An Ode to Meatloaf

Unlike most of my posted recipes, this one is going to actually have a couple paragraphs of blog entry. Sorry to those who can’t stand that. But I like meatloaf and want to write about it.

I love meatloaf, as long as it’s good. And my mother made a good one. And that statement is from someone who thinks his mother was not an especially good cook. She never met a steak she couldn’t turn into leather, and she put tomato sauce in macaroni and cheese, for heaven’s sake! But she made a pretty good meatloaf. I asked around the family if anyone had the recipe. The answer was no. But it was probably relatively basic with whatever she had around: ground beef, chopped onions, ketchup, egg, garlic powder, and crushed Ritz crackers instead of breadcrumbs. As an aside, I didn’t ask anyone what my grandmother’s recipe was. Who wants a meatloaf with green olives in it? Exactly.

I was motivated to come up with a meatloaf recipe during a recent trip to Florida. I decided to drive the coastal route through Charlotte, because I was so done with Atlanta traffic. My hotel in Charlotte was just across the street from McKoy’s Smokehouse. Their special of the day was meatloaf, and I am always up for meatloaf. It was terrific. It had a powerful herb flavor to it, which I eventually identified as thyme. I loved it. So when I started tinkering with meatloaf recipes, thyme was an important element.

The recipe I finally settled on was initially based on the Beef Council’s recipe (Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.). Then I combined it with some tips from a NYT recipe by Nigella Lawson (mainly the ground pork). Finally, I added my own modifications, mainly in terms of fresh thyme and chili sauce. And here you go. It takes at least two hours from start to table, in part because I have no concept of a faster way to pluck thyme leaves off of thyme stems.

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds of ground beef 80/20 or 85/15

12 oz ground pork

1 egg, slightly beaten

¼ cup low sodium beef broth

3 teaspoons prepared minced garlic

¾ cup ketchup

2 tablespoons chili sauce

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped onion or roughly one medium onion chopped - not more than 1 cup - finely chopped

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

¼ teaspoon dried thyme (I like it thymier but not leafier, hence the additional dried)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

3 or 4 slices of bacon

chili sauce for glaze

Process

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine meats, garlic, ketchup, beef broth, breadcrumbs, thyme, egg, Worcestershire, chili sauce, onion, salt, and pepper

Put in a 9X5X3 loaf pan. Cover with the bacon strips.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Remove bacon strips and glaze with chili sauce, however much you need to give it a good cover.

If it is drowning, carefully pour off some of the liquid. And I mean drowning. If the liquid has not covered the meatloaf, don’t bother. It will help it stay more moist. Nobody likes a dry meatloaf.

Continue baking another 25 minutes or more until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Keep an eye on it. Because of all the extra liquid ingredients, you may have to eventually do a careful pour off. I did not.

Let cool.

Serve with mashed potatoes and some green beans, and you are in comfort food heaven.