Phil Warren
New member
Upon hearing that there was going to be a charity meatloaf competition here in Wichita I immediately turned to this forum for some ideas. I figured that doing a smoked meatloaf with a bacon weave on top would really give me a leg up on the competition and I sure was right.
After doing some research I tweaked a basic meatloaf recipe and added a few things to make mine unique. I started out by using a 2:1:1 ratio of ground beef, pork, and lamb(nothing like fresh Kansas lamb!). The rest of the recipe included chili powder, white onion, carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, fennel, oats, Italian bread crumbs, eggs, and thyme. For one more twist I added smoked provolone and fresh basil into the middle of the loaf. I coined this the "Smoked Trinity Loaf".
![](http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/549/dscn0671v.th.jpg"> [/url] Uploaded with [url="http://imageshack.us"]ImageShack.us[/url])
To top off the meatloaf I went with a nice bacon weave that I basted with maple syrup and brown sugar half way through smoking. As for the wood I used one chunk of pecan and two chunks of apple. It turned out beautiful on the first try.
[url="http://img145.imageshack.us/i/dscn0673o.jpg/"]
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I had family members over to give me some constructive criticism, although they had a hard time finding any.
I made the loaf one more time before the comp and was able to get my bacon weave to look real nice using the oven pre-cooking method described on this fine site.
Last Saturday was the charity competition to benefit Make a Wish. It was my first food comp so I really didn't know what to expect. There were three judges who picked their favorite loaf and then the general public voted for their favorite. To my surprise I ended up winning "Best in Show" as voted on by the public! The local food writer here in Wichita was very impressed with the bacon weave as was just about everyone who walked by.
My thanks to all those who share their great ideas on this board! And remember there is nothing like a bacon weave to win over a crowd!
PS: This is my first post with pictures, so I apologize if they don't turn out right.
After doing some research I tweaked a basic meatloaf recipe and added a few things to make mine unique. I started out by using a 2:1:1 ratio of ground beef, pork, and lamb(nothing like fresh Kansas lamb!). The rest of the recipe included chili powder, white onion, carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, fennel, oats, Italian bread crumbs, eggs, and thyme. For one more twist I added smoked provolone and fresh basil into the middle of the loaf. I coined this the "Smoked Trinity Loaf".
To top off the meatloaf I went with a nice bacon weave that I basted with maple syrup and brown sugar half way through smoking. As for the wood I used one chunk of pecan and two chunks of apple. It turned out beautiful on the first try.
[url="http://img145.imageshack.us/i/dscn0673o.jpg/"]
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I had family members over to give me some constructive criticism, although they had a hard time finding any.
I made the loaf one more time before the comp and was able to get my bacon weave to look real nice using the oven pre-cooking method described on this fine site.
Last Saturday was the charity competition to benefit Make a Wish. It was my first food comp so I really didn't know what to expect. There were three judges who picked their favorite loaf and then the general public voted for their favorite. To my surprise I ended up winning "Best in Show" as voted on by the public! The local food writer here in Wichita was very impressed with the bacon weave as was just about everyone who walked by.
My thanks to all those who share their great ideas on this board! And remember there is nothing like a bacon weave to win over a crowd!
PS: This is my first post with pictures, so I apologize if they don't turn out right.