Six different meatloaves (with pron)

I made these yesterday and had to share with y'all. You guys are always posting pics that make me hungry, so I thought I would try and return the favor.:wink:

Spicy BBQ Meatloaf
This is the kind of meatloaf I normally make. I made this one with ground pork.

Pic before going in cooker
Pic after coming out of smoker
Pic of slices

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork or pork sausage
1/2 medium red onion
1/2 bell pepper
1 stalk celery (diced)
1 jalapeno (diced)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 2 tbsp yo favorite rub
1 egg
1/2 cup crackers (crushed)

Apply glaze of equal parts Pepper Jelly and your favorite Mustard Sauce during last half hour of cooking.

Caribbean Reef Chicken Loaf
Of the 6 meatloaves I made yesterday, this one was my least favorite. It was not awful, but I didn't want any more of it after sampling it.

Pic before going in cooker
Pic after coming out of cooker
Pic of slices

2 pounds Ground Chicken
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Dark Rum
1/2 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Garlic Powder
2 drops Hot Sauce (I used 4 drops Marie Sharps Habanero Sauce)
1 Egg
1 cup crushed Crackers
Make paste out of Sugar, Rum, Lime Juice, Lemon Pepper, Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, Garlic Powder and Hot Sauce.
Mix paste into meat. Then mix in egg and crackers.
Form into loaf and chill to set.
Apply glaze of 2 parts Mango Chutney and 1 part Dark Rum during the last half hour of cooking.

Kielbasa Apple & Kraut Loaf
This was my favorite meatloaf from the 6 I made yesterday. All of the flavors combined wonderfully. I enjoyed the big center of cheese as well.
This makes a great sandwich when placing a slice in between 2 slices of marble rye with grainy brown mustard and sauerkraut.:wink:

Pic before going in smoker
Pic after coming out of smoker
Pic of slices

2 pounds Ground Pork
3 tsp Coarse Salt
1 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
2 1/2 tbsp Sweet Hungarian Paprika
2 sprigs fresh Marjoram (or 3/4 tsp dried)
1 sprig fresh Savory (or 1/3 tsp dried)
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 cup Sauerkraut, chopped
1 Apple, chopped
1/2 medium Red Onion
1 egg
1/2 cup Crushed Crackers
1 pound Swiss or Emmentaler Cheese
Mix everything together except the egg, crackers and cheese. Let the mixture sit in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight. Then mix in the egg and crackers.
Form into loaf with the cheese inside and chill to set the form. I made this with a thick center of cheese. You could spread the meat out, spreading on a layer of cheese and rolling to make a spiral of cheese. It's your meatloaf and your call.
I made this one with no glaze. I considered a glaze of Brown Grainy Mustard, Apple Jelly and Caraway Seed, but decided to leave this one plain in case I wanted to take the end result in other directions.
I made a sandwich for lunch today with a slice of this between 2 slices of marbled rye, some brown grainy mustard and some sauerkraut. It was absolutely delicious!

Chicken Enchilada Meatloaf
This was a good meatloaf. I would make this again. I think the big center of cheese works well with the enchilada theme.

Pic before going in smoker
Pic after coming out of smoker
Pic of slices

2 pounds Ground Chicken
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 Poblano Chile, chopped
1 Anaheim Chile, chopped
1 Jalapeno, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 to 3 sprigs fresh Oregano or 1/2 tsp dried
1 cup crushed Tortilla Chips
1 Egg
1/2 cup Enchilada Sauce (and another 1/2 cup for glaze)
1 pound PepperJack Cheese
fresh Cilanto
fresh Parsley
Mix together everything except chips, egg, cheese cilantro and parsley. Then mix in egg and crackers.
Form into loaf with cheese inside and chill to set. I put all my cheese in the middle, but you could spread the loaf out and layer on some cheese and roll into a spiral. Your call.
Apply more Enchilada Sauce during last half hour of cooking as glaze. Sprinkle with cheese after removing from smoker if you feel so inclined.

Grapow Meatloaf
This was also my favorite of the 6 meatloaves. If you like Thai food, expecially Grapow, you will like this. This one was spicy, so be warned ahead of time. The smoke adds a new dimension to this. It tastes like Grapow. I was very pleased.

Pic before going in smoker
Pic after coming out of smoker
Pic of slices

1 pound Ground Chicken or Turkey
1 pound Ground Pork
8 Thai Chili Peppers, sliced very thin
3/4 cup fresh Holy Basil (or regular fresh basil), picked from stems and chopped
2 tbsp Garlic, minced
6 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 Egg
1 cup Crackers (crushed)
Chili Garlic Sauce for glaze
Mix together everything except Egg and Crackers (and also glaze of course). Then mix in egg and crackers.
Form into loaf and chill to set.
Apply Chili Garlic Sauce as glaze during last half hour of cooking.

Lamb Gyro Meatloaf
This was a good meatloaf. It was a bit plain, but I intended for it to be that way so I could use it in gyros. I made gyros with this by crumbling some into a pita, covering with tatziki sauce, chopped sundried tomatoes and feta cheese. It was absolutely delicious, but if I had any really good olives on hand it would have been the absolute shizzle.

Pic before going in smoker
Pic after coming out of smoker
Pic of slices

3 pounds ground leg of lamb
8 oz tomato sauce
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup finely chopped mint leaves or 1 tablespoon dried mint, crumbled
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 sprig chopped fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried and crumbled
1 sprig chopped fresh oregano or 1 1/2 tsp dried and crumbled
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Crackers (crushed)
2 eggs
Grind (or have ground) the leg of lamb. I used my Kitchen-Aid with attachment. I ran it through once on the coarse plate, and once on the fine plate.
Mix together meat with all ingredients except egg and crackers. Then mix in egg and crackers.
Form into loaf and chill to set form.

smokestack said:

they all look great - will have to give them a try-how do you cook them on the smoker- on the grates or a smaller size of expanded metal, to keep them from falling thru -thanks

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After they chill to set the form I just set them immediately on the racks in the cooker. Some of them may get some grill marks about 1/8 inch deep or maybe a tad more, but I've never had it be a problem. I don't add as much liquid or egg as many common oven-type meatloaves, so they are less prone to oozing.

For dinner tonight I made some gyros with the Lamb Meatloaf. I crumbled the meat up into a pita, covered with tatziki sauce, chopped sundried tomato and feta cheese. It was superb. I had an extra. So much for that diet I was on!:roll:

SmokeInDaEye said:

I need to try quite a few of those, Chris, especially the thai one and the two stuffed with cheese. What possessed you to make 6 meatloafs in a day? Not that I'm complaining...

Also, where can I find "shizzle"?:biggrin:

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I'm not sure what possessed me to do it. I like side-by-side comparisons, and had a couple ideas for different meatloaves. I just ran with it basically. Sometimes I can tend to overdo things.:lol:

I don't know what shizzle is, that's just what all the cool people say!:roll: I think it may be a runny shart?

The tortilla chips worked better than the last time I tried using a corn based binder/absorber in meatloaf. Late last year I tried making one with chorizo and used corn meal. It came out crumbly and did not hold shape. Someone recommended corn chips because they will absorb moisture better. This meatloaf with the corn chips held together great. They did not stay crunchy, but added the corn tortilla taste I was looking for to go with the whole Enchilada thing. So I would say they worked great. You could use crackers, but use maybe only half as much. I used PepperJack cheese in mine, and it tastes great. It's loaded with lots of little green and red pepper specks. They didn't come through so great in the photo for some reason. Might be a glare off of the cheese or something.

For the kielbasa one, I simply made the sausage myself with the pork, salt and spices and letting it mingle for a few hours. Then by cooking it the meat (in a sense) became kielbasa. There's really no reason you can't use pre-made kielbasa, although it has usually been pre-cooked so I'm not sure exactly what, if any, difference it would make.

I used this recipe as the inspiration for the kielbasa (Garlic Kielbasa about halfway down the page):
http://www.3men.com/sausage.htm

vr6Cop said:

Did you make your own tzatziki sauce, or did you get it from a good source? I like greek food every now & then, and that looks really good.

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I made it today. I used this recipe as a base and doctored a bit with a dab of mayo and a dash of cumin (souded good at the time).
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/countries/greece/tatziki.htm