Bacon Filled Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef, grass-fed 15% fat

1/2 lb ground turkey, mix of dark and white

1 cup ground tomato

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tabelspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon pepper

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

6 thick slices of bacon

6 thick slices of bacon!

Ketchup

Fried Onions, optional

I was having a conversation the other day about the need for another post about bacon. Somehow the subject veered to meatloaf, and I thought, 'great, meatloaf often has bacon on top of it!' That was when the light bulb went off. Yes, meatloaf often has bacon on top, but I've never seen a recipe with bacon INSIDE! Thus, a new and exciting dish was born. Bacon Filled Meatloaf.

Begin by dicing the first 6 slices of bacon. Remove some of the extra fat. Add to a frying pan over medium-high heat. Render bacon until it just begins to crisp, about 3-4 minutes. This will help the texture of the meatloaf greatly. Drain rendered fat, saving it for another day.

Place the almost crisp bacon in a large bowl, and add all other ingredients save the other bacon slices, ketchup, and fried onions. Mix well (best done with your hands!), and let rest for an hour at room temperature. Don't skip the resting. Trust me, you'll be sad if you do. The mix needs time to let the breadcrumbs and meat absorb all the seasonings. If you don't let it rest, you'll end up with a strange textured loaf and a pool of sauce at the bottom. See? Sadness.

Put rested mixture in a loaf pan. Put loaf pan in a 375 degree oven. After a half hour, remove from oven and carefully drain most of the melted fat. Cover top of loaf with a layer of ketchup, then cover pan with foil. Return to oven and cook additional 30 minutes, removing foil for the final five.

At some point, cook the additional slices of bacon.

Rest, covered, for 10-15 minutes. Again, you'll be sad if you don't do this. After resting, cut into slices to serve. Top with a little more ketchup or crushed tomatoes, just a dab. Top that with extra bacon (crumbled), and, if you'd like, some canned fried onions.

Note: This one is still a work in progress. I'm going to play a bit with fresh onions and garlic, though I do like the convenience of using powdered. This was made using thick sliced bacon, so if you only have thin, use more.

Meatloaf is a million times better the next day. I'm not saying you have to wait a whole day to dig in, just that you should dig in again the next day.

Technique: Makin' Bacon

This blog was inspired by my good friend Karen, over at Off the (Meat) Hook. Karen writes a really excellent blog about all things carnivorous. Check it out if you have a minute.

Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Possibly the most delicious of all meat. Salty, fatty, smoky. Pure goodness. Yet messy, and, for many people, hard to cook right. Here's a good technique from your friend Hal B.

Wrap a cookie sheet in foil. Strictly speaking, you don't have to do this, but it will save you a whole lot of cleaning up! If you have parchment paper, you can add a layer of that over the foil for more even cooking, but, no worries if you don't. After that, place a single layer of bacon. Cover the bottom of another pan with foil, place over the bacon, and weigh that pan down with bricks, rocks, bobble-heads, whatever. I know it seems like a bit of work- trust me, it's going to end up saving you a lot of time in the clean-up. Plus, the bacon will rock.

Put the whole hullabaloo into a 350 degree oven. Cook for 8 minutes, rotate, cook for another 8 minutes. Remove the bacon, pat down with paper towel, sit down, eat bacon. You can strain the rendered fat and use it for lots of tasty things, like cooking eggs to go with your bacon. Do it!

Note: Cooking time will depend on the thickness and quality of your bacon. I'd recommend a thicker cut, and try to avoid the over-processed Oscar Meyer type bacon. If it's undercooked after the cooking time, just take the top sheet off and cook another minute or two.

Technique: Browning

Happy birthday, dad!

People often ask me what the biggest difference is between home cooked food and restaurant food. In my opinion, when it comes to meat, the biggest difference is browning. Browning, or, more technically, the Maillard reaction, occurs as heat caramelizes the natural sugars in the meat.

Browning brings out the amazing flavor of meat. It adds depth to slow cooked dishes, and highlights taste in quick cooked ones. To achieve best results, browning requires three elements: heat, salt, and courage.

Heat

Constant heat needs to be applied. There is a picture in people's minds of a chef madly moving a sauté pan back and forth, tossing a piece of beef around. Clear your minds. What you want to do is apply constant, hot heat. The less you move what you're cooking, the better.

Salt

Salt helps to create a crust on the surface of the meat. Additionally, as it is salt, it adds flavor. Using a coarse grained sea or kosher salt will work better than traditional table salt.

Courage

You're going to be doing less, while leaving the heat on more. This might test your patience. The temptation will be to check check check every few seconds. Bad idea, buddy. Just let the Maillard reaction do it's magic. Also, there is going to be smoke. People will shout at you. They will tell you you're burning dinner. Just smile and open a window. Later, when they are praising your skills, smile again and close the window.

You'll know success when both sides are a rich golden brown color.