Smoked Meatloaf

Meatloaf ready for smoker

     If you want to try a whole new flavored meatloaf, here's one for you. One of my hubby's favorite TV chefs is a guy who cooks from a scientific perspective. He's all about the chemical reactions of the cooking process. The hubby is into chemistry so he thinks this is neat. It was no surprise to me when he declared that we should try smoking a meatloaf. Why not?
     I think the idea was to make, what foodies would call, a mole' sauce that gets mixed in the meat for flavor and some reserved for topping. This turned out to have a really good flavor. The BBQ potato chips add an interesting texture and taste as well.
    We have what I would call a toddler-size smoker. It's good for about 2 hours and then it's time to reload, so we often just finish things off in the oven. That was the case here. Two hours on the smoker and then just to be sure internal temperature was good, we gave in 20 minutes more in the oven.
    The biggest "Note to Self" on this recipe is to make sure that there are plenty of drainage holes in the foil so that i doesn't set in the grease and allows more smoke flavor to get into the meatloaf. The hubby also suggested that we add more smoke when the foil is open for more flavor. By jove, I think he's right.
 
Smoked Meatloaf
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 oz. chipotle peppers in adobe, diced (1/3 can)
1 tsp. cocoa powder
3/4 cup BBQ potato chips, ruffled style, crushed
3 cloves garlic, diced
4 baby carrots, diced fine
1 Anaheim chili, deseeded and diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. Kosher salt
2 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground pork
3 eggs
oil for cooking

Directions -
In a large bowl, combine ketchup, tomato paste, chipotle peppers and cocoa. Reserve 1/3 cup for topping.

Sauce mixed with BBQ chips.

Put potato chips in plastic bag and smash. Combine with ketchup mixture.

Heat oil in a small skillet. Saute' garlic, carrots, chili, onion and sage. Sprinkle with salt. Cook about 5 minutes until veggies are soft and beginning to brown. Add to ketchup and chip bowl, stirring to combine.

Add ground meats and mix well. Shape into a 12x4x2 inch loaf. Wrap in heavy duty foil. Set aside for 1 hour at room temperature while you get the smoker ready.

Meatloaf mixture combine before shaping.

Put a drip pan on bottom wrack of smoker. Heat to 250 degrees and put 1-2 chunks of wood in smoker tray. Flip meatloaf over carefully and poke 12-15 holes in bottom and set on smoker over drip pan. Cook 1 hour. Turn sides of foil pack down to make a shallow pan around the meatloaf and top with remaining glaze.

Cook another hour. Internal temperature should be 140 degrees. Remove from smoker and let cool 30 minutes. (If you're out of smoke and heat and the meatloaf doesn't seem done enough, pop it in a 250 degree oven for for another 20 minutes or so.)

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