Sunday, October 26, 2014

Crumb by Crumb

Oh, I've made meat loaf before.

You have seen it here. I made Bo's Railroad Meatloaf. I've made others too.

But I was searching for dinner ideas - as there are only so many times you can make chicken, onions and peppers.

710 asked for meatloaf. And while it's never been a must-have for me, I like it, but I liked the idea of someone else coming up with a dinner selection.

Screw shopping, cooking or clean-up. It's the coming up with the 'what to have' for dinner that I find the most undesirable. I've inherited that gene from my mother.

So meatloaf it was. And since my mother never made it the same way twice - though it always tasted the same - I have that gene too. Each time is at least slightly different.

pre-heat oven to 350

1.5lb ground chuck
1lb ground pork
1T - olive oile
3 cups - chopped yellow onion
2 large eggs
3 T -  whatsthishere Worcestershire sauce
1.5T - tomato paste
1/3 cup - chicken stock
1/2 cup - dried / plain bread crumbs
salt
pepper
ketchup

In a skillet, soften onions for 8-10 minutes.  Off heat, add/mix chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Let cool slightly.

Add bread crumbs and beaten eggs to the meat mixture. 

Add onion mixture and salt and pepper to the meat and mix together with a fork. Do not use hands and compress the meat. 

Spread ketchup on top of your formed loaf...which is on a baking sheet. 

Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours (or internal temp of 160). 
I had a pan of water on the rack below the meatloaf so it wouldn't crack. 

I served with mashed potatoes, as is the norm with meatloaf.



This dish worked and it didn't. It needed more seasoning. I'm not sure how one tastes raw meat mixture to see if there's enough salt and pepper in there - but there wasn't. Maybe some additional tomato paste would have worked. Or red pepper flakes.

710 loved it, so that was good. I liked it.

While the water pan worked for the loaf not cracking, I kind of like it cracked and a little crusty. My loaf was tender and moist. The fork mixing also made it less dense....which in theory is good, but it's not how I know meatloaf to be.

Prep time was simple and easy. Clean-up was a breeze, and all done well before the meal came out of the oven. Hell, well before 710 even go home. And there is plenty left for another meal or two - including meatloaf sandwiches, which are truly underrated.



Song by: Rufus Wainwright

4 comments:

Buddy Bear said...

It looks great! The only safe way to test a raw pork mixture for seasoning to cook a little bit in a small frying pan before tasting :-)

Bob said...

I love meat loaf, and serve mine with roasted carrots, onions, celery and potatoes.
Comfort food!

Fearsome Beard said...

My husband says he married me for my meatloaf. It has no recipe, I just make it. Sometimes it has a bit more of this or a little less of that and always comes out great. It's one of those that my mother just told me over the phone years ago "put in some of this and if you like add some of that".

Matt in Columbus said...

Truly, (imho), the main reason to make meatloaf is so there can be meatloaf sandwiches the next day.