Pastrami and Meatloaf

[RonParrett]

I did a corn beef pastrami and a meatloaf in my traeger last week. Both turned out very good. As long as they pass the "Wife" test!
I need to modify a loaf pan with some drain holes for my next meatloaf.
Or has anyone tried folding a cooling rack into a pan shape for meatloaf smoke can get to the sides better?

 

[Timmy]

I make my meatloaf like this
Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?'
https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-14671
the sheet pan is in post 429 and is from walmart.

 

[dflaher]

Just wondering aloud...What if you put the loaf directly on the grates? You'd have a lotta grease on the drip tray, but I line mine with foil so just throw it away afterwards. You could also pick up the loaf when done with a couple of spatulas. Dunno. Maybe Timmy's grill tray is a better idea.

 

[RonParrett]

Interesting suggestions, however I prefer my meatloaf to have the loaf form for the looks. Easier to serve when it can be sliced in even slices. It's just me.

 

[ThorPan]

We line a loaf pan with non-stick aluminum foil to put the meatloaf mixture into to make it easier to remove after the loaf has been formed. After that, we flip the loaf pan onto an oven rack, remove the foil, and then place the rack directly on the bottom of the grill grates. Make sure to spray the oven rack with some Pam before putting the meatloaf on it. If you put the meatloaf directly on the grill grates, some of it may fall through, not to mention, it's hard to get the meatloaf easily off the grates. Once done, pick up the oven rack with the meatloaf on it, take it inside, use a couple of spatulas to remove the meatloaf, and enjoy. Racks similar to what we use can be found on Amazon, but this is similar to what ours look like: https://www.amazon.com/Checkered-Chef-Cooling-Racks-Baking/dp/B06X9KLW1P/ref=sr_1_5? Being checkered keeps the meat from falling through, but allows the grease to completely drain away.

Check the Traeger recipes for times and temps. We personally avoid trying to smoke the meatloaf at low temps first, and instead, cook it at 250° until about 170° IT using a ThermaPen. I use a smoke tube, so it has a slight smokey flavor. You may need to cook yours a bit more or less depending on the mixture and size. Ours takes appox. 2 hours of cooking time for 1.5 lbs. of ground beef. Of course, higher temps will get you done sooner.

BTW, that Pastrami looks delicious!!

 

[dflaher]

OK now I have a hankering for meatloaf! @ThorPan your process looks great and I actually have a few of those cooling racks for when I smoke salmon. Do you (or anyone else) have a meatloaf recipe you would like to share?

 

[ThorPan]

My wife has a very basic meatloaf recipe. You could kick it up some by adding chopped onions or whatever other ingredients you'd like.

Ingredients:
2 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk
1/2 cup (+ 2 Tbls.) Fine Dry Bread Crumbs. Can use seasoned ones for a bit more zip
1 t. Onion Powder
2 Tbls. Snipped Parsley or Dried Parsley Flakes
1 t. Salt
1/2 t. Ground Sage
1.5 lbs. 80/20 Ground Beef
1/8 t. pepper

Sauce:
1/2 Cup Ketchup
6 Tbls. Brown Sugar

Combine eggs and milk; stir in crumbs, onion powder, parsley, salt, sage, and pepper.
Add Beef, and mix well.
Pat into a loaf pan.
If cooking this in an oven, it takes about 1.5 hours at 350°. Of course, you'll also have all that grease to spoon out of the loaf pan. We never do a meatloaf in the oven any more after doing it on the Traeger.

Sauce:
Combine ketchup and brown sugar and mix well. Spread this on the meatloaf towards the end of the cook (last 10 minutes or so, if using the oven). The remainder may be served as a condiment at the table.

When using the Traeger, I put the sauce on at about 145°-150° IT. I also rotate the meatloaf 180° after the first 1 hour of cooking (just pick up the oven rack and rotate it). Nice and neat that way.

Once again, on the Traeger with a set temp of 250°, cooking to 170° IT will take approx. 2 hours.

 

[ThorPan]

OK now I have a hankering for meatloaf! @ThorPan your process looks great and I actually have a few of those cooling racks for when I smoke salmon. Do you (or anyone else) have a meatloaf recipe you would like to share?

Thank you!!!
Sounds like you're all set for meatloaf now.

 

[RonParrett]

We line a loaf pan with non-stick aluminum foil to put the meatloaf mixture into to make it easier to remove after the loaf has been formed. After that, we flip the loaf pan onto an oven rack, remove the foil, and then place the rack directly on the bottom of the grill grates. Make sure to spray the oven rack with some Pam before putting the meatloaf on it. If you put the meatloaf directly on the grill grates, some of it may fall through, not to mention, it's hard to get the meatloaf easily off the grates. Once done, pick up the oven rack with the meatloaf on it, take it inside, use a couple of spatulas to remove the meatloaf, and enjoy. Racks similar to what we use can be found on Amazon, but this is similar to what ours look like: https://www.amazon.com/Checkered-Chef-Cooling-Racks-Baking/dp/B06X9KLW1P/ref=sr_1_5? Being checkered keeps the meat from falling through, but allows the grease to completely drain away.

Check the Traeger recipes for times and temps. We personally avoid trying to smoke the meatloaf at low temps first, and instead, cook it at 250° until about 170° IT using a ThermaPen. I use a smoke tube, so it has a slight smokey flavor. You may need to cook yours a bit more or less depending on the mixture and size. Ours takes appox. 2 hours of cooking time for 1.5 lbs. of ground beef. Of course, higher temps will get you done sooner.

BTW, that Pastrami looks delicious!!

Thanks on the Pastrami is was!

And your meatloaf process looks promising. I have racks like those too. I'll try it next time.

 

[Wayne55]

I did a meatloaf with half sausage and half ground beef. It was great! I used the broiler grate without the pan to cook it. I want as much real estate getting smoke as possible. Then used the pan to get it inside.

 

[ThorPan]

A lot of people love sausage in their meatloaf. Wifey also has a ground turkey and ground pork recipe she makes that has several additional spices in it. Quite flavorful and tasty! I've never tried it on the Traeger though. Due to the meats in it, there's very little fat, so it may dry out too much. Not to mention, she makes personal sized, humped loaves out of it instead of using a pan loaf.

There's thousands of meatloaf recipes out there, and several different popular fillers used. My Mom used to use Saltine Crackers in hers (which seems strange), but I Googled it, and there's hundreds of recipes that use them. Who would have thought?

The broiler grate is a fantastic idea, but if you're after more smoke, a wire rack will probably allow more smoke to hit the meat since it's almost entirely open on the bottom.

 

[Wayne55]

A lot of people love sausage in their meatloaf. Wifey also has a ground turkey and ground pork recipe she makes that has several additional spices in it. Quite flavorful and tasty! I've never tried it on the Traeger though. Due to the meats in it, there's very little fat, so it may dry out too much. Not to mention, she makes personal sized, humped loaves out of it instead of using a pan loaf.

There's thousands of meatloaf recipes out there, and several different popular fillers used. My Mom used to use Saltine Crackers in hers (which seems strange), but I Googled it, and there's hundreds of recipes that use them. Who would have thought?

The broiler grate is a fantastic idea, but if you're after more smoke, a wire rack will probably allow more smoke to hit the meat since it's almost entirely open on the bottom.

You might try interlacing strips of bacon over the outside of your ground turkey/ground pork meatloaf to infuse some moisture.

 

[ThorPan]

You might try interlacing strips of bacon over the outside of your ground turkey/ground pork meatloaf to infuse some moisture.

That would be a great idea! Wonder if it would get done in 2 hours at 250°?

 

[Tommymick]

What recipe do you use for the pastrami? I have a brisket curing right now.

 

[RonParrett]

Don't have one... I just get the packaged corn beef and smoke those. This round I used maple burboun pellets. In the days of wood, I would have used a mix of apple and maple.