. . . But to truly be helpful post your meatloaf
recipe and let us pick thru it. Can't fix what we can't see.

Thanks, here we go:

My personal lesson he It is not easy for a rank beginner to read a
recipe and totally understand exactly where it is going.

From "The Good Houskeeping Cookbook", 1963. My Mother's last cook book,
and the only one I still have:

Page 106 (verbatim)

quote

Meat Loaf

2 cups fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced green pepper
2 eggs
2 lbs. ground chuck
2 tbsps horse-radish
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup milk or evap milk
3/4 cup catchup

1. When it's convenient, prepare bread crumbs, minced onion, green
pepper.

2. About 1 hour before serving: Start heating oven to 400 F.

3. In large bowl, with fork, beat eggs slightly. *Lightly* mix in
chuck, then crumbs, onion, pepper. (Meat will be juicier and more
tender if you handle it as little as possible.) Add horse-radish, salt,
mustard, milk, 1/4 cup catchup; combine lightly but well.

4. In bowl, shape meat into oval loaf; transfer to shallow baking dish
or broil-and-serve platter; smooth into shapely loaf. Spread top with
1/2 cup catchup. Bake 50 min.

5. Serve from baking dish or broil-and-serve platter, pouring off excess
juices. Or, with 2 broad spatulas, lift loaf out of baking dish onto
heated platter. Spoon some of juices over meat. (Nice chilled, then
served sliced, too.) Makes 8 servings.

P.S. If you prefer a soft, moist exterior, bake meat loaf as directed in
9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. pour juices from pan after baking. Unmold meat
loaf onto cake rack; then place, right side up, on heated platter. Use
juices for making gravy if desired.

/quote

----

Here's what I did:

The chuck available in the Jewel in Chicago is pretty lean, less than 20
percent fat.
Used a jar of dried minced onion
Skipped the pepper
Put the "catchup" into the loaf but did not slather "catchup" onto the
top, since I'm not that big a fan of "catchup."
Used the loaf pan method described in the P.S. part.
Drizzled only about a third of the juices onto the loaf at then end.
The juices were cloudy and did not look all that good.

Here's what I got:

A loaf about the consistency of a brick, and it was sweet, which I
attribute to all those onions. You really can't readily tell it's made
of meat. I worked my way through it, rather than waste all that chuck,
but it's just hardly all right, only if I coat it with A-1 sauce.

Here's what I want:

A really meaty recipe, favoring beef, but I'm interested in everything.