Meat Loaf

[pstamler]

Hi folks:

Last Friday I had the urge to make a meat loaf. It's been colder than a well-digger's ass here; more important, I was facing a very busy week and wanted a source of quick sandwiches while preparing for the Christmas Fessanjoon.

Most of the time, meat loaves are bound together by an egg, but I'm allergic to eggs. So here's what I did:

MEAT LOAF

Brown and caramelize in canola oil:

1 medium-large sweet onion, chopped (see note 1)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix together:

1-1/2 lbs. ground round, pref. freshly ground
1/2 cup matzo meal
The browned onion
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. barbecue sauce (see note 2)
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 stalks celery, chopped

You'll probably need to sprinkle in some more matzo meal to help hold it together. Shape into a loaf, place in draining loaf pan (see note 3), bake 50 minutes or so; it should be nicely browned on the outside. Let sit for a couple of minutes after removing from the oven, then slice. Serve hot, or cold as a sandwich.

NOTES: (1) Really brown it, preferably in a non-Teflon frying pan (I use cast-iron). Don't "cook until transparent"; BROWN the little suckers, uncovered, until they caramelize! (2) The first time I did this, last year, I used Full Circle organic BBQ sauce, which doesn't seem to contain any non-food items and is lower in salt than most. But it doesn't seem to exist any more. This time, I used Stubb's. (3) This is a great gadget -- a meat loaf pan with holes in the bottom and an external pan to catch the dripping fat. I got mine at a mail-order tchotchke place which seems not to exist any more; there are similar things listed at http://www.nextag.com/meatloaf-pan/search-html . They're all non-stick; mine isn't, and it's not really an issue.

You'd expect the fat-draining pan to give a dry meat loaf, but it doesn't -- the thing stays moist throughout, and remains so for at least a week. On the third or fourth day, cut off a slice and fry it in a very small amount of oil, then put that on a sandwich.

Peace,
Paul

 

[okgb]

A good portion of the first one featured
Todd Rundgren's Utopia

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

[Tim Campbell]

I too was hoping for a Todd thread (and his little dog too) or at least another one about pizza.

Merry Christmas to all.

 

[PRR]

> bound together by an egg, but I'm allergic to eggs
> matzo meal to help hold it together.

When I was young, we thought I had an egg allergy. (Still not clear: I can down a mess of eggs no problem, but tine-test and antibiotics give allergic reaction.)

Mom learned to cook 100 miles west of you (halfway between Mexico MO and California MO), so her meatloaf had eggs. When we tried to cut all eggs from my diet, she tried with just breadcrumbs. Matzo was rare where we were then, and not in our kitchen, but one of the big bread companies had just introduced "convenient" bag-of-crumbs. That did not work too well. For her next try, we found that Wonder Bread torn in small bits and used liberally does give a pretty cohesive loaf.

Yes, WB is an epitome of non-food "food". But in a meat mash-up, it does not come out as foamed sweet-starch. And it dang sure has no actual egg.

Then the allergist got a tine-reaction on wheat. Imagine trying to feed a growing boy NO egg and NO wheat in the days before the fru-fru holistic foods craze. Especially when eating-out. Even fish was battered and fried unless you asked. I used to like rice, still do, but that week of very little but rice was rough.

JUST beef? G-Grandpaw the pig-butcher is rolling over. Mom tended to beef, veal, and pork mixed 33:33:33, more or less. Supposed to be better that way. I'd have to see some wonderful pork before I'd dilute my cow, and as for veal....

Fat content of the meat can be important. Too much OR too little fat won't bind and can be bland.

Not sure what skim milk does for you. Is there much binding action in that little splash?

> pan with holes

That was old when my parents got married. One of the items a Missou housewife had to get as a wedding present (along with the Folley Fork).

> non-stick; mine isn't, and it's not really an issue.

No. Meat-loving sons, or dogs, will quickly pick-off any sticky-bits, wash the oils, it's fine.

My current housemate was traumatized by VERY bad meatloaf from her mom. Won't have the stuff in the house. She did let me make it once, admitted it was not bad, but could not get over childhood revulsion.

 

[pstamler]

Mom learned to cook 100 miles west of you (halfway between Mexico MO and California MO), so her meatloaf had eggs. When we tried to cut all eggs from my diet, she tried with just breadcrumbs. Matzo was rare where we were then, and not in our kitchen, but one of the big bread companies had just introduced "convenient" bag-of-crumbs. That did not work too well. For her next try, we found that Wonder Bread torn in small bits and used liberally does give a pretty cohesive loaf.

Yes, WB is an epitome of non-food "food". But in a meat mash-up, it does not come out as foamed sweet-starch. And it dang sure has no actual egg.

I believe it; that's one of two things for which Wonder Bread is useful. (The other is cleaning typewriters.) By coincidence, my sweetheart Rebecca's family lives in Mexico, MO, which is where I go for Thanksgiving. They still don't sell matzo meal.

[snip]

JUST beef? G-Grandpaw the pig-butcher is rolling over. Mom tended to beef, veal, and pork mixed 33:33:33, more or less. Supposed to be better that way. I'd have to see some wonderful pork before I'd dilute my cow, and as for veal....

Yeah, just beef. I'm with you on that.

Fat content of the meat can be important. Too much OR too little fat won't bind and can be bland.

For sure. This time I actually used ground sirloin, low-fat but not so low as to be tasteless.

Not sure what skim milk does for you. Is there much binding action in that little splash?

Not much, no, but it does soak into the matzo meal and helps keep the interior moist.

My current housemate was traumatized by VERY bad meatloaf from her mom. Won't have the stuff in the house. She did let me make it once, admitted it was not bad, but could not get over childhood revulsion.

I sympathize. I hope she'll give it another try; she's missing a treat.

Peace,
Paul

 

[craptical]

Ahh... I love meat loaf! Definitely qualifies for The Food META! ;D

 

[shabtek]

don't let your meat loaf

 

[okgb]

yep meatloaf & liver [ and kraft dinner ]
things i don't like to eat today
the scaring of a less afluent generation

 

[Tim Campbell]

My Christmas meatloaf story goes like this:

One Christmas not long after Bat Out Of Hell got big I got a gig with my writing partner to write an album for a band called Crack The Sky at the Barn at Bearsville studios.

In the middle of the night the door light went off meaning someone wanted in. It turned out to be our cook. We hadn't come to dinner and so she had made something for us (not meatloaf).

It was then we saw a tour bus had pulled up to the residence beside. It was Meatloaf and his band stopping over for the night.

The next day when we finally got up we went out and tossed a frisbee with him and his band.

Nice guys.

Meatloaf and Chrismas all in the same story.

 

[mushy]

33% beef
33% pork
33% ground lamb shoulder

First of all, pork fat improves any dish. Hands down. Second of all, lamb.

The blending of meats is one of the greatest things ever. I do it even when I make burgers. Also, I notice a lack of garlic in your recipe.

 

[PRR]

> I notice a lack of garlic in your recipe.

Missouri cooking does not do garlic. Onions are radical enough.

BUT I do now recall that we often threw bacon on top. Also when roasting turkey, and very often crumbled into green beans.

I just passed a mention of Boone County Ham in a Nero Wolfe story. (It was found in Lily's freezer on her Montana ranch, which shows that girl does not understand why Boone County Ham is the way it is.)

 

[pstamler]

Well, what do you expect from a gal brought up by a guy who made a fortune building sewers in New York? At least she had the ham, even if she abused it.

Wolfe wouldn't have done that, of course.

Peace,
Paul