A warming and nostalgic escape from this perpetual rain. With a southern-tinged playlist to boot.

Serves 4-6

750g beef mince

250g pork mince

2 finely chopped shallots

1 clove garlic, crushed

75g breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

1 teaspoon paprika, or thereabouts

A few shakes of tabasco

2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme leaves

Salt and pepper

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Preheat the oven to 180C and boil the kettle.

Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly with your hands. If you are feeling particularly pernickety, fry a little of the mixture and taste for seasoning. Otherwise trust your instincts, ignore all the salt naysayers, and season the hell out of the mix.

Push your mixture into an oiled loaf tin, and place that tin into a small roasting dish. Pour some boiling water into the roasting dish to reach about half way up the side of the loaf tin and pop in the oven. Bake for an hour and a half.

Remove and leave to rest for 15 minutes before turning out (beware of the juices that will have pooled in the bottom of the tin) and serving. Good with baked spud and sprouts with fried chorizo.

Meatloaf-making mega mix

Thanks to Dan of Essex Eating fame for introducing me to Louis Prima – what a tune.

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What do you like to cook to? Send me your favourite cooking tunes and I’ll fire them into the next playlist.

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