Saturday, April 07, 2012

Railroad Wings

I'm one of those "freaks" that didn't really care for meatloaf when I was a kid.  I'm not sure I even appreciated it until my early 20s - you know, 3-4 years ago.

I know folks (Morty, 710, etc) who are good about ordering meatloaf when we go out, but I can only think of one time I've done that. Meatloaf, to me, is home cooking, not something I want out. I fully recognize that is just me.

A petite filet with Bearnaise is my comfort food.  Yes, I'm high maintenance and expensive. I might be easy, but I ain't cheap.

Anyways, it is hard to make a bad meatloaf, but it can be challenging to make a really good one. I like my mother's, but she can't tell you what's in it, as she makes it differently each time. I think she just clears out crap in the refrig and mixes it all together. You get enough ketchup and/or  Kitchen Bouquet and you're good to go.

But I "stumbled" upon a new recipe that I tried last night. Yes, stumble is in quotes, as I read Bo's blog daily and he is seemingly my go-to blog for dinner food.

His Railroad Meatloaf (you can get the recipe at the hyperlink) seemed to be the answer to my bland-ish meatloaf dilemma. I was greatly intrigued the the bacon, vegetables, brown sugar and especially the red pepper flakes.

Anymore, I'm putting red pepper flakes in and on everything I make. Maybe my taste buds are dying, but I need or want that kick and heat. And it works for this recipe, even at only a half teaspoon for two one-pound meatloaves.

The meatloaf is super simple to prepare, even though it seemingly has a lot of ingredients. Chopping takes more time than the rest of the prep - then it's just cook time. Ok, clean time took a little bit, but not much.

 This was the cooking of the carrots, celery, bacon, onions, garlic and then the wet ingredients. It gets incorporated into the meat after it cools. 

The recipe makes two one-pound loaves. We cooked one and froze one for another time. 

The result?  It was good.  Was it great?  No..........but I'm not sure that is anyone's fault.  First, my expectations were high.  And we have that temperamental 113 year old oven. Ok, ok, it might be 50 years old. I love it and I hate it.

Keeping a steady temp was tough and all of the sudden, instead of the meat being 165 degrees, it was closer to 200.  Yikes.

Still the flavor was nice, but honestly, I liked the consistency, or the chunkiness of it all. Yes, the celery, carrots and onions were finely diced, but still it made for something more than cooked ground beef to bite into.

I may have also cooked the veggie mixture till it got too thick, but I'm not sure.


It's good recipe and I think I have room to improve preparing it.  First step - how I cook the second one.

But yes, it is hard to make a bad meatloaf, and I didn't.



Song by: Patty Griffin

8 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I made this the day after Bo posted it - it was very easy and my mom just kept saying WOW! She loved it! I gave the second loaf to my sister and she and her family LUv'd it too! Me - I can't stand ground beef (hamburgers included) so I didn't even taste it. Actually, I only like about 40% of the food I cook - makes it kinda tricky but people seem to like the results.

Morty said...

I had the meatloaf sandwich at Surly Girl yesterday.

cb said...

I can honestly say that I HATED "meatloaf night" when I was growing up. Yuck!

Later on I have gained an appreciation for it-- but only because it's like a "template dish"... there's a basic form and infinite variations. Like chili.

I sorta want to try to make one... but I'm still trying to figure out what all I would put in it.

don said...

I also hated meatloaf when my mom made it. It was always the sort of meal of last resort when the cupboards were bare of my mother was bored. I order it occasionally in restaurants however I never make it at home because I can't bring myself to purchase ground beef. It is so disgusting.

Ur-spo said...

As a boy I never liked meatloaf either. I thought it was because my mother made it badly. I should revisit a 'proper meatloaf' and see if it tastes any better

I could swear meatloaf by definition had a hard boiled egg in it, like a prize. but no one seems to support this.

anne marie in philly said...

I hate meatloaf. period. I don't care who makes it.

give me a plain hamburger any day!

Unknown said...

My mother only made meatloaf once or twice, and it wasn't very good. I think it was because of my strong dislike of onions when I was a kid. I made it for partner once and he loved it, and I was completely unimpressed.

I may have to try this recipe. Know you've made Partner a very happy man!