When the weather's fine...


 
Jonas-Switzerland

Jonas-Switzerland

TVWBB Super Fan
I got a week of dream spring weather ahead of me. A week where I can leave the covers off my cookers!


Lets start it with a second shot at coffee rub ribs.

This time with lump on the kettle. Was a pleasure to light. In the last cook the briketts needed some convincing with a crème brûlée torch.

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Now I am using mustard as a binder, and let it brine overnight.

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Some time into the cook. Looks amazing. This rub makes for the best presentation so far. But taking the picture I realized I forgot the drip pan :D

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Timothy F. Lewis said:
Today is just one of those days here too!
“Just do what you feel!”
Today, I feel like meatloaf!
Click to expand...
Well, now you spoiled my Tuesday cook :D. Still, gonna try something different than the typical BBQ meatloaf. Coming soon.

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Quick picture of the final result. Its getting there. I sprinkled in some more coffee rub in the middle of the cook. Now it was seasoned! And its getting pretty decent. I love the crumbly bark you get. Still, not getting a lot of smoke flavor on the kettle. When my current batch of rub is used up, I am going to try it again with a darker roast.
 
Today was a no BBQ day. I was free to take a ride to the Schwägalp and Säntis.

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My ride
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In the afternoon I was invited to a BBQ. Nothing to say about that, really. :D

In the evening I began preparing the next cooks. Brined some chicken, and prepped the meatloaf with

Brät:
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Brät gets translated as sausage stuffing by google. Which, technically it is, this is the base for Mortadella I believe. But its so much more versatile. Here we also use it as a binder for meatloaf.

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And the finished mass. Now I am tired. Good night everyone!
 
It's funny, Brät is such a mundane thing for me. I can just walk in a supermarket and buy some. It dawned on me when I was searching for translations, maybe you guys really don't use it.

I prefer it to bread as a binder. Brät adds a ton of moisture with trapped water and fat, and some very solid taste.

Here is an austrian butcher doing the base "Brät".


We occasionally do a whole "meat loaf of Brät". Called "Fleischkäse" (meat cheese) . Its funny, because no cheese is involved.

Weeknight dinner. Originally it was supposed to be Quesedillias. But I had to helm the kitchen alone with a *very* tired kid at my side. We switched to cheese slices and simple chicken breasts. Turned out pretty fine. Will probably do it again. IMG_20250512_172756.jpg
 
Ok, here comes the meatloaf. We did the meat pretty much just as we would our usual pan fried/braised meatloaf. This is the first time cooking it with convection, and the first time smoking it.

Just before it went on the WSM.
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I cooked it pit barrel style, because I didn't light enough charcoal to get my 22 WSM above 275f. :rolleyes: (I used double the amount lit as I use for 250F. On the other hand, it wasn't a full chimney, Chris said you should use a full chimney. Kicked myself for thinking I know better than Chris)

Added some garlic butter for a hopefully better crust.

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Just as they reached 72C, I sauced them. I sauced one traditionally with homemade bbq sauce. The other got a carolina inspired glaze of honey, mustard and vinegar.
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And some mac n cheese as sides
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And...

The meatloafs were terrible.

First of what worked: The glaze was fine, I nailed the smoke. Not too smoky, not muted.

The loafs were bone dry which made for a partially unpleasant experience. But the more tender notes of leek, fresh garlic, oyster sauce etc were all gone. Not sure if they were just overshadowed by the smoke, or destroyed by the smoke, or decomposed during the 36 hours in the fridge...

And the dryness was surprising too. Sure I overcooked them. Sure, I didn't have enough heat and probably had them too long in the cooker. But we usually cook the meatloaf in its sauce. So it gets braised and steamed to the whazoo, and the Brät was able to keep it moist...
 
Jonas-Switzerland said:
Ok, here comes the meatloaf. We did the meat pretty much just as we would our usual pan fried/braised meatloaf. This is the first time cooking it with convection, and the first time smoking it.

Just before it went on the WSM.
View attachment 112467

I cooked it pit barrel style, because I didn't light enough charcoal to get my 22 WSM above 275f. :rolleyes: (I used double the amount lit as I use for 250F. On the other hand, it wasn't a full chimney, Chris said you should use a full chimney. Kicked myself for thinking I know better than Chris)

Added some garlic butter for a hopefully better crust.

View attachment 112468

Just as they reached 72C, I sauced them. I sauced one traditionally with homemade bbq sauce. The other got a carolina inspired glaze of honey, mustard and vinegar.
View attachment 112469
And some mac n cheese as sides
View attachment 112470

And...

The meatloafs were terrible.

First of what worked: The glaze was fine, I nailed the smoke. Not too smoky, not muted.

The loafs were bone dry which made for a partially unpleasant experience. But the more tender notes of leek, fresh garlic, oyster sauce etc were all gone. Not sure if they were just overshadowed by the smoke, or destroyed by the smoke, or decomposed during the 36 hours in the fridge...

And the dryness was surprising too. Sure I overcooked them. Sure, I didn't have enough heat and probably had them too long in the cooker. But we usually cook the meatloaf in its sauce. So it gets braised and steamed to the whazoo, and the Brät was able to keep it moist...
Click to expand...
Jonas, was this the first time you used the brät as a meatloaf binder?
 
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