GRILLED MEATLOAF

Grilled meatloaf is comfort food at the Chilebrown household. It is simple and easy to make. Cooking it in the Weber gives it a small kiss of smoke that puts this loaf over the top delicious. We cover this meat log with a weave of bacon. This is the only time we ever use mass produced store bought bacon. The bacon is mainly for decoration and to seal in all the meatloaf juices. The bacon covered meat loaf is cooked in our trusty black iron skillet. As Dr. Biggles recommends: Do not forget to use a trivet. The trivet allows the bacon and meat fat to drain away from our loaf.

Our meat loaf recipe varies from time to time. It all depends on what is available and if we have a specialty theme. Today's meat loaf was made from ground beef procured from U.C. Davis meat labs. This is some quality beef. It was about 1 1/2 pounds of 80 percent lean beef. Grated carrot, chopped garlic and red onion, finely chopped mushrooms, 3/4 cup of bread crumbs soaked in milk, and salt & pepper were the ingredients today. The ingredients were shaped into a small football shape and covered with our bacon weave. One hour of cooking time in a covered grill and it was time to eat.

One of the best things about meatloaf is the sandwiches the next day. This is comfort food that we love. I think I am going to have a sandwich.