Garlic Meatloaf

This dish was actually a happy accident. Before I left for work this morning, I pulled out ground meat from the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw. When I got back, I realized that I took out the ground beef instead of the ground pork that I meant to cook. 

So I made the first thing that came to mind - meatloaf. There are a million meatloaf recipes online, but I decided to tweak Alton Brown's recipe (yeah, I'm an Alton geek!). Being a "science" guy, his recipes are always complicated (not to mention the ingredient list is almost always impossibly long), but I haven't made anything of his that didn't taste good.  So I decided to copy his meatloaf recipe. With a 5-star rating from 713 reviews, I could bet my left leg that it was good.

Thyme from my garden

I read several reviews and realized that his recipe might be a tad spicy for us, so I planned on toning it down. Also, I didn't have garlic croutons at hand (original recipe called for it) and was too lazy too make some, so I did some substituting. I was really happy with how it turned out. The meat was very flavorful, and the glaze was just so yummy that I had to make another batch as dipping sauce.

Nope, not from my garden  :-(

What you need: 

1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
6 tablespoons bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
dash of powdered cayenne
dash of crushed red pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 Vidalia onion
1 carrot
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg

For the glaze:
1/4 cup ketchup
dash worcestershire sauce
a squirt of sriracha
1 tablespoon honey


What to do:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a big bowl, combine breadcrumbs, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, crushed pepper and thyme leaves. Set aside.

A food pro just makes life a bit easier!

Using a food processor, finely chop onion, carrot, and cloves of garlic. Add the chopped veggies to the breadcrumb mix, along with the ground chuck. Add the egg and season with kosher salt. Mix well with your hands, being careful not to squeeze the meat. 

packed tight!

Place this mixture in a loaf pan, packing it tight so the meatloaf would hold its shape. Flip the loaf pan on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and place it in the preheated oven.

Flipped loaf pan

Remove the loaf pan and...taaadaaaa!

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Combine all the glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix well. When the meatloaf has been cooking for 10 minutes, brush the glaze onto the meatloaf with a basting brush. Continue cooking for about 30 more minutes, or until the temperature of the meat reaches 155°F. Let sit for a few minutes before slicing.

glaze + meat = deliciousness!

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. A food processor will really come in handy for chopping stuff. However, you can always do it the old-fashioned way - with your hands and trusty knife!
2. If using dried thyme, just use 1/4 teaspoon. 
3. Yes, there are a lot of peppers in this dish. If you think this would be a problem, lessen the amount of cayenne. 
4. For the glaze, I just used about 4 drops (yes, drops!) of Sriracha. Add more if you can take the heat.
5. I know what you're thinking - one egg would probably make a dry meatloaf. But it actually worked. Alton Brown mentioned something about using just one egg in meatloaf - I didn't catch it, though. I might have to watch that Good Eats episode to find out why.
6. This recipe did turn out garlicky. If you are not a big fan, just use one clove of garlic!

The aftermath