Dan's Kitchen: A Cautionary Tale: meatloaf

First let me say how invaluable prep bowls are. While in the past I did manage to cook without having any, having them now makes everything so much easier. Being able to pre-measure and set everything up to be added when needed is priceless. Now, on to the meatloaf.

As with the bread that I baked earlier today, I have never made a meatloaf. Now I've made the equivalent of three. I only made one, it just turned out to be huge. I started with a recipe from my most favorite cooking site The Pioneer Woman. She had posted someone else's meatloaf recipe, but I didn't want to go too spicy and also felt I should throw in some mushrooms. After a quick survey of the pantry and fridge I was off to Publix. Which I definitely want to brag on the meat cutter, when I told him I was looking for ground pork, he said to give him a few minutes and promptly went back and ground a pound of it for me. I love customer service, at least proper customer service.

Now I had the appropriate cast for my attempt:

2 Large Bell Peppers

2 Medium Onions

1 bunch Celery (5-6 Ribs)

1 cup sliced Mushrooms

8 cloves Of Garlic

6 Tablespoons Butter

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire

1 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

2 cups Ketchup

½ cups Whole Milk

1 cup (to 2 Cups) Breadcrumbs

2 pounds Of Lean Ground Beef (92% Lean)

1 pound Ground Pork

3 whole Eggs

2 Tablespoons Honey

I always forget how slow I am at cutting, chopping, dicing and mincing. I don't mind being slow seeing that I still have all my fingers, but it can mean dinner is about an hour later than I intended. Once everything needing cutting was cut, I melted the butter and started cooking the veggies.

After they had cooked a bit I added the milk, salt, Worcestershire, pepper, chili powder and nutmeg and let it cook five or so more minutes. While that was cooling I put the beef and pork into a large bowl (not nearly large enough it turned out) along with the eggs. Next I started working the veggie mixture into the meat, very carefully. And just to be clear, I wasn't being carefully due to the recipe or any particular technique, I was being careful because the bowl was no where near large enough and the last thing I needed was my volunteer clean up assistant to get into raw meat.