For this Meatloaf I used 75/25 Ground Chuck. I'm a meat guy and I love rare hamburger so this works for me. I would use a mix of ground pork, and leaner ground beef if your looking for more of a dryer, healthier option. If you want traditional Hawaiian loaf, add Spam!
I also used thick cut Applewood smoked bacon. I like fatty bacon. I would use center cut for less fat, if heart attacks aren't for you.
Once again I don't measure. If you want your meatloaf to have more bacon, then add more bacon. If you want more onion then add more onion. This is just how I do it to give you idea's of your own. You know your palette better than I do.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs or so of Ground beef, ground pork, or whatever meat you want
- 1 package of bacon of choice
- 1 whole onion (white, red, green, yellow, pink, whatever color you want)
- Worcestershire sauce
- Coarse Sea Salt (it's what I use, if you use iodized, or salt from deicing your driveway it's cool)
- Cracked Pepper (you know where I'm going with this.. it's just pepper)
- Diced Jalapeno's (As many as you want. If you want to shit fire the next day use 20. Hell! use habanero's)
- EVOO just a little to coat the meat and help it brown
- Diced pineapples (again, it's up to you. If you love pineapple, then go crazy!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to somewhere around 400 degrees
- I'm making enough for myself, my wife, and our 6 year old. So I'm using a medium size bread pan, and a smaller one without peppers for our son. I suggest whatever pan you use. I would line it with saran wrap and fill it with raw meat to see how much you need. Then you can put the rest away for tomorrow's hamburger or whatever.
- Dice up your onions, bacon, and jalapenos (whatever size you want. I would remove the seeds unless you have the desire for stomach ulcers)
- Heat up a skillet with a little EVOO to brown the bacon, onion, pepper mixture.
- Once the bacon, onion, pepper mix is browned to your liking, I would strain the grease, and run it under cold water to cool them off for handling.
- Put your raw hamburger in a large bowl and add the bacon, onion, pepper mix. Add salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and mix well with your hands until everything is blended.
Note: I know, I know! No breadcrumbs, no raw eggs? I'm not sure what person started the hoax that you needed to add all these things as binders, but you just don't need them! It's a "meat" loaf, not a "filler" loaf. You want to taste the meat not a bunch of bread and stuff. If you want bread, make a hamburger, lol
- Once your loaf is mixed up return to the bread pans lined with saran wrap and stuff them with the mixture as good as you can. This is your mold so make sure you put a little muscle into it! If you do it like a sissy, you going to have cracks and it will fall apart and probably burn your house down.
- Now that I have my loafs in there pans, we need to find a proper tool to cook them on. With all the fat from the bacon and the meat. I would highly suggest you use a deep pan with a a grill that leaves you enough room to fill with at least a 1/2 inch of water. What's the water for? 1. It keeps the grease from catching fire 2. It also steams the meat which helps it cook and makes it more juicy
- You don't need to spray it with that cooking spray crap! there's plenty of fat to keep it from sticking.
- Very carefully flip your loafs over onto the pan and remove the pans, and the saran wrap as the image below shows.
- In the oven they go! I used around 2 pounds so I'm looking at a little over an hour at 400. Now this is only ground beef so if mine is under cooked. I'm cool with that! it's beef! If your using pork or chicken. I would highly suggest using a meat thermometer to achieve a safe temperature for your meats.
The Glaze
- Brown Sugar
- BBQ Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Pineapple preserves
- While your loaf is baking for half the evening! Combine a whole jar of Pineapple preserves with the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium until it's hot and semi thick and glassy. I would play with the ingredients until you achieve your personal sweetness level.
- In the last 10 minutes of the baking process. Pull out the loafs and pour the glaze all over the loafs until fully covered.
- Once your loafs have a wonderful crust and have achieved a safe internal temperature for human consumption. It's time to carefully remove them from the oven and transfer them to a cutting board. Let the loafs rest for about 4 or 5 minutes to finish the cooking process and let the juices properly distribute and settle.
- Slice these bad boys up and serve them up with some rice or sweet potatoes! Enjoy! Top with fresh parsley or chopped green onions!
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