Smoked meatloaf - Cook-off

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Hockeydudde

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jan 31, 2022
389
433
New Mexico
Decided to do a 3 way smoked meatloaf Cook-off with the kids.
I made the base mixture then each person got to choose the filling and seasoning. Of course I made to much filling, so mine is the terrible looking one.
6 y.o daughter: green Chile, cheese, garlic, fenugreek and tarragon.
4 y.o. son: pickled quail eggs, cheese and everything bagel seasoning.
Mine: celery, onion, Bell pepper and Sam's Cajun seasoning.

They'll rest in the fridge for a few days and we plan to smoke tomorrow.

Edited to add the base mixture recipe:
3 lbs lean ground beef
2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup masa harina
1/2 cup rice flour
A few healthy shakes of worstershire.

(You could probably sub normal flour or bread crumbs, my wife is gluten free so that's why the odd flours)
 

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Awesome getting the kids involved! Smoked meatloaf is really good and you have 3 varieties that should taste great, nice job!
 
Good quality family time. The meatloafs look good and some interesting ingredients.

Point for sure
Chris
 
Looking forward to the finish! Getting kids involved is great! Who's the judge?

Ryan
 
Thanks for the kudos! It certainly is interesting to see what the kids come up with when they don't have standard flavor combinations cemented in their heads.
Unfortunately, my son came down with a wicked fever, so we need to postpone the cook for at least a few days.
I plan to leave them covered in the fridge for 2 days ( 4 days total in fridge) and then freeze them if he isn't getting better.
Advise on how to freeze uncooked meatloaf's? I'm afraid vacuum sealing will squish them.
Or should I smoke them and the freeze the smoked loafs, then re-heat when we are ready?
Thanks!
 
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Well to be a totally unbiased competition I volunteer my self as judge. Just send them good looking loafs my way and I'll let you know the winner.
Jim
 
The kids sure picked some interesting ingredients. I’d guess you have them exposed to cooking often which is great!
 
Thanks for the encouragement. Our son is coming back to life. Threw the loafs in this morning at 270 F. Was targeting 250 for the cook, but with the smoker in the sun and 100+ weather, had a hard time keeping the temp down. Then had to go buy hay. Thought they would coast to completion, but they overshot quite a bit. Final IT was 180 on all 3. They are resting in a 150 F oven while the rest of the meal finishes cooking.
Will update with the results.
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Served with mashed potatoes, patty pans sauteed in butter and a sweet tomatoes sauce.
Overall they were great. Good texture, moisture and smoke flavor.

Mine (Cajun, Bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic) was the last place. To much filling and the celery was still tough.

Daughters (green Chile, cheese, garlic, tarragon, fenugreek) was great. Strong garlic flavor, cheese helped with a little moisture. Chile could have been spicier, but it's the chile we had, and she used all of it.

Sons (quail eggs and everything bagel seasoning) was also great. The quail eggs pieces on the outside got real tough, if we do it again we'd roll it so they were all inside. The seasoning as a rub gave the bark a great crunch.

Daughter voted for sons loaf. I thought their two were a tie, and son voted for his own, so I guess he won.

I'll just the original post with the bar mixture now that I know they turned out okay.

Ask in all, the kids were super excited
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They all look great

Love to see the cut view if you can
especially the one with the pickled Quail eggs

David
He chopped the quail eggs real small, they tested great, but they weren't much visually.
I now want to do another with them whole or halved and down the middle.
 
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