Mom's Meat Loaf

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For some people, meat loaf is the food they ate when there was nothing left in the house, or when there was a babysitter, or when there had been a crisis and a neighbor had sent over food. At my house, though, it was a very special treat. My mom, also a terrific cook (and a great mom), had a “thing” about meat loaf: I think she considered it a bit declasse, so we had to beg her to make it. Occasionally she’d succumb to our pleas, but she couldn’t understand why we liked it so much. Now she confesses to enjoying it. And no wonder: Wait till you try this recipe. It’s denser than most meat loaves, and it tastes great the next day in a sandwich with sauteed onions and ketchup.

Ingredients

3 slices white bread, crust removed

1 cup milk

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 pound raw chorizo sausage, casing removed

1 cup finely chopped onion

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt (approximately)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried sage

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup ketchup

3 bacon strips, uncooked

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place bread in a small bowl. Pour milk over it and let the bread soak up as much liquid as it will hold.

In a large bowl, knead together beef, pork, and chorizo. Add bread, any milk left in the bowl, onion, eggs, salt, herbs, nutmeg, and ketchup. With super-clean hands, knead until ingredients are uniformly distributed.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. On the lined sheet, mold the meat into a loaf shape, about 9 inches long. Lay bacon strips lengthwise on top. Bake 1 hour. Remove and let rest 20 minutes on a cooling rack. Transfer to a cutting board; slice and serve.

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