A couple weeks back, I posted the recipe for Ham Loaf #3, and finally decided to give it a try. After the delicious ham loaves I tried a few years back, I had high hopes of a new dish to add to my repertoire. Plus, I did get a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer at Christmas, so I was itching to try out my new gadget anyway. I happily ground up 2 pounds of ham, portioned out 1 pound for the ham loaf and put the other pound in the fridge.

No clever caption for ground ham, sorry

I followed the recipe, it was rather easy, very much like a meatloaf. I even went out and bought pineapple juice for the glaze. I really love fresh pineapple juice. Canned pineapple juice always tastes like the can to me, and sadly, that’s what I had. Ah, well, I carried on. I made my own bread crumbs from torn up white bread. Also, for the glaze, I recommend crushing your dry mustard in a mortar and pestle so that no one gets a big ole bite of mustard. My dry mustard was clumpy and it took a lot of whisking to fully mix the glaze to my satisfaction.

Glazed and ready to bake

The recipe indicates it should be baked for 1 1/2 hours, which my mom thought was a bit long. I thought so too, so I took it out at an hour. It was cooked, but not bound together at all. If you make this recipe, definitely cook it for the full 1 1/2 hours. I had to get dinner on the table so had to microwave for a few minutes to get things the way they should be.

Time for dinner!

I served it with mashed red potatoes and mixed veggies. The ham loaf was salty, and somehow lacking in flavor. I may try another one, but it would have to be a barbeque flavor or something with some real kick. I’d call this recipe a bust, but I do have two others to try should the mood strike me.