Why did my meatloaf crack?

Chef's answer
A: Meatloaf usually cracks when the outside has cooked much more quickly than the inside. When meat cooks, the proteins contract and bind together.
Frequently asked Questions 🎓
To check for doneness without a thermometer, pierce the thigh and pay attention to the juices: if the juices run clear, it's cooked, and if the juices are reddish pink, it needs more time. A thermometer takes away all those variables. No one involved in the cooking of the meatloaf is a very good or experienced cook..
A ground beef patty or meatloaf cooked to the required temperature of 160 F (71 C) is safe. Yet under certain conditions it may still be pink in color. ... This too can combine with the myoglobin in meat, causing it to retain its pink color (though usually just on the surface) even when well cooked..
Consistency. The ideal meatloaf has a ratio of one part ground meat to one part bread. Dry bread softened in milk provides tender results, but you can also use oatmeal, crushed crackers or stuffing mix. At this ratio, the meatloaf will be wet, but not runny..
The most common reason as to why your meatloaf may fall apart is that it doesn't have enough binding agents, like eggs and breadcrumbs. These ingredients are key because they're what makes the meat mixture stick together and stay together while it cooks.
Yes, you can freeze meatloaf after preparing and shaping it. You may want to first fit some plastic cling wrap snugly into the loaf pan before putting the meat mixture in. Freeze it for about 30 minutes to an hour, pull the partially frozen loaf out and wrap it in the plastic, then in foil.
Ingredients. Brown Sugar, Onion, Salt, Spices (Including Paprika, Celery Seed, Mustard, Black Pepper), Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Soy Protein and Wheat Gluten, Garlic, Caramel Color, Malted Barley Flour, and Natural Flavor (Including Smoke)..
A-Meatloaves most often crumble when they contain too many bread crumbs or too few eggs or when they have not cooled partially in the fat-filled loaf pan in which they were baked. We suggest adding no more than 1/3 cup of crumbs for each pound of meat and adding 1 egg for each pound of meat plus an extra egg.14 Apr 1988.
A few more cooking questions 📍