Highfalutin Cordon Bleu Meatloaf Recipe Baked in a Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Y’all, I gotta tell ya’…this one’s easy, easy, easy. A bit of a mess on your hands it’ll leave but there’s no chopping or searing. It’ll be a dump-and-bake kinda meal. There is a beer gravy that I make with this recipe that’s more complicated than the actual recipe itself.
And I’m going to show you how to cook both.
When you think of chicken, ham, and cheese, Chicken Cordon Bleu comes to mind; I’m sure of it. I’ve wondered what Chicken Cordon Bleu means…language-wise. It’s French. Translated to English…literally…it means “blue cord.” I’ve found sources that say that it means, “blue ribbon.” “Ribbon” “Cord,” potato potato. It’s all good.
The Cast Iron
For the meat loaf: my suggestion is to use your 10-inch camp cast Iron Dutch oven. A deep or regular 10-inch oven will work A-OK. If all you have is a 12” Dutch, it’ll work too and will create a thinner or shallow meatloaf.
For the gravy: my suggestion is to use your 8-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven. However, I know many of y’all ain’t got an 8-inch Dutch and that’s okay. A cast iron skillet will work fine too. Use a Lodge 4-in-1 Camp Dutch Oven Tool also known as a Folding Dutch Oven Lid Stand to keep the skillet above the fire or briquettes.
Ingredients
There’s two parts to this recipe:
- The chicken meatloaf itself
- And The Beer Gravy
Chicken Meatloaf Ingredients:
2 Pounds of Ground Chicken
2 teaspoons of minced onion or 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
1-2 teaspoons of minced garlic or ½-1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
¼ – ½ Cup of Fresh Chopped Parsley or 2-4 teaspoons of dried parsley.
1 Egg.
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs (or Panko Crumbs).
1 teaspoon of salt.
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
1/4 cup of mayonnaise.
Thin Deli-Cut Sliced Ham – Use some nice, deli-cut, thin ham for this recipe. About 8 ounces does the trick – give or take don’t you know.
6 slices of a good, thinner cut Swiss cheese.
The Gravy Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of butter.
3 tablespoons of flour.
1/4 cup of some heavy cream – In a pinch, some half-and-half would be okay.
1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire (woosh di sure) sauce.
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
½ cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste.
1 cup of an easy-drinking lager. Avoid IPAs or other beers with a higher IBU or International Bitterness Units – You could substitute the beer with chicken broth. Two things here. Be sure this beer is room temperature or outside temperature. Do not add a cold beer-from-the-fridge or ice cooler to that hot camp cast iron Dutch oven.
Second, if you feel the beer’s hoppiness will add too much bitterness to the dish, you could substitute chicken broth or even milk. Heck y’all, mix it up a bit and do half-and-half of your choice.
And a few Other Ingredients are:
3/4 cup of Panko Breadcrumbs for Topping (or Plain Breadcrumbs).
½ – 1 Tablespoon of Butter to coat the inside surface of your camp cast iron Dutch oven.
Instructions
Step 1: The Parsley.
My suggestion is to wash and chop the parsley at home and before leaving for camp. Store the chopped parsley in a container lined with a paper towel to keep the leaves from getting “soggy.”
Step 2: In a large-enough bowl, add:
- 2 lbs. of ground chicken.
- 2 teaspoons of minced onion or 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
- 1-2 teaspoons of minced garlic or ½-1 teaspoon of garlic powder. I’m adding 1 and a half teaspoons of minced garlic.
- ¼ – ½ Cup of Chopped Parsley
- 1 Egg.
- 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs (or Panko Crumbs).
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
- 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
- 1/4 cup of mayonnaise.
Use a rubber spatula or your hands to really get this mixed up well.
Once it’s mixed up well. Split the mixture into two separate and equal portions.
Step 3: Blend the Gravy Ingredients in a smaller bowl.
- 1 cup of beer. If you like, substitute or mix with chicken broth.
- 1/4 cup of heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I normally don’t measure over my ingredients…but a little extra Worcestershire sauce is very okie-dokie.
- 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
- Salt and pepper to taste – literally…once it’s all blended, give it a taste and check the saltiness before adding your salt and pepper.
Do not blend in the parmesan cheese, butter, or the flour with the gravy ingredients…yet.
Step 4: Using some soft butter to coat the inside cast iron Dutch oven.
Using some soft butter to coat the inside of the room temperature or rather the out-side-air temperature and not (not) a preheated 10-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven. About ½ – 1 tablespoon works best. Don’t use melted butter or add the butter to a hot pot. Just smear a chunk of butter around in there to coat the inside surface. Smeared on butter in the bottom of a cast iron pot is one of the best ways to both keep the dish from sticking and will add flavor to our meal.
Yep, I know your pot is well-seasoned. But…trust me on this one. Butter is the key.
Step 5: First Layer.
Take out ½ of the meat loaf mixture and add this as a first layer to the camp cast iron Dutch oven. Smooth it out nice and flat.
Step 6: The Ham.
Top the first layer with the thin slices of ham. Add a few or many…it’s up to you. Start with the ham; it’s not as “rigid” or as firm as the cheese.
Step 7: Cover the ham with slices of Swiss cheese.
Cover the ham with slices of Swiss cheese. The reason I put the cheese on over the ham is because the cheese is more “rigid” than the ham and will “stay put” better than the ham when we add the 2nd layer of meat loaf.
Step 8: Cover the cheese with the other half of the meat loaf mixture.
Cover the cheese with the other half of the meat loaf mixture. Smooth it out nice and flat. This is the reason to add the cheese layer over the ham layer. Smoothing out the top meat loaf mixture layer over thin ham would just pull the ham up and complicate the smoothing. Again, you know what I mean.
And that’s it. Put the lid on the pot. And let’s go play with fire.
Step 9: Set 30-35 briquettes to fire.
How did I come up with 30-35?
We’ll bake this dish at a goal temperature of 350°F or 175°C. Using the times-two guideline and considering our 10-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven, we’ll need 20-21 total briquettes (6 or 7 under the Dutch and 13-14 on the lid). We’ll also need a few to create our gravy. Considering an 8-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven or a 10.25-inch cast iron skillet, I’d suggest another 5-10 or so.
We’ll be actively creating the gravy and not just leaving it to bake. So, we can add or remove heat if we need to and when we need to.
Place 6 or 7 briquettes under the Dutch and 13-14 on the lid. Let this bake for 15 minutes. While the meatloaf bakes during this first 15-minutes, start working on the gravy.
Step 10: Bake for 15-minutes and place the 8-inch Dutch or skillet over some heat to pre-heat.
Add 3 tablespoons of butter to the gravy pot/pan and let the butter get fry ready. We’re going to create a Roux and need that butter fry ready.
DON’T LET THE BUTTER BURN.
Step 11: This is when we’ll make our gravy.
Once the butter is fry-ready and hot, add the flour and create a blond or white roux. You could go a bit to the red roux…but we really need to keep it light for the best thickening power.
Step 12: Add the pre-mixed gravy ingredients to the white roux and blend in well.
Wisk the ingredients together very well. It will thicken up rather quickly. From this point, keep an eye on the gravy and don’t let it scorch.
Step 13: Back to our chicken meat loaf and the larger Dutch Oven.
After 15-minutes, turn the pot. Turn the lid in one direction 1/3rd of a turn and then the whole pot 1/3rd of a turn in the other direction.
Check your gravy once in a while to make sure it’s not scorching. Just a bit of heat will do the trick. There’s nothing wrong with a taste test to see how things are going.
Step 14: Once the meatloaf has baked for another 15 minutes (30-minutes total), remove the lid and give it a peek. Does it look baked and ready?
If you have a temperature probe, check the middle temperature. At 165°F / 75°C, the meal is ready to eat. BUT, if it’s slightly less than 165°F / 75°C, that’s okay. We will be adding our Panko Crumbs in a bit.
Then, we will let the meal “broil” to toast up those panko crumbs. So, if it’s just a bit below 165°F / 75°C, there’s still some cooking time to get the meal up to temperature.
Step 15: Once the gravy has thickened up, add the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Reduce the heat by a lot and let it simmer and thicken. Just let it simmer.
Step 16: Once the meat loaf has baked for 30 minutes, remove all the heat from the bottom of the pot.
Add the ¾ – 1 cup of Panko Crumbs to the top of the meatloaf. Let the dish broil and get all toasted up.
Step 17: Once the meal reaches 165°F / 75°C and the Panko Crumbs are nice and toasty, pull the heat from the Dutch oven and…
LET’S EAT!!
Summary
There are two ways to serve this meal:
- Add all or some of the gravy to the top of the meat loaf and then serve from the pot.
- Serve from the pot and add the gravy on the plate.
It’s up to you.
I prefer using wooden utensils with my cast iron. My suggestion is to use a thin wooden spatula or even use a metal spatula to serve this meal. The ham is what’s needing this attention to detail. Thicker slices of ham may not “cut” as easily with a thicker utensil. If the ham does not cut with the meat loaf, you’ll pull extra pieces of ham from the middle of someone else’s serving. Think of biting a chicken sandwich with a tough piece of chicken in that sandwich. Yep. It’ll pull right out of there.
Chef Tip: Let the meatloaf rest a bit before serving. It’ll let everything “settle down” and it’ll come out better on the plate. And, much of that liquid will either steam off or re-incorporate into the meal.
CHEERS!
You all keep on cooking in those cast iron beauties and enjoying those glasses of that fermented barley pop.
We’ll see you next time.
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Highfalutin Cordon Bleu Meatloaf Baked in a Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Equipment
- 10" Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven – a 12" Dutch would work. Expect a much thinner meatloaf.
- 8" Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven – a cast iron skillet would work as well.
- Wooden Spatula
- Metal Spatula
- Larger Bowl – for the meatloaf ingredients.
- Smaller Bowl – for the gravy ingredients.
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
Meatloaf Ingredients
- 2 Pounds Ground Chicken
- 2 tsp Minced Onion or 1 teaspoon of onion powder. – or 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
- 1-2 tsp Minced Garlic – ½-1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- ¼ – ½ Cup Chopped Parsley – or a Tablespoon or two of dried parsley
- 1 Egg
- ¼ Cup Plain Breadcrumbs – or Panko Crumbs
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- ¼ Cup Mayonnaise
Beer Gravy Ingredients
- 1 Cup Easy-Drinking Lager – or Chicken Broth
- ¼ Cup Heavy Cream – or Half and Half
- 1 TBL Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 TBL Dijon Mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Roux
- 3 TBL Butter
- 3 TBL Flour
Other Ingredients
- ½ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
- ¾ -1 Cup Panko Crumb Topping – or Plain Bread Crumbs
Instructions
- Chop and Prepare the Parsley
- In a larger bowl, add all of the Meatloaf Ingredients – Separate the mixture into two equal parts.
- In a smaller bowl, mix all of the Beer Gravy Ingredients – Do not add the Roux or the Other Ingredients yet.
- Using some soft butter, coat the inside cast iron Dutch oven.
- Add ½ of the meatloaf mixture to the bottom of the cast iron Dutch oven.
- Start with the ham. Add a layer of thin-sliced ham to the top of the meatloaf mixture.
- Cover the ham with slices of Swiss Cheese
- Apply the 2nd layer of the meatloaf mixture and put the lid on the Dutch Oven.
- Set 30-35 briquettes to fire. Let them get cook-ready.
- Place 6 or 7 briquettes under the Dutch and 13-14 on the lid. Let this bake for 15 minutes. While the meatloaf bakes during this first 15-minutes, start working on the gravy.
- Set the gravy pot over some heat and heat up very hot.
- Add 3 Tablespoons of butter to that hot gravy pot. Once the butter is fry-ready and hot, add the flour and create a blond or white roux.
- Add the pre-mixed gravy ingredients to the white roux and blend in well. Let it thicken up. Check on it periodically to make sure it is not scorching.
- Back to our chicken meat loaf and the larger Dutch Oven. – After 15-minutes, turn the pot. Turn the lid in one direction 1/3rd of a turn and then the whole pot 1/3rd of a turn in the other direction.
- Once the meatloaf has baked for another 15 minutes (30-minutes total), remove the lid and give it a peek. Does it look baked and ready? It needs to be cooked to a temperature of 165℉ / 75℃
- Once the gravy has thickened up, add the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Reduce the heat by "a lot" or just remove from the heat. Just let it simmer.
- Once the meatloaf has baked for 30 minutes, remove all the heat from the bottom of the pot. Add the ¾ – 1 cup of Panko Crumbs to the top of the meatloaf.
- Add as much heat as you would like (or that you have available) to the lid of that Dutch Oven. Let the Panko Crumbs get all toasty.
- Once the meal reaches 165°F / 75°C and the Panko Crumbs are nice and toasty, pull the heat from the Dutch oven and…LET’S EAT!!
Notes
- Add all or some of the gravy to the top of the meat loaf and then serve from the pot.
- Serve from the pot and add the gravy on the plate.
