The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

kind of like the old-fashioned, low-brow sweet vinegariness
of a ketchup-and-brown-sugar glaze. Draping the loaf in
bacon wouldn’t do any harm either. I still haven’t tried
topping my loaf with bananas as Mr. Nickerson so helpfully
suggested.
As he could tell you, though, the beauty of meat loaf lies
in the almost infinite ways in which it can be customized. So
long as your ratio of meat to binders is correct, the sky’s the
limit as to what you can do. I sometimes add chopped
pickles or briny olives. Pine nuts or almonds also add
texture and flavor. My mother—who, I believed for a long
time, looked for ways to hide raisins where you’d least
expect them–would probably enjoy some raisins in her loaf.
I’m not one to judge.