stuffed greektown gyro meatloaf

This is the first time I have made a meatloaf using ground lamb. Actually this was my first time eating any sort of lamb. I am an adventurous eater. My dad, not so much. It is the meat that takes the longest to cook- 90 minutes. Technically it varies from oven to oven but you want the internal temperature to be at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

I told a white lie in the video. I only cooked the meatloaf for 65 minutes on the day of recording. The ends of the meatloaf were fully cooked, which is what you see in the image above. The center, however, was still pink in the middle, and pink meat of any sort means the meat is raw. If you eat raw meat, you get sick. That's why they don't make sushi with meat, I think...

So I put the raw parts of the meatloaf in the refrigerator overnight. Then the next day, I put that meatloaf back in the oven for another 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. It was fully cooked finally!

When I am working with a different type of meat for the first time, I research how to cook it online. I researched lamb meatloaf recipes and I got conflicting directions. One recipe said to bake the meatloaf at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour for 1.5 pounds of lamb. Another recipe said to bake the meatloaf at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes for 2.5 pounds of lamb. I naively thought that the lamb would fully cook in the hour since I was only using 1 pound of it.

Apparently, the cooking time doesn't vary depending on the amount of the lamb you're cooking. Although I saw an inforgraphic yesterday on how to cook turkeys(the whole ones, not ground turkey). An unstuffed 8 pound turkey takes 3 hours to cook, whereas a 24 pound turkey takes 5 hours. Seriously, don't they sell Thanksgiving turkeys that are smaller, like if you're not serving many people!? **end Public Service Announcement**

But in all seriousness, this meatloaf is based on the Greektown Gyro potato chips for the Lay's Do Us a Flavor Contest. Since I have heard negative reviews about this flavor of potato chip on the Internet, I tried it off camera, in case it tasted so horrible I had to 86 them from the meatloaf. They actually tasted good. The chips had a meaty taste to them, in addition to a cucumber taste and a hint of feta.

Rating: 4 out of 5 meatloaves

The tomatoes and cucumbers provided plenty of moisture for the meatloaf, in addition to the tzatziki sauce.

This is the second stuffed meatloaf I made. I felt like stuffing a meatloaf and to me(a non-Greek), deli roast beef looks like gyro meat, so I figure it makes sense to use it in a gyro meatloaf. I also used chicken eggs as a meatloaf binder. So, in conclusion, lambs, cows, and chickens died for this meatloaf. Now I feel like a carnivore!

Here is the recipe:

You will need:

For the cooking vessels:

A loaf pan
Nonstick cooking spray

For the meatloaf:

1/2 tbsp. of onion powder or 1/2 a diced, sauteed onion(I used the former, as I was too lazy that day to sautee an onion)
2 beaten and whisked eggs
1 diced tomato
1 diced cucumber
1/2 cup of feta cheese
1/2 cup of tzatziki sauce
1 tsp. of garlic powder
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 no-bake gyro pocket
1 1/2 crumbled pita pockets(I say 1 1/2 because when I put 2 pita pockets in the bowl, it would cause the large bowl to overflow, which is definitely a sign you're putting way too much stuff in your meatloaf. Plus the meatloaf would taste really heavy)
15-20 Greektown Gyro potato chips(or you could regular potato chips, since this flavor of potato chip probably won't become a regular mainstay in the chips section), or 1 cup of crumbled potato chips
1 pound of ground lamb
1/4 pound of deli roast beef

1. Wash your hands, especially since you're handling raw meat in this recipe.
2. Put first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Crumble the gyro pocket into pieces but do not put the lettuce in the bowl! Lettuce and ovens don't mix. Put the crumbled gyro in the bowl.
4. Crumble the potato chips by putting them in a sealed plastic bag. Crush them with your fist or a hammer. Put the crumbled potato chips in the bowl.
5. Add the ground lamb to the bowl.
6. Mix the ingredients together so that all of them are distributed evenly among the meatloaf mixture.
7. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
8. Put half of the meatloaf mixture into the loaf pan.
9. Top the bottom layer with the deli roast beef.
10. Cover the deli roast beef with the remaining meatloaf mixture.
11. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven for 90 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meatloaf reaches at least 160 degrees Fahrenehit.
12. Let the meatloaf rest at room temperature for 10 minutes so all the juices in the meatloaf can be absorbed in the meatloaf.
13. Make sure none of the meatloaf is pink!
14. Bon appetit!