BOURBON-AND-COKE MEATLOAF SANDWICH w/ FRIED EGG AND BLACK PEPPER GRAVY, Smoke and Pickles, pg. 64
So, this is on repeat at my house. And Mr. Shark- who has bad childhood memories of eating too much meatloaf growing up, LOVES this meatloaf and will eat it out of the pan if I let him. If the meatloaf is a great melody, the full sandwich is a whole symphony in your mouth.
First, you saute onions, celery, and garlic in butter until soft. Then you add bacon and button mushrooms until they are soft. Take the mixture off the heat and let cool to room temperature. Throw it into a bowl.
Next, you add ground beef, bread crumbs- which I subbed out for low carb friendly stuff which doesn’t bind as well as bread crumbs sadly, egg, egg yolk, ketchup, coke, bourbon, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper into the bowl with the aromatics and bacon/mushrooms. Mix until evenly blended. Stuff into a loaf pan. He recommends a 9X5. But I think this will also fit into an 8in. one as well.
Prepare the glaze by mixing ketchup, soy sauce, and brown sugar together. Slather it on top of the loaf.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Carefully tip the loaf pan and get any drippings out. I had 90% beef so I didn’t have a full cup of pan drippings. You could use more chicken stock or even beef stock as well, I think. That’s what I did. I just added in more stock. So, to make the gravy, you melt more butter and whisk in some flour to make a roux-ish base. He has you add in the drippings/stock right away, but I like to cook off the flour for a few minutes. Not to get color but mostly to cook out the raw flour taste. Bring it all to a simmer and cook for a few minutes. Add salt, black pepper, and a little lemon juice. Turn off heat and keep gravy warm until ready to use.
Unmold the loaf. And slice into about 1/4 slices. I like mine thicker so I do 1/2 or so.
Fry a egg. Toast some bread. Cut up some tomatoes.
Smear some mayo on the toast, top with meatloaf, and then tomato. Lay your fried egg on top of the tomato. And then drizzle the gravy over it all. Add some chopped parsley. Eat immediately.
This was so good and I was so hungry that I took a really bad photo of the meatloaf. When I went back to make another sammie… the spouse had EATEN ALL THE MEATLOAF. So sorry for the crap photo.