Memorial Day Meat-Fest

 In preparation for Memorial Day, my wife and I decided to fire up the smoker again, and BBQ some meat. In an effort to possibly save a little money, we decided to smoke a couple chickens and a meatloaf.  First up, the chickens!

Saturday night, I made up another brine for the chickens to soak in overnight.  For me, I like to get enough warm water to completely cover the chickens, and then an even ratio of salt and sugar.  Usually somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup of each, depending on how much water I'm using. I also put in a few spices as well as about 1/4 of an onion cut into large pieces.  I like to stuff the onions into the cavity of the chicken to try and get some extra flavor. Here's a shot of the birds getting ready to take an overnight bath.  

Fast forward to Sunday morning, after church, we stopped by Lowes and got some cart wheels, nuts, bolts, and washers, so I can finally make the smoker mobile.  Since it weighs so much, it will be nice to finally be able to move it by myself!  Big thanks over the last couple months to my dad, my neighbor, and my father-in-law for helping me move it in and out of my garage so many times.

Back to the meat!  Before I ate lunch, I prepared my meatloaf.  I base my recipe off of the one in the Better Homes and Gardens cook book.  I'm sure any recipe will do.

Once it is in it's loaf form, it's time to break out the bacon!  Since it cooks in that smoker for so long, it's good to have an extra source of fat to render down, and keep the meat moist.  What better way to do that, that with a little bacon. I just wrapped some bacon around the top, and secured each piece with a couple tooth picks.  Once again, big thanks to Cloud's Meats in Carthage, MO for the bacon.  Yum!  I would suggest putting it in a dish of some sort, or you will have a lake of grease in the bottom of your smoker.  Plus, it helps keep the meat loaf moist.

 Here's a shot of the birds and meatloaf cooking away. As you can see, I have plenty of room for a lot more meat!

 The meatloaf turned out to be one of the prettiest looking things I've ever smoked.  It smelled pretty fantastic too.

We cut it up and ate that for dinner.  I will say, I went a little conservative with the salt/seasonings with the meatloaf, because I thought the bacon would at more saltiness than it did.  But, it had great smoke flavor, and didn't dry out too bad. 

The chickens turned out great.  I didn't take any pictures of them all done, but I've already pulled all the meat off, and separated them for later consumption.  We will be looking forward to smoked chicken wraps, fajitas, enchiladas, etc. this week. 

Thanks for reading.  Get out there and enjoy the nice weather when possible.  Now that school is out for the summer, get those weekend grill-outs going, and get the neighborhood involved.  Nothing brings people together better than good food.  Well, beer is probably a close second... so why not offer both?  :)  Have a great week!

Monty