Yes, meatloaf is hip food again. I’m hearing lots of buzz about it. It’s true.
Steve made us a tasty loaf the other day. He blended veal, pork, and beef, added bread crumbs, egg, parsley, onion, pepper. And it was quite tasty. He skipped the ketchup on the top, which I think was an error, but we didn’t deduct too many points for that.
How do you make meatloaf?
Apt. 11d 
Ground buffalo, mixed with bread crumb, egg, and a mixture of onions, carrots, celery, chive, and a little parsley sauteed together. Throw in a little crushed garlic and some ketchup, mold in the pan, and top with more ketchup.
Sounds gross. Is divine.
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I just use hamburger, cheddar, onion powder, minced onion, bread crumbs, and tomato paste. I used to hate meatloaf but once I was able to make it on my own I started enjoying it.
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Can’t say that I’ve gotten into the meat loaf trend. I think my mom scarred me by making meatloaf sandwiches and putting ketchup in them. The trade value on the playground was essentially zero.
But my wife is from the midwest, so she knows all about nut loaf! And it’s actually pretty good.
Did you see the hilarious Slate article, “What’s wrong with the New York Times’ weirdly popular recipe for Crusty Macaroni and Cheese”?!
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How did I miss the to-do about crusty mac n. cheese? (here’s the slate article.) My husband is from Cleveland, where they have strong opinions about their comfort foods. The man knows his melted cheese, so I’ll have to get him to weigh in on the controversy.
We debated the pros and cons of meatloaf quite extensively before we returned to the loaf. These moves aren’t to be taken lightly. Retro cooking is a slippery slope. You risk returning to cooking with cambell’s soup and pineapple chunks. But we decided that our moms did it all wrong by just using ground beef. Our entire cooking philosophy revolves around the worship of pork. Pork makes it good. Thank God we’re not kosher.
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Ditto on the pork–the key to mine is that it’s at least half pork, one-quarter each beef and veal. And topped with mushroom sauce, not tomato (sorry, mom). And don’t overwork it or it’ll pack down while cooking–it should be crumblyish. If the slice makes it intact to the plate it’s not as good.
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ground beef, two eggs, breadcrumbs and salsa from the refrigerated section of the market, drained. I don’t do ketchup on the top, but lately I’ve been thinking that I should.
I serve it with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn.
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My grocery sells a Beef/Pork/Veal meatloaf mix, pre-mixed. I usually get that.
1.5 pounds of meat, a generous scoop of oatmeal, one egg. That’s the base. The rest of it varies every time.
Sometimes I use ketchup, sometimes tomato juice, sometimes milk. Usually a dash or two of Worcester sauce.
The one i made with Hoisin sauce was actually delicious!
Sauteed onions (I hate raw onions and the baking time doesn’t make onions limp enough) diced peppers, sauteed mushrooms — all good. Shredded carrrot adds sneaky veggies for kids. Ditto chopped spinach.
For spices, salt and pepper obviously. With the hoisin, I think I used a dash of five-spice powder. I’ll often jsut open my cupboard and pick a few spices or blends (I’m a Penzey’s addict). With mushrooms and onion, thyme is nice. A dash of cinnamon and cayenne add bite.
I like to glaze it with something sweet/hot. Brown sugar or honey plus ginger or tomato is good. Hoisin made a good glaze. Chutney plus mustard was also good.
My biggest problem is I don’t take notes when I meatloaf, so my biggest successes have been totally irreproducible.
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You guys need to try it with ground turkey. (Chicken works also.) You can’t do it all with poultry, as it’s too dry, so mix in some ground beef when you throw in the eggs, minced onions, bread and cracker crumbs, Worcester, tomato paste (never sauce), and spices. Our kids eat it with ketchup, but I take mine just with salt.
Sara’s right about not overworking the mix. But how do you cook it? We always use the crockpot; perhaps the ground turkey wouldn’t work as well in the oven.
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I usually go with the hamburger meat only, I keep wanting to try the 3 meat package…but my meatloaf is so good, I don’t want to change! I use sauted onions or shallots and garlic, ketchup, bread crumbs, one egg and make a loaf. Then I coat the top with ketchup. We serve it with mashed potatoes and gravy and it’s always a big hit. Love the leftovers for lunch too! Interesting to see everyone’s variations.
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