Carnage du Jour - 17 April 2013

It was inevitable, really. The main question is why it took so long for this to happen.

Ah.

Let me back up and bring you in closer to the beginning.
I am, as most regular readers here would know, a fan of the meatloaf.
In fact, I consider myself a veritable meatloaf maestro, what with all the varieties and styles that I've made over the years.
Still, every now and again, a new meatloaf comes into being that is simply what always should have been.
A few examples:

• the bacon-cheddar meatloaf
• the mashed-potato-frosted two-layer meatloaf
• the spinach and mashed potato jelly-roll style meatloaf

The list is nearly endless, and yet, a new meatloaf - a true Detroit classic in the making - was ushered into this world on the 17th: the Coney Island Meatloaf.

How it came to me was fairly simple. I was casting about for meatloaf ingredients when I noticed a can of chili in the pantry. "Oh," thought I, "I should get some hot dogs when I go to the market so we can have some coneys." In that moment I could imagine a cartoon light bulb standing over my head as I realised: "I can put chili and hot dogs inside my meatloaf!"

The loaf itself was a fairly standard model; I simply split the raw mixture into two parts, hollowing out the bottom half and loading in a couple dogs and chili, then covering the whole with the rest of the meat. Pinching it together to avoid leakage, I tossed it into the oven for its 350F ride.

Tasty? You bet. Delicious doesn't even begin to describe.

Highly recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 05 April 2013

At Last!
The weather had decided that it was time for me to break out the Weber grill. I hesitated not one bit, because this also meant I could try my new chimney-type charcoal lighter!

I grabbed some nice multi-grain buns and got the other ingredients out of the refrigerator.
For the burgers I mixed 2 pounds of ground chuck, a few tablespoons of extra hot horseradish, and a teaspoon or so of sesame oil.
Before making up the patties, and while the fire got started, I let the mixture sit in the bowl so all those flavours could meld together.

mm mm good. No, that's not just for soup anymore.

As to the chimney-type charcoal starter: well, now that I know how it works, it's going to be great.
I was waiting for the flames to die down before dumping out the flaming charcoal - just as I would have waited for the flames to die down a bit before putting the meat on the grill.
It turns out that the flames are pretty much the indicator that it's time to dump it and let the fire settle in the grill.
A lesson learned.