Meatloaf
Serves 4 With Leftovers

Meatloaf is one of those foods with a mystique of hearthside hominess. The actual finished product is OK, but without a favorite sauce on top, the mashed or scalloped potatoes on the side and fabulous sandwiches the next day, would anyone ever really yearn for it? Ask any man I have ever known and the answer will be a resounding “YEAH!”

Hints

1. Try to erase the taste memory of grey, greasy meatloaf on the elementary school cafeteria and put good flavors into yours. I use ground beef, fresh pork and Isernio’s hot Italian bulk sausage as the base, adding other ingredients that enhance the flavor.
2. The meatloaf will cook down as it bakes, so if you use a loaf pan, fill to the top, mounded slightly. Place the pan on another pan with sides to pick up any rendered fat that bubbles over.
3. By doubling the recipe you will have twice as much as you need for a meal or two and leftovers. Freeze half before cooking; it will be fine for 6 months and come in handy on a cold winter night.

Ingredients

2 tbs. olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tbs. minced fresh garlic
1½# ground beef (chuck is good), room temperature
1# ground fresh pork, room temperature
¾# Isernio Hot Italian bulk sausage, room temperature
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tbs. Balsamic vinegar
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. ground allspice
½ cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
¾ cup Tom Douglas Rub with Love Ancho & Molasses Barbecue Sauce or another flavorful, not very sweet brand
Salt and pepper to taste*

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 375º

1. Put olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook until it is soft but not brown. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Put beef, pork and sausage in a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands until it is combined. Add oats, onion and garlic.
3. Mix beaten egg, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and allspice together in a small bowl and add to the meat mixture. Add ¼ cup barbecue sauce and parsley.
4. Mix all ingredients until they are thoroughly combined. *At this point I taste the loaf and adjust the flavor with salt and pepper. If the idea of tasting raw meat gags you, wait until it’s served to add salt and pepper.
5. Lightly press the meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan, mounding it slightly at the top, or shape it into an oblong loaf and put it in a roasting pan. Brush remaining barbecue sauce over the top.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes, checking after 40 minutes to see if the top is browning too much. If it is, place a piece of foil over the top loosely to protect it from further browning.