Love, Laura Lee: MO Tasty

We all have those recipes we come back to again and again. You know the ones I'm talking about. They are splattered and stained from years of use. Though they are practically committed to memory, we still go to the recipe file, just in case. Comfort foods they call them.

Here is a recipe for meatloaf that I've made for over 20 years. Our good friends Gary and Kim J. in Knoxville, TN, shared this recipe with us and boy I'm glad they did. It comes from a barbecue restaurant in Missouri (MO), their home state. It's definitely not your average, run-of-the-mill meatloaf. We've long since lost touch with those dear friends, but every time I make this I will always remember the fun we had with them.

This can be mixed up and then baked in the oven, which is mostly the way I've done it for years. However, it originally was created for the grill. In the past few months, we have gone back to doing it on the grill. I doubt we'll ever go back to the oven. It is just so fabulous done on the grill. And yesterday was per--fec--tion grilling weather.

(I double this for my school of piranhas, and we fight over the left-overs the next day.)

Barbecue Meatloaf

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup crushed crackers
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

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Sauce

4 T brown sugar
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix beef, egg, onion, and crackers. Add in remaining three ingredients and mix well. Mix sauce and set aside. Pat meatloaf into an iron skillet and cook on grill for about 15 minutes until it gets nice and bubbly on the sides of the skillet. Remove skillet from grill. On the grill, place several layers of foil through which you have made a few small slits . Turn the meatloaf out onto the foil. Grill another 15 minutes until cooked through. Top with sauce and cook another minute or two.

Mix up the meatloaf.