place.  In order to keep the kitchen more kitchen and less petri dish, I attach a paper towel to act a as a flap.  It works pretty well.

2.  Mix together all of your ingredients, including just 1/4 up of the BBQ sauce and 4 oz of the beer.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Place 1 cup of BBQ sauce and the remaining 4 oz of beer (assuming you didn't take a sip) into a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

3.  Place your cedar plank on the counter and place your meat mixture on the plank.  Try and make an oval with the meat and be sure to leave as much room as possible around the plank edges.

4.  Using the bacon strips, put a "skirt" around the loaf making a seal between the plank and the loaf so no meat is exposed:

5.  Using the remaining strips, cover the top of the loaf so again, no meat is exposed.  We are essentially making a meatloaf bacon casket. You could go all out for a bacon weave, but for now the bacon shawl will work.

6.  Prep the grill for indirect medium.  Place the plank directly over the coals for the first 10 minutes and then move off of the coals for the remaining cook.  Be careful the plank doesn't catch fire when it is directly over the coals.  Shoot for an internal temperature of 165 degrees.  It was cold out when I was grilling, for me it took almost an hour to get the right temperature.

Once you get to temperature, baste the loaf with some of the reduced BBQ sauce.  Close the lid for a few more minutes, allowing the sauce to carmalize, then remove and serve with the extra sauce.

I liked this a lot.  Now if you are partial to your own meatloaf recipe, use it.  The neat thing about this version is the addition of the plank, bacon and sauce.  It makes a huge difference.

A word of warning, Ted's meatloaf is full on flavor.  It was almost too much for Zoe.  The herbs, onion, rub and saucepacks a big flavor punch.  Which, is why I had it again today for both lunch and dinner.

Well, I've gotten over my childhood meatloaf thing.  Now if only I could figure out a way to plank that old sour beef and noodle thing Mom used to make...it might make me actually want to eat sour beef and noodles again.