Mmmm, Meatloaf

And I had been doing so well with the posting. Such is life. Anyway, meatloaf. I made this while I was house-sitting for some friends (mostly dog sitting, really) and I tried a different way of mixing it up. I used fresh bread crumb, that I toasted. Then I mixed the chopped raw onion and garlic in the crumbs with some spices and hot sauce.

Then I toasted them again, after which I added an egg and mixed it all up. The onions put out some liquid and the whole mess became this awesome flavor base. When I added the beef I mixed it together with a knife which seems to have kept me from overworking the mixture and making it tough.

I do meatloaf free form, too, more browned bits and less grease. This is a good time. I've also found that a little hatching on it increases browning and helps glaze stick.

Mmm, glaze. This is ketchup, cider vinegar, brown sugar (all in about equal proportions) and more hot sauce. Oh and black pepper.

Gotta have pepper.

But yeah, I know it's not a recipe but the whole thing worked out wicked good. Look at how moist it is!

Made killer sandwiches.

I used some of the leftovers to make mini shepherds pies, I'll cover that another time. Another cool thing about meatloaf is it freezes well, that's always nice. Anyone have any meatloaf secrets they want to share? This was awesome, but I'm still perfecting my technique and will take any wisdom the nets have to offer.