Granted, you have to do a bit of advanced planning to pull this recipe off, but once you’ve made the initial commitment of time and effort, you can freeze the meatloaf portion of the sandwich. Then, you can pull out a slice and fairly quickly prepare this delicacy any time your heart desires.

Concerned that the bourbon in the sauce is going to get you or your family drunk? Don’t be! First, the amount is tiny, and is used for flavoring. Second, the medium-high heat you will be using to bring this sauce to a boil, and then the subsequent use of the sauce to actually seal and caramelize the meatloaf slices, will neutralize the alcohol and just impart a delicious, smoky flavor.

 

INGREDIENTS

For the Meatloaf

2 lb. ground beef

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. minced onion

1/3 cup BBQ sauce (your favorite)

3 slices bacon

Onion Rolls

Sliced cheese

For the Bourbon BBQ Sauce

1 cup BBQ sauce (favorite kind)

1/3 cup water

3-4 Tbsp. bourbon

For the Onion Straws

1 large onion

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp. seasoning salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all your meatloaf ingredients together in bowl (see Quick Tip for meatloaf-making secret) and place in baking pan and top lengthwise with bacon and cook for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, slice your onions very thin (see Quick Tip) and add your buttermilk to a bowl.

Place your onions in buttermilk and set aside.

Once meatloaf is done remove from oven and let cool until able to be handled.

In sauce pan add your BBQ sauce ingredients, bring to boil, once boiling reduce heat to simmer and continue to cook for about 10 minutes.

Preheat your deep fryer to 375 degrees F.

In bowl add your flour, seasoning salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.

In 2 batches take half of your onions and dip it in your flour mixture then place in deep fryer for a few minutes until golden, repeat and set aside on paper towel lined plate to cool.

In skillet add about 1/2-1 cup BBQ sauce and place meatloaf on top and heat on medium-high heat and grill your meatloaf slices in batches until BBQ sauce starts to coat outside of meatloaf and thickens.

Top with cheese slices until melted, place on buns, top with onion straws and serve!

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Quick Tip:  To make your Onion Straws turn out the best, they need to be sliced extremely thin. The best kitchen gadget for doing this is a mandolin. Many types are adjustable, letting you choose the thickness of your cut. But even a basic model will generate perfectly sliced onion rings that are about 1/8-inch thick. Just slice through the middle of your onion, width-wise at the widest point, attach half to the mandolin veggie holding device, and slice away. You can hold the onion with your fingers, but be VERY careful as mandolins are extremely sharp. This is one of those kitchen tools you never knew you needed until you purchase it. Then you will wonder how you ever lived without one! By the way, if you don’t have a deep fryer, you can use a regular deep sauce pan, about 1/3 filled (never more than ½ full) with cooking oil, enough to submerge your batch of onions, and heated to a high temperature (low temps create soggy results). Each batch will cool the oil, so allow it to return to high heat between batches. Use a slotted spoon or tongs to insert and remove the onions.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Alli Miller at Tornadough Alli