This week I smoked a meatloaf. I used 2.5 lb of ground beef, about a half a cup of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, minced onion, parsley, and mayonnaise. Stuck it in a loaf pan in the fridge overnight to firm it up, then started cooking Monday afternoon around 3:45 PM. I should have started it earlier in the day, because it took just over four hours, meaning we ate a lot later than I wanted to.
After it reached about 140°, I started glazing it with Hooray For IPA sauce, again from Uncle Jammy’s. It’s got a mustard base that gives it a nice tang. I think if I’d gotten the chamber temps a little hotter, it would have come out even better. The meat took a terrific smoke, but it ended up being just a little drier than I would have liked. I didn’t use a water pan, and I didn’t use any milk in the meatloaf like I usually do. I was hoping the mayonnaise would have given it enough moisture. For the next one, I’ll probably go back to the classic recipe we’ve used over the years, and add a water pan.
I’ve also got to work on temperature control. The pecan log I put on didn’t burn down as much as I thought it would, and I’m not sure why. It felt like I was chasing the thermometer a bit, and I suspect that’s not a good thing. I may try a practice burn this weekend to see if I can gain better control of the smoke and the temps.
Tacos next week for family dinner, and German pot roast on the smoker the following week. I’m still trying to suss out how that’s going to work. I’ve gone back and forth about how to make this work. My original plan was to use the dry ingredients as a rub, then heat up the wet ingredients to use as gravy (which is basically how it works in the crockpot anyway). But now I’m wondering about either doing it just like the crockpot recipe, but in an open pan on the smoker, or smoking it up to a certain temp, then braising it in the wet ingredients.
Decisions, decisions.
We had a couple of rainstorms this week and lost a limb on the apple tree in each storm. I’m not sure how we’re going to save this tree, or if we can. We had three apple trees when we moved here six years ago, but this is the last one left. I’d hate to lose it. Ironically, this has been the best year for apple production.
Reading
I came across this human trafficking article this week at USAToday, though it was originally released in January 2023. Human trafficking laws were supposed to help women. Victims’ stories say otherwise. Much of what it talks about I already knew. It’s still horrifying.
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