If it starts with bacon and onions it's gotta be good!

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muralboy

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jul 17, 2015
554
104
Chicagoland
Big weekend of smoking - 6 racks of BB ribs, 2 meatloafs and baked beans.

Today is the meatloaf and bacon bourbon baked beans.

Here's the start of the bean - will put in the smoke with the meatloaf for a 2-3 hours to cook.  First time recipe - can't wait to taste.  Will post more as it progresses.

 
Well, the meatloaf wasn't quite the same subbing out the ground chuck with Turkey - IMHO.  But beans are over the top.


This is the 2nd time using Jeff's meatloaf recipe.  It is delicious but both this the mixture was VERY loose.  I followed the recipe in terms of the amount of liquid.  The bread was extremely wet.  Should I increase the amount of bread as filler?  Any suggestions.
 
I haven't done beans yet, those look good. I like to cook them from scratch overnight in a low oven - makes the whole house smell like baked beans.
 
I don't use bread as a filler. Not sure if Jeffs recipe uses eggs or not, I do not use eggs in my meatloaf either. When I use a filler we use quinoa.

The biggest reason your meatloaf was "loose" is that you used a very lean meat. There wasn't enough fat to hold it together. Ground chuck is close to 80/20.

With the leaner meats like turkey I have found that using no fillers like bread works out better.
 
I don't use bread as a filler. Not sure if Jeffs recipe uses eggs or not, I do not use eggs in my meatloaf either. When I use a filler we use quinoa.

The biggest reason your meatloaf was "loose" is that you used a very lean meat. There wasn't enough fat to hold it together. Ground chuck is close to 80/20.

With the leaner meats like turkey I have found that using no fillers like bread works out better.
Quinoa is an interesting twist.  

First time I used 1 lb of 80/20 chuck and 1 lb of breakfast sausage.  It was still fairly loose.  I had to wrap in a frog mat to keep it in shape.  Recipe cals for buttermilk and 2 eggs.  Perhaps I cut back to 1 egg.
 
Ingredients

6 slices bacon, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cans baked beans
3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar - I substituted boiled cider

1 tbs. dry mustard
2 oz. Bourbon

Directions

1) In a pot over medium heat, fry the bacon until the fat renders, add your onion. Turn the heat down and cook slowly for 15 minutes.
2) Add the bbq sauce, bourbon, sugar, vinegar, mustard and beans, and give that a good stir. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper, let this come to a simmer,
cover and transfer to a 275° oven or smoker for 2 hours.
 
 
Ingredients

6 slices bacon, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cans baked beans
3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar - I substituted boiled cider

1 tbs. dry mustard
2 oz. Bourbon

Directions

1) In a pot over medium heat, fry the bacon until the fat renders, add your onion. Turn the heat down and cook slowly for 15 minutes.
2) Add the bbq sauce, bourbon, sugar, vinegar, mustard and beans, and give that a good stir. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper, let this come to a simmer,
cover and transfer to a 275° oven or smoker for 2 hours.
muralboy,

the beans look great! your seasoning portions are very close to what we have done for many years the only main thing different is Mrs OS adds molasses ( we use cane molasses) for the better flavor and a big tip of the hat/nod to the south. the molasses just takes it to another level. we also pre cook the bacon so as not to have so much fat back into the beans to help keep them tighter the next day. the bonus in that  the next day you can pull the smoked mac and cheese and beans out of the refer and turn it into one tremendous sandwich for lunch (cut it into squares like a cake and stack)

thanks for my two cents worth,

Tom
 
I can see the advantage of the cane molasses.  I went with the boiled cider over the cider vinegar for the same reason.
 
I generally add 1 egg per pound of meat, and no milk.  If you want the flavor, try using powdered buttermilk--less liquid that way.  I've found that ground turkey just won't hold to a shape very well, unless you use a loaf pan.  If you have an old one, or a tinfoil pan you can perforate it and get more smoke on the meat.

Gary
 
 
I generally add 1 egg per pound of meat, and no milk.  If you want the flavor, try using powdered buttermilk--less liquid that way.  I've found that ground turkey just won't hold to a shape very well, unless you use a loaf pan.  If you have an old one, or a tinfoil pan you can perforate it and get more smoke on the meat.

Gary
thanks for that advise - I don't use turkey that often.  Had a pound of it sitting in the freezer so decided to give it a go.  Definitely a looser mix with the turkey.  Probably will go back to using ground chuck with the pork sausage.  Although not as good on the waistline, better on the tongue.
 
I use ground turkey all the time and it works great. Here is what I do...

Smoked meatloaf

I added 2 tubes (2 pounds) of ground turkey to the bowl of my stand mixer along with 1/2 packet of cornbread stove top stuffing, 1/8 cup teriaki sauce, 1/8 cup of minced onion & garlic, 1 egg, and a couple pinched of ground black pepper.

Mix this well with the mixer on low speed. I learned this trick on the cooking network -- it mixes thing together more evenly and keeps the mixture less compacted than doing it by hand.

Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and dump mixture onto it and form into loaf. Put two layers of bacon strips on top. Trim away excess foil, leaving about 1 inch or so around the edges. Place in smoker at about 270 or so until international temp reached about 160.

About 30 minutes before I thought it would be done, I put some store brand Honey BBQ Sauce on top of the bacon. When the IT hit 160, I put it under the broiler until the sauce caramelizes and the bacon crisps.

Anyway, IT WAS GREAT, nice dense texture, yet moist and SO flavorful!
 
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