My mother never had the opportunity to learn serious cooking, as our family was 'on the road' the 1st 8-9 years of her marriage. She did basic stuff, and managed pretty well.....

except for meatloaf.

Meatloaf was a fairly cheap thing to fix in the 1940s & 1950s, and there are many easy ways to do it... but Mom always managed to make it into a dense, hard to chew mass. I used to tell people that one could take a 1/4" slice and slap an enemy across the face with it.

Her secret? She never 'quite' believed her recipe on how many bread crumbs to add. She'd mix things up, look at it, and decide "it needs a little bit more". It came out pretty bland and tough. My brother & I would douse it with ketchup and manage to eat it... ketchup made lots of stuff palatable for kids.

When I left home, my wife suggested meatloaf, and I decided to wing it! I did some basic stuff in some recipe and went light on additives, and voilà! decent meatloaf!