The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

litany are such colorful offerings as Chili Hot Top Meat Loaf
(it’s flipped upside down and glazed with Heinz Chili
Sauce), Sunshine Meat Loaf (that’d be a loaf topped with
ketchup-filled peach halves), and two—count ’em, two—
variations on Banana Meat Loaf (one with green bananas
mashed into the meat, the other topped with bacon and ripe
banana).
With such a varied and prolific precedent set, you may be
disappointed to find out that I offer but a single, lonely
recipe for plain old all-American meat loaf and not even one
recipe that combines ground beef with bananas. But while
Nickerson is unparalleled in his prolificacy, I plan on
besting him in thoroughness.
You see, Americans are proud of their meat loaf, and
rightfully so. It’s one of our national dishes and deserves a
place up on the pedestal, rubbing shoulders with the likes of
hamburgers, barbecue, and hot dogs. I mean, it’s a loaf
made out of meat. What could be more decadent-yet-
comforting than that? The very best meat loaf should be
tender and moist, with a distinctly soft but never mushy
texture. “Velvety” and “rich” should come to mind when
tasting it, tender enough to slice with a fork but firm enough
to pick up that bite without it breaking. It should be a
sponge for moisture, oozing juices when you eat it but not
leaving a puddle on your plate. It should be deeply rich and
meaty in flavor and savory, with just a hint of vegetable
undertones to complement and lighten the slice. But make
no mistake: meat loaf is about the meat. And, of course, it
needs to reheat well for sandwiches.
We already know quite a bit about how ground meat