Hello! My name is Shannon Overmiller. I’m the executive chef at The Majestic in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

Today, we will be preparing for you home style meatloaf. This is a rustic meatloaf that we’ll be preparing with wheat potatoes and mushroom meatloaf gravy.

For the meatloaf I will walk you through the entire process of making the meatloaf. One, how to use different kinds of meat in this process. We tried a different blend of four. How to mix all the ingredients together? How to test the meat in the pan? It’s just a small amount sautéed to check seasoning. How to form the meat into loaves in a baking pan? Or on a sheet tray. How to make the tomato glaze. How to cover the meat with the glaze? How to bake the meatloaf? How to make the wheat potatoes? And how to make the meatloaf gravy? I’ll also show you a nice way to present it at home, or if you’re serving it, on how to plate it up.

So we can now go through a light list of the tools that will be necessary to get started. Some of the tools is not too much and you can also improvise for things that you may have at home, of course it’s different in a restaurant quality grade. You will need, for the meatloaf, you’ll need a mixing bowl by hand or you can use a mixer, it will fit into a small kitchen aid, excuse me. Or you can just use a bowl and use your hands, and really vigorously you, you mix it with your hands as mostly people do. You also need either baking loaf pan or a flat sheet tray to bake with but then you’ll need a piece of paper to line it, as well. For the gravy, you'll need a saucepot, a strainer, and a ladle, and spoons to taste, things of that nature. And that’s pretty much all you need for that. You will need a couple of knives. A serrated edge is good for the meatloaf or any knife that you may want to use is fine. For the mashed potatoes, you’ll need a potato ricer. And you’ll need for that as well a pot to do the potatoes.

One thing that’s also important to remember when baking or cooking any dish is safety issues. You must always be careful when around sharp knives. Fire, flame, you know, even heavy objects can fall and break your toe, so that’s why we wear special shoes in the kitchen. Be mindful when cutting things to keep your fingers out of the way of the blade. Be mindful when dealing with fire, you know, to really pay attention to your surroundings.

A little bit about myself, my career here at The Majestic is now going on 1 year. We’ve opened successfully for 1 year. And it’s just been a wonderful experience, and we were very fortunate. And I have a lot of good mentors in my life to bring me to this position, and I hope to be continuing to do it for quite some a bit longer. So let’s begin making our meatloaf.