BACON MEATLOAF.- Comfort food all the way....

BACON MEATLOAF.-  I make several types of meatloaf but I was in a bacon sort of mind and decided to combine a couple of ideas into this nifty little wonder.

Now meatloafs depend on your family's taste preference, just because they didn't like one at one place or another doesn't mean they won't like your next one since you can change seasonings, spices and additions to you make it completely different each time, once you find one you like make sure you jot it down so you can keep it. Keep experimenting, there's a meatloaf in your future....

The meat can be anything really, beef, pork, half and half, chicken, turkey, lamb... add chorizo, bacon, smoke, veggies, hard boiled eggs, make it a "roulade" or rolled up with spices or any country type too, like Mexican, American, Italian, Greek, etc. just think of a meatloaf as a large meatball to get ideas.... sauces, vegetables, additions, etc. Plus it can be a humble one or an all out Sunday Special, it's all up to you.

It is said meatloaf showed up in Medieval Times around the 5th Century with meat scraps, fruit and more as an all you've got in the house dish. A great way to stretch protein, fill bellies, think Shepherd's Pie, the German Scrapple until we got to the good old American Meatloaf with Ketchup!
But if you decide on something fancier you can make a Roulade by flattening out the protein, putting some veggies like spinach, cover this with cheese, fresh herbs and sauce and then you roll it up so when you slice it you have a lovely spiral showing, very nice and a great way to add more flavor.

For my meatloaf today I used:

1 medium onion, very finely chopped or grated
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped or pressed
2 tbl oil
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3-4 tblsp brown sugar
1 tsp cayenne pepper or 1/2 tblsp Sriracha or hot sauce
2 large eggs
2/3 cup bread crumbs or finely shredded bread
1 tblsp parsley leaves, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 lbs ground chuck or beef
8-12 bacon slices

Oven at 350 F. Place aluminum foil on a hotel pan, you can cover this with parchment paper and avoid the cleanup too or put a little oil on the aluminum foil and spread it about the size of the loaf.

Put some oil in a pan over medium high heat and add the onion and garlic, stir until wilted and tender, about 4-5 minutes. When this is done put it in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, add the ketchup, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 5-6 minutes until it thickens. Turn off heat.

Take 2-3 tblsp of the ketchup mix and add to the onion mix, then add the eggs, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper, chicken broth and Parmesan Cheese. Be generous with the salt and pepper. Mix real well either by hand with a whisk or with a hand mixer. Now add the meat and mix, by hand, really, really well. Really get in there and make it as smooth and even as possible.

Once your met is combined well, place it on the hotel pan (sheet pan) and form into a meat loaf shape, make it nice and even. You can spread some ketchup sauce over it if you like.

Now take your bacon and begin laying it on top of the meat in any way you like, it can just be side by side or you can make a design, up to you as you can see from my pictures. Stuff the ends under the meat so they stay nice and neat. Now paint the meatloaf liberally with more ketchup sauce.

Place in the oven for about 1 hour or 1.5 hours, keep and eye on it. If you use a meat thermometer then make sure it's 165 F. Allow to rest before slicing.

Once you have this simple preparation feel free to insert, change, add, whatever you'd like, you'll see the possibilities pretty soon. Hope you enjoy it, I can smell my meatloaf right now YUM!!!