Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf Ala Katherine

After two months and eight days the stars have finally aligned themselves such that we could cook the meatloaf that Katherine (Smoky Mountain Cafe) posted the recipe for on January 20. Since I wanted to cook it in the smoker rather than the oven and didn’t want to fire up the smoker just for it, I had to wait until yesterday – and I’ve been counting the days. For some reason, it was hard to get the schedules for the smoker and Bev coordinated.

In addition to the meatloaf, I’m smoked a couple of pastrami’s. I’ve always corned my own brisket for these, but since the markets had theirs on sale for St Paddy’s day, I decided to give it a try with them. I soaked them in water for a day and a half to get out some of the salt then, coated them with my rub.


I smoked them fat side down at 235* to an internal temp of 165* and here’s one just out of the smoker.


I’ll cut them into smaller pieces to freeze then and steam them for an hour or so prior to slicing for sandwiches.

Meanwhile back to the meatloaf. Bev (the resident meatloaf maker) made it per the recipe with the only deviations being red peppers, cheddar cheese that has a little bit of a bleu cheese flavor to it and regular bread crumbs with some Italian spices (all cause that’s what we had on hand). I’m on a campaign to clear out the freezer and the pantry. Here it is ready for the smoker – it was very delicate to handle at this point, but already looks good.



I cooked it at 250* to give it time in the smoker to absorb some smoke flavor. It took 2 hours to reach a 160* internal temp and looked like this – had a little grease on the pan.



It got a little too smoky but that was part of my plan since Bev keeps complaining that my BBQ is not smoky enough – but this was and she liked it. I may have to start setting a bottle of liquid smoke beside the BBQ sauce for her to add a little to hers before she eats it.

We sided it with some steamed sugar snap peas, a nice salad with fresh made 1000 Island dressing, and Bev made a tomato gravy for the meatloaf using this recipe.
· 2 tablespoons margarine or olive oil
· 2 tablespoons flour
· 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon pepper (scant)
· 15-ounce can tomatoes
· 1/2 cup milk or evaporated milk

I didn’t use it as I didn’t think it was very tasty and the meatloaf was way too good to be ruined by it.

Here’s my plate.


I thought the meatloaf was delicious and liked my entire meal.

I’m not a huge sports fan but do like to follow basketball and football at my alma mater, WVU, and my adopted team, Tennessee. I’m a fan of both the women’s and men’s basketball teams at UT. While all of them had good years, both UT teams exited the NCAA tournament this weekend, leaving only the WVU boys still in it - the fans are happy in Almost Heaven.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry