I forget about meatloaf and I don’t know why.  We love it.  It’s goes together quickly.  It practically bakes itself and damn, it’s just so delicious.  And best of all, it makes great sandwiches.  I’ve already given you Roadhouse Meatloaf, but you should have this one, too.  You’ll see that unflavored gelatin in the ingredients list and you’ll wonder what the hell has happened to my brain.  That’s a reasonable reaction.  But, I tell you that smarter people than I have tested this and it does make a difference.  Meatloaf blends of ground meats usually contain veal and veal has lots of gelatin, but it doesn’t contribute much texture and can have a liver-y taste.  So, we add the gelatin…see?  Isn’t that logical?  Who knew?  Well, the people over at Cook’s Illustrated™ tested this and they sort of know what they’re doing!

By the way, you could add some finely minced fresh fennel, sautéed in some good olive oil to this, or even crushed fennel seeds, if you like that Italian sausage flavor.  You can also add black olives, which look ever-so nice when you slice this loaf and a very finely shredded carrot adds a nice sweetness, too.

Start by blooming the gelatin.  Place it in a small bowl; add the broth and red wine and give it a stir.  Just set it aside for about 5 minutes to allow the gelatin to “bloom”, absorb the liquid and swell up.  Then, I just nuke it for about 15 seconds on HIGH or until it melts.  Careful because the mixture has a tendency to boil over easily.  You don’t want to add hot liquid to the meat, so set it aside to cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, add everything else, except the pasta sauce, tomato paste and sugar; that’s the topping.  Just toss all the meatloaf ingredients into a good-sized bowl (at least an 8 cup volume).  I usually break the meat up, crumble it as best I can.  Then, I just sprinkle everything around, one on top of the other.  Then, I pour the cooled broth/gelatin mixture over it and dig right in with my hands.  Oh yes, remember to remove any jewelry first…meatloaf is not good stuck in the prongs of a ring!  Try not to compact the mixture too much.  Drop the mixture into a plastic bag and chill for at least 4 hours if you can.  But, you can combine the ingredients, chill the mixture overnight and tomorrow, dinner is almost ready!  Just shape and bake.

This mixture is pretty soft, but the smart people over at Serious Eats have a great idea—“…I packed my meatloaf mix into a loaf pan, covered it with foil, and then inverted the whole thing onto a rimmed baking sheet, spreading out the foil so that I now had a foil-lined baking sheet with an inverted meatloaf and loaf pan on top of it. I baked this way for about half an hour—just long enough to set its shape—and then used a spatula and kitchen towels to lift off the pan. The result was a perfectly loaf-shaped meatloaf (just right for slicing into sandwiches), with all the advantages of a free-form loaf and its extra surface area.”  I followed this procedure and it’s something you might want to consider.  It worked really, really well.  Those “Serious Eats” people are so clever.

LEFTOVERS:  I’m thinking about the sandwiches I want to make.  This one has cheese, raw Vidalia onions, mustard on some really good bread.  We had this with Tomato-Corn Chowder.  And then the next evening, The Spicy Honey asked if there was any more of that soup and if there could be another meatloaf sandwich, maybe?  Of course, there can be…this sandwich was a sub with raw onion slices, meatloaf slices, a smear of pasta sauce and cheese.  I slid it under the broiler for a couple of minutes, until the meatloaf was warmed through, the bread slightly crisped and the cheese was browned and melt-y.  We think this sandwich alone is reason enough to make meatloaf…Yes, leftovers are a thing of beauty.

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