I must admit, I have never had meatloaf before in my life, let alone prepared one. I don’t particularly have anything against them, but they just never showed up on my plate in all the years I’ve lived in the States. So, when I saw this “Hawaiian” meatloaf and asked the significant other about whether this would be something he’d be willing to try out, his response was that he’s not a particular fan of meatloaf, simply because covering anything in ketchup doesn’t sound appealing to him. But, when I explained that crushed pineapple makes this meatloaf “Hawaiian,” his Caribbean self was intrigued and gave it a go ahead…so here we are.

While the meatloaf was deciding what it would and would not do for love in the oven, let’s move on to the sauce.

Review

The ingredients: The recipe this I-can’t-remember-any-other-Meatloaf-song-I-can-pun-you-with came from lists all the ingredients in a very neat and convenient way. In terms of ingredient availability, everything that was used today you probably either already have in your fridge/pantry or you can easily find in your local supermarket. Although the recipe suggest to either do crushed or chopped pineapple, I think smaller chunks of pineapple that cans of crushed come in are better for this recipe anyway, even though getting the pineapple juice out may be a feat.

The recipe: The recipe is very, very simple and doesn’t really need much explanation, so the minimal directions you get are truly more than enough. The post comes with the most important images you need to follow: how to combine the ingredients, how to assemble the pan, what the sauce looks like, and what the final product is. However, if you need more detail, follow 2girlsandapin as we prepared this innovative approach to a very traditional dish, since we like to take pictures of every minuscule detail!

The flavor: Since I’ve never tasted traditional meatloaf, I can’t really compare it for you, but this particular approach to meatloaf was very tasty! The significant other, who has had meatloaf before and wasn’t really a fan, said he really liked it but it definitely had the consistency of meatloaf. The meat was very tender and juicy and the sweetness of the sauce played really well with the occasional bite of pineapple in the meat. For as how quickly and easily this was prepared, I can definitely understand why meatloaf shows up on dinner tables as often as you see on the movies.

Issues: The only issues I had were that the baking time of 1 h 15 m may have been a little too long for my oven, since an hour in the edges of the meatloaf started burning a little. So, I took it out at around 1 h 5 m. I think this also allowed for the meat to cook to a medium well as opposed to what a well done burger would be like. Also, I don’t know if this is what it’s supposed to look like, but there was definitely way more sauce than needed. I would maybe cut all the sauce quantities down a bit.

Comments: The only comment I can think of is that this was a very easy and straightforward recipe to follow and for the amount of time it took to make, it tasted fabulous. Have you had meatloaf before? Would you say my meatloaf experience with this recipe rings true to a more traditional approach? Do you think adding maybe some garlic, celery, and/or carrots would work?

Final Verdict: This recipe’s yum factor is a  good 8.5/10. I don’t know if I can call myself a meatloaf lover from now on, but this particular one was totally delish.