Certainly a staple in the American kitchen and on the most-wanted food list next to mac’n cheese, Hamburger, chili con carne and fried chicken … good ole meatloaf is a cross cultural favorite.
Meatloaf seems to have German/Austrian roots which makes me secretly proud. In fact growing up in Austria meatloaf was one of my mother’s specialties that she called “Hackbraten” which means “chopped roast.” That particular recipe calls for cooked, peeled eggs in the middle. I believe the name comes from the growth rings of tree stumps visible when chopped or hacked. In Italy I enjoyed polpettone, their version of meatloaf, with the addition of sliced ham and cheese incorporated into the meatloaf mixture garnished with tomato sauce instead of ketchup which is common here in the US.
A mover & shaker dish
Meatloaf is fairly simple to make since its ingredients are plenty available -- ground meat plus a few spices with some sort of a binder. Meatloaf is the cook’s blank canvas with limitless possibilities in terms of flavor combinations.
Next to traditional meatloaf I have created many culinary combinations such as rabbit meatloaf, duck meatloaf, and even fish “meatloaf” from a snow-white pike with pink lobster tails embedded in the center – certainly a gourmet treat and technically a little far from the traditional meatloaf. Meatloaf conveys hominess and reminds us of sharing a meal with family. The different renditions certainly were movers and shakers on my menus, especially the fish version.
(pretty in a baking pan)
Constructing a Meatloaf
To me meatloaf resembles a sausage with a different texture. Whatever goes into a sausage could possibly be applied to a meatloaf recipe with the addition of some sort of binder such as bread crumbs, matzo, or wheat free options such as rolled oats, crushed rice crackers and so on.
(nicley holding up it's shape)
Meatloaf Recipe
1.25 lb ground beef*
1.25 ground chicken
3 celery stalks
1 carrot, about 5-inch long
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil such as canola or grape-seed oil
2 teaspoons salt
10 black pepper grindings
2 tablespoon tomato paste
½ oz fresh oregano
½ cup rolled oats
(all meatloaf ingredients ready to be mixed)
- Peel onions, carrot and garlic. Rinse celery with water. Chop all vegetables into 1/8-inch pieces or chop using the pulse button on a food processor.
- In a 1-gallon sized pot heat vegetable oil on medium heat setting and cook the vegetables for 20 minutes stirring every once in a while.
- Add salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of the tomato paste to the cooked vegetables. Cook mixture five minutes longer. Spread the mixture onto a plate and let cool on the kitchen counter. Transfer vegetables into the refrigerator to chill.
- Rinse oregano with water then chop finely.
- Fill a large bowl with ice. Set a second bowl over the ice and combine ground beef, ground chicken, chilled vegetables, chopped oregano and oats. Mix ingredients together using a table fork. It is important not to over-mix the ingredients for a light meatloaf texture once baked.
(close-up of my lighly mixed meatloaf) - Bake mixture in a cake loaf pan (approximately measuring 9x5x5-inch) at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or cook meatloaf until a kitchen thermometer reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit measured in the middle of the loaf.
*Chef’s Tip: When shopping for ground meats and poultry, select shoulder or shank animal parts if available, when pre-ground the expiration date should be not older than two days.
…and then there is – Bat out of Hell
I’m wondering whether a love of the dish was the inspiration for the eponymous rock star Meat Loaf? Both are quite popular. Still remembering the days of the Rocky Horror Picture Show…
