Last Night -- Venison Meatloaf!

We had venison meatloaf with sauteed green beans and mashed potatoes.  The meatloaf was pretty good, in fact it was better than any other meatloaf I have ever made.  My spouse hunts deer, and just a few weeks ago, he brought home a quartered venison which we tried our best to cut into steaks and roasts. Suffice to say, I wound up grinding up a lot of the meat with my Kitchen Aid.  I did not add any fat to the venison mix, so it seemed like a good idea to use some ground pork to cut the leanness a bit. This makes one large meatloaf--maybe 8 servings. You can, of course substitute lean ground beef for the venison.


Meatloaf
1 lb ground venison
1 lb ground pork
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper or paprika
1 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground is categorically the best)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup matzo meal or cracker crumbs (reduce salt if using your own saltine cracker crumbs)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tbs sugar (optional, for a crisp glaze on top)

Mix the egg, milk, worcestershire sauce, ketchup and the dry seasonings until well blended.  Crumble the meats, onion, and matzo meal in a large mixing bowl.  Avoid squishing the meat mixture--I use a large metal spatula to cut into the meats and onions, rather than stirring.

Add the egg mixture and blend together, again, don't squish it!

Turn into a 5x10 loaf pan, or two smaller loaf pans.  Sprinkle with sugar.  If using the large pan, bake at 350 degrees F for one hour; for the smaller pans, say, 45 minutes.  The meat loaf should be nicely browned on the top, and sizzling in the pan.