My Meatloaf

This recipe is derived from the American's Test Kitchen (ATK) meatloaf recipes. One is for an all beef meatloaf (season 7) and the other is a bacon-wrapped meatloaf (season 1) that uses veal and pork. But my Safeway doesn't carry ground veal or meatloaf meat. So I combined the two substituting turkey for veal plus using the gelatin to keep my loaf moist.

Traditional meatloaf may also include lamb, rice, scrapple, etc. and is baked in a loaf pan and served with tomato ketchup. ATK developed their bacon-wrapped recipe to reduce the grease and produce a tasty dish that was not dried out or rubbery.

Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Red Sweet Glaze

Servers 6 to 8.

Red Sweet Glaze (Double if you want sauce for serving.)

• 1/4 cup chili sauce (substitute ketchup)
• 2 T Light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp Cider or white vinegar

Meatloaf

• 2 ts Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, medium; chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves; pressed
• 2 Eggs, large
• 1 tsp Dried thyme
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 ts Ground fresh black pepper
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp Hot red pepper sauce
• 1/2 cup milk; low-fat plain yogurt
• 2 lb Meat-loaf mix; (2 parts chuck, 1 part ground veal, 1 part ground pork) (substitute ground turkey for veal if you have no choice)
• 24 Crushed saltine crackers
• 1/3 cup Minced parsley
• 6 oz Thin-sliced bacon
• Sweet Red Glaze

Preparation

Mix all the Red Sweet Glaze ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.

Meat Loaf Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Build a baking rack. Cookie sheet (or shallow roasting pan) lined with aluminum foil, wire rack sprayed with PAM, meatloaf tray made of 2 or 3 layers of aluminum foil about 5" by 9". Poke holds in the try to allow grease to drain. Spray tray with PAM.

Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onion and garlic, saute until softened, about 5 minutes; set aside to cool.

Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worchestershire, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in a large bowl, along with crackers, oatmeal or bread crumbs, parsley and cook onions and garlic; mix with a fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture does stick, add additional milk, a couple tablespoons at a time, and continue stirring until mixture stops sticking.)

Turn meat mixture onto the foil tray and form into a loaf. Smooth the sides of the loaf with a wet rubber spatula.

With wet hands, pat mixture into a loaf approximately 9 by 5 inches. Cover a wire rack with foil; prick foil in several places with a fork. Place a rack on a shallow roasting pan lined with foil for easy cleanup. Set formed loaf on rack.

Brush loaf with the glaze. Then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping them slightly. In order to prevent curling, allow the ends of the bacon to hang off the loaf then trim the excess bacon of so that you have about half an inch of the bacon to tuck under. Tuck the ends in under the meatloaf.

Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160 degrees, about 1 hour.

Reduce the remaining sauce over medium low heat. The heat will sterilize the sauce that has become contaminated by contact with the raw meats.

Optional: Just before removing from the oven put some of the reduced sauce on the bacon and put it under the broiler to glaze.

Remove from oven/broiler. Rest for 20 minutes. Slice and serve.