K Loaf - Korean Meatloaf with Gochujang Glaze

Oh gochujang, oh gochujang, could I possibly love you any more than I already do?
I THINK NOT!
I am slowly letting this stuff take over my life and never tire of finding ways to incorporate it into my regular recipes. All I have been able to think about all week is a korean inspired meatloaf but everyday life has conspired to thwart my desires. I even went to the store for meat so I could make it yesterday and they had no pork or beef on sale. I go to the grocery store across from The Kid's school a couple times a week early in the morning to buy meat because they mark tons of stuff down to make way for the day's fresh shipment. It's a small store and it doesn't have tons of room so every morning they mark down a crazy amount of meat - I have been getting a picnic pork roast every week for approx $2.50 but I have to get there nice and early. Yesterday, not only had all of the pork butts sold, all of the meat was gone. The only thing left that I could buy for a song was a package of chicken breasts so we had chicken last night instead. I guess I could have paid full price for my beef and my pork but that just goes against my system. The chicken was tasty enough and it was certainly a bargain so that makes it even tastier, but it wasn't my meatloaf.
I cannot buck my own system, not even for meatloaf with a gochujang glaze.



So, after looking around to see what other people have done, the only recipe that really stood out was this ridiculous looking recipe for kimchi meatloaf melts at lady and pups. I knew the boys wouldn't like it with 2 cups of kimchi in it ( I am slowly introducing kimchi into their diet and they are not totally assimilated yet) and I wanted to make the glaze more like the glaze I made for the spicy korean chicken so I changed that up too. Actually, I made a lot of changes but her recipe was my inspiration  and those sandwiches she made look incredible.

We all really loved this one. It was just a bit spicy and I enjoyed the bit of crunch provided by the scallions and red onion. I usually cook any vegetables I add in to soften them before mixing them into the meat but this time I put them in raw. All in all I am very, very happy with this meatloaf and will most definitely make this one again. If you want it really spicy, you can throw a couple of tbls of gochujang in the meatloaf itself and that would be great but I didn't want to scare them off by making it too spicy the first time.
Baby steps.

K Loaf 

inspired and adapted from ladyandpups.com

meatloaf500g ground beef
500g ground pork
1/2 cup chopped kimchi
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbls grated ginger
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbls cornstarch
1 tbls soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dashi powder
glaze2 tbls ketchup
2 tbls gochujang
1 tbls sesame oil
1 tbls rice syrup or corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 tbls sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 350F

I make my fresh bread crumbs in my bullet but you can use a food processor. Put them in a bowl and cover them with the milk and let them sit while you get all of your stuff together. Mix together the ingredients for the meatloaf - from the beef through to the  dashi powder. Don't over mix or your meat will be tough. I like to take a little pinch of the meatloaf mixture and either fry it or cook in the microwave so you can taste it and make sure you are happy with the seasoning because if you want to adjust , now is the time.
Form into two free form loaves (I like to cook two smaller loaves instead of 1 large one but you could just make one big one - you might have to adjust your cooking time though). Put the loaves onto a baking rack set over a foil lined baking tray. Brush the tops liberally with the glaze, sprinkle them with each with half of the green onions and sesame seeds and bake in the centre of the oven for about an hour or until the internal temperature is 160F. Let it rest for about 15 or 20 minutes before cutting into it.