Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze - Cook's Illustrated

After a long absence during which my heart was broken by my Boston Celtics and stomped upon by the hateful Los Angeles Flakers, I am back to blogging. What better theme than comfort food, I say.

Maybe it's the fact that San Diego went through an unusually cool spring following an unusually cold winter, and things are still not looking up 2 days into summer...but lately all I've wanted was simple, unpretentious, healthy and FAST meals for me and my family.



Meatloaf requires almost a full hour to cook, but I consider it a fast meal because it comes together so quickly. I made this for a friend a while ago, so I don't have a photo of the plated meatloaf, but this goes so well with mashed potatoes and simple grilled vegetables.

While it sits in the oven, mama can wash, fold, and put away the mountains of laundry her Pebbles and Bamm Bamm can generate in what seems like no time...or she can hit Facebook. After all, if mama is feeding everyone, we shouldn't begrudge the little time she has to herself; she is NOT beholden to her little slave-driving, tyrant offspring.

Ingredients:

Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze
(I always double this glaze because I find there's not nearly enough sauce to pass around with the cooked meatloaf)
1/2 cup ketchup or chili sauce
4 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

Meatloaf
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion - chopped medium
2 medium cloves of garlic - minced
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt (I've used low fat plain yogurt and it works fine)
1 lb. ground chuck
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground veal
2/3 cup Saltine crackers crushed (about 16); OR quick oatmeal; OR 1 and 1/3 cups of fresh breadcrumbs. (I always use the quick oatmeal)
1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced

Method:
Start with the glaze.

Combine in a saucepan and set aside.

Gather your mise en place for the meatloaf. Notice the labeled Ziploc bags of ground meat. I usually buy beef in bulk at Costco and then separate it into labeled bags, pressing out the air and flattening and then freezing. This way, I always have exactly the type of meat I need and it defrosts in LITERALLY 5 minutes in a bowl of hot water. (I buy from Costco because I still don't have the KA mixer attachment to grind my own, boo-hoo! Note: you can grind your own beef in the food processor too but it's best in the food processor for hamburger meat where texture is more important.)

Next, chop the onion and the garlic. You can press the garlic as well. It works either way.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute until softened, about 5 minutes.

Set the onion mixture aside to cool while preparing the next ingredients.

In a small bowl add eggs and thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt.

Mix well.

Add the egg mixture to meat in a large bowl, along with crackers, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic.

Mix well with a large fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to the bowl. (If the mixture sticks to the bowl, add additional milk or yogurt until it no longer sticks.) Don't use your hands, the fat from the meat will transfer to your palms robbing the mixture of fat that is necessary for good texture.

I use this meat loaf pan with perforated bottom fitted with a drip pan to catch the juices. 

Turn the meat mixture into the meat loaf pan  and use fork to pull meat mixture from pan sides to prohibit glaze from dripping into oven.

Remove 1/2 cup of the glaze for brushing the meatloaf; save the rest. Brush with one quarter of glaze. (Make sure you set aside the glaze for brushing the loaf and keep it separate from the glaze that will be served alongside; you don't want your glaze contaminated with raw beef.).

Bake until the glaze is set, about 45 minutes. It should look like this.

Top with another 1/4 of the glaze and continue to bake until the second coat has set and the loaf registers 160 degrees at its thickest part, 15 - 30 minutes longer.

Cool at least 20 minutes. Simmer the glaze over medium heat until thickened slightly. Slice meat loaf and pass with extra glaze separately.