I have had a few forays into making Japanese food before on this blog. For instance, the egg foo yung that I attempted to feed my family. (I’m not sure they’ve forgiven me for that yet.) By contrast, this looked relatively tame. I got to choose my own meatloaf recipe for starters. I like to use this one by Ina Garten. Or something sort of like it. Let’s be honest here, until I started this blog, I very rarely ever followed a recipe exactly.
I made this meatloaf on a day when I was feeling extra prepared for the next day. The thought was that if I had my menu planned for the week and some of the meals prepped and ready to go, life would be easier. I was so proud of myself that I forgot the rules of meat and pineapple until it was too late. This rule was mentioned before when talking about Tropical Delight Salad. Pineapple contains enzymes that cause it to do things like tenderize meat. It’s great for things like al pastor or anytime you are trying to tenderize a large piece of meat. It’s not good for ground meat. (I used to make al pastor frequently in my crock pot.)
Ok, so that being said, we aren’t talking about anything that was majorly disgusting. The meatloaf didn’t turn into slime or anything like that, it was just a bit softer than I like. If you do need to make this ahead, don’t add pineapple juice while making the meatloaf.
I suppose that now you are wondering about taste. Pineapple teriyaki meatloaf is pretty delicious. It makes a nice change from a ketchup and brown sugar top. The leftovers make a fun sandwich. We served it with mashed potatoes and Marinated Mixed Vegetable Salad.
