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Mom's Meatloaf

A ground meat loaf with cracker crumbs, tomato sauce, and ketchup, baked until cooked.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and ketchup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mom's Meatloaf

Oven350°F
Timeabout 45 minutes to 1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Crush a handful of salted crackers in a zip-lock bag.

  2. Season the ground meat with salt and seasoned salt in a bowl.

  3. Sprinkle the crushed cracker crumbs over the seasoned meat.

  4. Mix the meat and cracker crumbs together by hand.

  5. Add about half of the tomato sauce and mix again by hand.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the meat mixture in a pan and flatten it slightly.

  2. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the top, ensuring it covers the entire surface.

  3. Top with a couple of squirts of ketchup, covering the entire top.

  4. Bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

477Calories
14 gProtein
1 gFat
100 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sauce + ketchuptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Tomato + ketchuptop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together754 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ground chuck or ground round
Provides the protein and fat that form the body and juiciness of the loaf.
Salted crackers
Crumbs absorb meat juices and fat, keeping the loaf tender and moist.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and acidity, and its sugars help the top brown as it bakes.
Ketchup
Forms a sweet, tangy glaze on the surface as it bakes.

The step that matters

Mixing the meat and crumbs by hand. Mixing just until combined keeps the texture tender. Overworking ground meat binds the proteins tightly, making the loaf dense and firm.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, ketchup):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, ketchup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More meatloaf recipes

Veal 23Turkey 7Beef 5Beef or Veal 4Pork 4Spiced Veal 4 See all 23 →

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