Today was the day, nothing fancy, just a quick test to take her for a test drive. My wife wanted to make a meatloaf, I didn't really want that but she's the boss
We took a pound of lean ground beef, added some fresh diced jalapenos, tomatoes, onion and green peppers, garlic. Some egg action with a little bread crumb to firm it all up. Mixed in some Peppered Cow and took it down to the new kid to let it do its thing.
I put the grill on smoke mode and put the meatloaf in there for about 20 minutes with one of the probes stuck inside to monitor the meatloaf temp. I closed the lid and took myself upstairs where I opened the app on my phone to monitor the goings on. After about 20 minutes, I used the app to set the grill to 400 and watched the temp rise in the grill as well as the meat. The app shows me every time the auger feeds pellets and shows me when the fan comes on, that's pretty nifty I think.
Once toward the end, I went and glazed the meatloaf with ketchup on her side and my homemade chipotle bbq sauce on my side.
My honest review of it was just meh. I wanted more smoke and the meatloaf wasn't FULLY done despite the probe's reading. It was tasty but didn't get crispy. I attribute this to me "sweating" the meat on smoke mode and not having it hot enough to create the maillard reaction we all know and love
What I like to do actually, with meatloaf, is make it ahead of time and let it set in the fridge and THEN smoke it for a bit while cold. It takes on smoke but doesn't cook too quickly, allowing time to then raise the temp and get that browning it needs. Oh well, cooked last minute it was to be expected. We came THIS close to just going out and grabbing a quick bite but ultimately she made the executive decision to make the damn meatloaf, lol. She oven raosted some veggies and cooked up some potatoes in the air fryer. Overall it was a tasty meal but I can do better and so can the grill.
She gets a pass this round (the wife and the grill).
I am impressed with the features of it and can't wait to smoke some stuff on it, I plan on doing some ribs and chicken soon, that may be a better barometer.
Here's the meatloaf in all of it greasy glory
I dig the ash cleanout tray!
Even though I am a "seasoned" pellet grill user, every cooker has its nuances and I'll get her figured out soon enough.
That's all for now!