10 November 2025
Welcome friends. We have a had a beautiful fall in Chicago this year. For the past 5 years we've only had a couple of weeks of Fall weather before we plunged head-first into snow and Winter temperatures. I've been riding my bike along the lakefront and enjoying the fall foliage. It distracts me from the presence of government agents, and the hostile treatment of humans.
This is a recipe that I make on repeat but hadn't written down. When I started making meatloaf, I used the recipe on the back of an oatmeal container. It used oats instead of breadcrumbs. My grandmother used crackers that she pounded into crumbs with a rolling pin. I was trying to make something completely different from hers. I love to tinker with a recipe, so at some point I switched to bread crumbs, because they were easy to find pre-made, and they gave the meatloaf more structure. Eventually, I settled on panko crumbs because they were somewhere in between using crackers and breadcrumbs.
I think a meatloaf should be more than one protein. I combine ground turkey and ground beef for this recipe. I used ground sirloin for a long time, but one day I couldn't find any sirloin so I used ground round. To my surprise I liked the texture of the meatloaf better, so I've been using that combination ever since.
Years ago I was working through a french cookbook and I decided that I needed a terrine. I eventually found one and spent a lot of money on it. I never made any of the terrine recipes, but I've been using my terrine for meatloaf ever since. This may not fit in a loaf pan. When that happens, I make mini-meatballs with the extra mixture.
I like to serve this with a little tomato sauce. I also like to roast some vegetables on a sheet pan to serve with it.
Meatloaf
20 min. prep time | 1 hr 10 min bake time
Ingredients
serves 4 to 6
- about 1 lb ground turkey
- about 1 lb ground round or 80/20 blend
- 1 Tbl balsamic vinegar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp mushroom powder
- 1/3 cup dried panko crumbs
Directions
preheat the oven to 400° F.
place the ground meats in a large bowl. Sprinkle the vinegar over top of the meats.
beat the egg lightly with a fork in a small bowl and set aside.
add the spices, cumin thru mushroom powder, to the meat and use your hands to blend it all together.
press the meat mixture to the bottom of the bowl and use your fingers to poke the surface. Pour the egg over the meats and knead the mixture until the egg is well incorporated.
add the panko crumbs and knead the mixture until the crumbs are well incorporated. You should be able to form a loaf with the mixture. Place the meatloaf in a large loaf pan or small casserole dish. Gently press the loaf into the pan to remove any air pockets. Sprinkle some balsamic vinegar over the top of the loaf. Cover the top of the pan; use aluminum foil if you don't have a lid. Place the pan in the oven for 40 minutes.
remove the cover from the loaf pan. Rotate the meatloaf 180 degrees and return it to the oven for another 30 minutes.
remove the meatloaf from the oven. Cover the loaf pan, and let the meatloaf rest for 5 to 10 minutes, to reabsorb some of the juices, before slicing.