meat loaf

my mother used to make meat loaf all the time when i was young.

I do not remember everything exactly but you ( at least she did) used crackers, green onions, white onions, ketchup, and seasoned bread crumbs.


It was the nastiest tasting dish she ever made...

Second only to the horrid smelling tuna patties..

Meatloaf to me is everything but the kitchen sink.
Whatever you like to put in it.

I'll take the leanest hamburger I can get,
An egg
Milk
A few slices of torn into bits bread (big or small bits)
Chopped up onion and green pepper
Garlic or garlic powder, salt and pepper
A bit of some kind of sauce....crystal hot sauce, BBQ sauce, some kind of Asian.

Mush it all together in a big bowl, let it sit a few minutes. Come back and access the damage. If it's too loose to form a loaf, add some bread or bread crumbs. If it's too dry, add a bit of milk.

Make a loaf and put in a cassarole dish. If you want put a tomato sauce, ketchup or something else on the top.

I don't think it's supposed to turn out the same way twice.

stick a meat thermometer in it and in the oven. After an hour keep checking the thermometer until it's a bit more than rare on the inside, then take it out and let it finish cooking while it's resting. I like it slightly pink in the middle.

BTW, even better than meatloaf, are the meat loaf sammiches afterwards

Mine ends up looking something like this...



If you're all anal and perfect and everything I guess it would look more like this...



Mine looks tastier IMO.

Meatloaf sammiches is the food of the Gods ! ! !

If you'd like my meat loaf sammiches....get a load of what I made yesterday, a damn pork loan marinated for an hour in Kens Steakhouse Raspberry Walnut Dressing.

Just poked holes in the meat, let in sit in the dressing in a zip lock bag, then cooked at 375 for about half an hour.

Better than any frou frou 8 thousand ingredient meal

You take slices of the leftover pork loin on a hoagie roll, spoon some on that raspberry juice what cooked with the pork....doesn't get any better.

One and a half pounds of lean ground beef.

One half cup commercial bread crumbs, or about 30-40 unsalted crackers well smashed.

Two medium or small eggses, well beaten.

Four tablespoons ketchup, four tablespoons prepared yellow mustard (or substitute your mustard of choice)

Four to six cloves of garlic, either finely chopped or thinly sliced

One large onion, finely chopped.

For my spices, i prefer some dried fennel (not much) and some caraway seed crushed or finely chopped, sea salt and ground black pepper.

Wash, rinse and dry your hands thoroughly, the work the beaten egg into the ground beef, then add the wet ingredients (ketchup and mustard, and anything else you can think of that you'd like, but be sparing of "wet" ingredients, as they will make it likely to fall apart--the eggs are there to make it stick together). Squishing the meat in your fingers, and then pressing it back together makes it stick together better (as in making sausage, constantly whipping the meat breaks down proteins, which then reform, eventually making a "stiffer" product; this works when making hamburger patties by hand, too--the more you work them, the better they hold together).

Then add you bread crumbs or cracker crumbs, and your spices (don't mix the spices with the "wet" ingredients until they have been worked into the meat--otherwise it attenuates the flavor of your spices). Form into a loaf, and put in a shallow baking pan (if you have an oven safe, small metal rack to hold the meatloaf up off the bottom of the baking pan, that allows the fat to drain out; some people like the fat in the meatloaf, others not so much). Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees until inside temperature reaches 160 degrees, which is usually about an hour.

I would never mix milk in my meatloaf, but as i've never tried it, i couldn't say how it works. Chai is certainly no dummy, so it may work.

Eat the meatloaf (a few slices) by yourself--be a dog in the manger, don't share with anybody! Put the remainder in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, and cut slices off to make meat loaf sammiches, the best damned sammich in the land. Some people (who like a "juicier" meatloaf) put slices of bacon on the meatloaf whiles it's baking--i prefer to take some crisp bacon and put on the cold meatloaf in my meatloaf sammich. Once again, don't share! You did all the work, screw those other people, keep it all for yourself.

You have got to get your hands on some genuine Canadian back bacon, preferably an Ontario Peameal Bacon roast. Pour some lime juice onto the roast, the pour enough tomato juice over the roast to leave about a quarter inch in the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 for about an hour or an hour and a half, occassionally spooning the tomato juice over the roast to keep it moist.

It almost (but not quite) matches a meatloaf sammich.

I use pretty much the same method for pork loin. I'll boil up some potatoes in advance, and put them in the casserole with the pork loin (or peameal roast), along with a couple of onions slice into wedges and an apple or two slice into wedges. Throw away the onions and apples, and then enjoy (The Girl eats the apples, but i'll pass).

see lovejoy.

everyone's got their own method.

The boy can cook?. Meatloaf sammich oh yeh. I like mine a little hot saucy with a ketchup base. Gooood .

you wrap yours in bacon, thats good makes a really good samwich. REally good with a side of baked beans.

I skip the bacon and use 15% fat meat, or often do. I don't eat that much meat at a time and I like it to taste good (to me). My meatloaf always varies, and I've liked most of them I've made well enough. I screwed up recently by trying a mix of pork and turkey burger. Never do that.

I've posted the recipe to a favorite restaurant (72 Market Street) meatloaf, more complicated that what I do, but a meal extraordinaire with perfect mashed potatoes and cooked spinach.
Link - http://www.thatsmyhome.com/momsdiner/beef/market.htm

You'll find lots of meatloaf recipes in other threads here. Just type "meatloaf" into the tag searching field on the New Posts page.

Here's one list of topics with the meatloaf tag. There are a few others.

http://able2know.org/tag/meatloaf/

Okay, mine may not be as fancy as everyone elses, but it's darn good!

1-1/2 pounds ground beef (just use regular 80/20 meat)
1 egg
1/2 cup uncooked old fashioned oatmeal
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
ketchup
2 tbsp. oil (vegetable or canola)

Okay, so you first take the onion and bell pepper and saute over medium heat in about 2 tbsp. oil. Cook until just tender.

Mix together all ingredients EXCEPT ketchup. Use your hands - spoons just don't work well enough. Place in a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. After 1 hour, carefully drain off excess drippings. Top with ketchup (you decide how much you want to use), and return to oven for another 15 minutes.

Let it stand for about 10 minutes and serve. It's delicious with mashed potatoes and green beans!

You have got to get your hands on some genuine Canadian back bacon, preferably an Ontario Peameal Bacon roast.

I live in England, ( the old one not the new one) the only way I could get my hands on the above would be to have it delivered by private jet

Shelf life
REAL Canadian Bacon can be kept frozen in excess of 12 months. Upon thawing, it is good for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator. If thawing has occurred during shipment and product is cool to the touch (reject if warm, though we haven't had one yet!), you can do one of two things:

Cook and enjoy!
Refreeze (this is a salt cured pork product) and keep frozen for 12 months.
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Naw, you can order it.

So, how did your meatloaf turn out?

Look around online--there are places which ship peameal roasts . . . whether or not they ship them across the pond, i couldn't say. There is a company in the United States which ships them, and keeps the price down by making the peameal roasts at their facility in the United States. It is entirely possible that there is someone in the UK making back bacon roasts for shipment there. It wouldn't be that hard. The bacon rashers (nasty things) that are served there are taken from the same cut of meat. It would only be necessary for someone to take the loin, before it is sliced for rashers, and a pickle it in sweet brine, then roll it in yellow pea meal or in corn meal.

Here is an easy meatloaf recipe that I like to make. Mix hamburger with a can of vegetable soup. Then place it in a bread pan. Add bacon on the top and add ketchup on top of the bacon. It's easy and yummy!