Meatloaf - Why empty water pan?


 
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Rob Provost

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I was planning on trying meatloaf in the WSM for the first time today and Chris' cooking instructions state to use an empty water pan? Why? Wouldn't you not want direct heat under the meat loaf? Any problem with keeping sand in the pan? I searched the archives and didn't see anything addressing this issue.

Thanks for your help.

Rob
 
The object is to run the WSM at 300-350*, something you won't easily do with a heatsink like water or sand in the pan. In place, the empty pan will continue to act as a baffle, maintaining the indirectness of the heat source.
 
Water boils at 212F and the steam carries excess heat out of the WSM in addition to the water pan being a "baffle" to the heat. You'd waste a lot of fuel going for 350F with a water pan.
 
I also did a meatloaf for the first time ever this weekend on the WSM. Used my normal loaf recipe but instead of the dry pan I went wet. (Was also cooking chicken and brauts).

I'd have to say this was the best meatloaf the wife and I have eaten. Nice 3/8" smoke ring.

Unfortunately I did not keep good notes on times as I was using a Polder to determine doneness. Saturday was windy here in the Northeast so my temps were varied and lower than normal. I'd say the loaf finished at about 163F in the center after about 3hrs.

I sauced with what I had on hand. A combination of Lagasse's sweet bbq sauce and a chile sauce from Quizno's. Nice combo with a tiny bit of kick. Just perfect for the wife as too much heat is not her cup of tea.

So don't be afraid to use water for meatloaf. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
I did not use our usual meatloaf recipe (turkey meatloaf stuffed w/spinach - didn't have the ingredients) so I couldn't do a side-by-side comparison. But MAN that was a good meatloaf!

The smoker ran between 300 - 350 (closer to 300 for most of the cook). Total cook time about 1.5 hours. The meatloaf weighed approx 1.5 lbs. Two small chucks of hickory (Chris scared me that it would get too smokey). The meatloaf didn't look "firm" enough at 155 - 160 internal so I left in on until 165. Let it rest for 10 minutes and dug in. Still VERY juicy cooking to 165. Next time I will use more wood. It had a nice smoke ring but I felt it could use a strong smoke taste. The meat was all ground beef 80/20 mix.
 
I've only tried Chris' receipe once and I don't think I did a very good job. Apparently I didn't take it to a high enough temp because it wasn't firm enough. I honestly don't remember if I used a dry pan, but I imagine I tried to follow Chris' directions. I may give it another shot, but it's one of a few things my wife takes pride in cooking and I suspect I should stay away from it. Otherwise I may get to do 100% of the cooking at home and I'm not ready for that.

Paul
 
PaulG-

That sounds like the same kind of logic that messed me up long ago. I asked my wife to help mow the grass for a party...she obliged...but didn't do my normal criss cross hatch pattern that I do. Oh horror! And then I made it worse by criticizing...she has never helped me mow the grass since! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Maybe you should let her keep the meatloaf!
 
You gotta turn that around and use it to your advantage. When I first got married I was vacuuming the living room and "accidentally" sucked up a 16 penny nail. Man does that makes a lot of noise. To this day I am still not allowed to touch the vacuum. Same type of "accident" keeps me out of laundry too!!
 
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