Kenji's BEST MEATLOAF EVER

OMG seriously

Yet. Another. J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT at Serious Eats recipe. Recipe HERE.

I can't seem to search for "best X recipe" anymore without eventually ending back with Kenji. Which is quite ok :)

This seemed pretty doable at first, but at second, and in reality, this is a ton of prep. It's hot and July and I'm super glad I spent Sunday just doing the prep for the loafs and glaze. I think it was a good two, two and a half hours including cleanup, but yay it's safely tucked in the fridge for tomorrow.

I didn't have a loaf pan, but I do have 4 nice nonstick mini-loaf pans, which fit two abreast in the oven, so two rounds of baking. Edit: Mini loaves mean more delicious surface area to brown and get glazed!

I had ALL, well, almost all of the stuff needed for this recipe except two possibly critical things: The marmite and the gelatine. I subbed out some thai shrimp chili paste and nutritional yeast for the marmite (I know that's a reach), but I'm concerned about the lack of gelatine, so I added an egg. Even if it's all fally apart, it'll be ok.

Also doubled the mushrooms because mushrooms, that's another texture concern, but I've made enough loaves like this that I know it'll be ok.

Also didn't have celery, did have 1/3 of a fennel bulb, which will be jim-dandy instead.

Also subbed ground pork & beef plus a pound of hot bulk sausage. Done before so not worried. It's a great meat mix for loaf. I know it'll be different.

Somehow, I didn't have enough ketchup. So I googled and made some! Literally took about 5 minutes. Know what homemade ketchup tastes like?

Ketchup. Who knew? Pat on back of self for keeping well stocked with staples. I used canned tomato for the base, but now pondering going artisanal with fresh tomatoes and crock pot. There are some amazing craft ketchups out there, and zillions of recipes for another day.

Decanting the double amount of glaze I made into a squirt bottle, getting hungry for loaf already. We gonna have sammiches aplenty tomorrow.

Will be back early early tomorrow for the big bake.

First batch uncovered for 30 minutes read 180, way too hot. Next batch I'll try reading at 15 minutes. Still looks purty, though!

Stole a corner nibble. Oooooh yeah. Waiting is torture. Cooled down and time to glaze. First round in the oven. Good lord Kenji, two more times after this? Then wait 15 minutes for cooldown? Yeah that last one is going to get skipped until I get some of this in my stomach.

Okay, I get it. Second layer on now. Looking fantastic.
This torture is sublime. I've never been so excited and HUNGRY for meat loaf. Third and final glaze in. Soooo close. Need an eat plan. I have sausage rolls. Eat plan enough for me.

DONE. Cooling. Second batch in the oven. I now STRONGLY advise you plan on doing this over two days, it's way late after my "early early" start, and also do eat some breakfast. Will take presentation pic and eat.

End game

Holy mother of loaf. Soo good. Worth it. This is mixed meat magic. That sandwich above existed on this earth for about 4.5 minutes, and that's because I was screwing around taking photos :)

After: Stomach and taste buds very happy now. Aftertaste of spicy from the sausage, and overall general yummy. Flavor balance super. It's just classic great spicy meatloaf. Looking forward to a second sandwich here in a little while, and LOTS of satisfaction thinking about packing this up for lunches. Yay!

One serving is about half a mini-loaf, three slices, as illustrated in the sandwich, so 8 fairly generous servings out of the whole batch.

Moment of truth: Would I really make this another time? After two days of torture?

Yep. Thank you, Kenji!