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Meat Loaf with Brown Sugar Ketchup Glaze

Source of Recipe

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List of Ingredients

BROWN SUGAR KETCHUP GLAZE:
1/2 cup ketchup or chili sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider or white vinegar

MEAT LOAF:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion,chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt
1 pound ground chuck beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
2/3 cup saltine crackers (about 16) -or- quick oatmeal
-or-
1 1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
6 to 8 ounces thin-slice bacon (8 to 12 slices)


Recipe

1. FOR THE GLAZE: Mix all ingredients in small saucepan; set aside.
2. FOR THE MEAT LOAF: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add onion and garlic; saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing remaining ingredients.
3. Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in large bowl along with crackers, parsley and cooked onion and garlic; mix with fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture sticks, add additional milk or yogurt, a couple of teaspoons at a time until mix no longer sticks.)
4. Turn meat mixture onto work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into approximately 9 X 5 inch loaf shape. Place on foil-lined (for easy cleanup) shallow baking pan. Brush with half of the glaze, then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping slightly and tucking only bacon tip ends under loaf.
5. Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and internal temperature of loaf registers 160 degrees, about 1 hour. Cool at least 20 minutes. Simmer remaining glaze over medium heat until thicken slightly, Slice meat loaf and serve with extra glaze passed separately.

personal note: I shaped my meat loaf using plastic wrap over it until it was a perfectly shaped load. I removed the plastic wrap and brushed on half the glaze sauce. Then I placed the meat loaf in the freezer for an hour before adding the bacon slices. This made the meat loaf a little firmer, (not frozen) to lift with a spatula and tuck the bacon tip ends underneith. And I finally placed the meat loaf on a mesh grill on top of the baking pan so all fat juices would drain off and away from the meat; (the bacon gives off a lot of fat.) Do Not use a meat loaf pan! This would cause the meat loaf to stew in it's juices and it would not have a crisp, well browned outer surface. My meat loaf turned out to be the "Perfect" meat loaf and the glazeing sauce was the very best yet.