Who doesn't love meatloaf ? Especially served up with mashed potatoes, gravy and maybe some green beans. Every diner, truck stop and family dining restaurant from Cracker Barrel to Chili's seems to have their own version. In fact, one my favorite meatloafs was served in the Boone High School cafeteria some 55 years ago.
Over the years we have tried a number of different recipes for meatloaf, ranging from Martha Stewart's mother's meatloaf (which is very good) to meatloaf prepared on the grill outdoors. Our go-to recipe for over twenty five years, came from of all places, the inside lid of a box of Quaker oatmeal. We try other recipes and keep coming back to this old standard. What kind of meatloaf do you make and why do you love it? I would love to hear from all of you and collect some of your recipes to try. Feel free to respond in the comments section of this blog.
The main ingredient in any meatloaf is the ground beef or blend of ground beef and perhaps pork or veal or all of the above. I love the blend that our local meat market sells, which is predominantly beef, a little ground pork and a small amount of ground veal. Unfortunately they went out of business this week. The owner retired and sold out to Fareway. Fareway is an Iowa grocery and meat market that started in my home town of Boone. I know they sell quality meat and I am hoping they will continue selling the Mcgonigles blend for meatloaf. Short of getting a blend, I recommend using lean ground beef, like the 93% lean sold in most groceries. If you use ground beef with a higher fat content your meatloaf ends up swimming in a pool of grease. Most recipes I have seen for meatloaf call for between 1.5 Lbs to 2.5 Lbs of meat. The recipe we use calls for 1.5 Lbs, but I often make a 2 Lb meatloaf and just proportionally increase the other ingredients by about 25%. It isn't science, like baking, where the proportions of the ingredients are important to the outcome. Here is the recipe from the Quaker oatmeal box, that we have been using for over 25 years.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 Lbs. Lean Ground Beef
1 Cup Tomato Juice (I use V-8)
3/4 Cup Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned - uncooked)
1 egg-lightly beaten
1/4 Cup Chopped Onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and mix lightly but thoroughly. Press into 8x4 inch loaf pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear. Drain excess fat and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Although not part of the recipe, I like to mix about a 1/2 cup of catsup and a TBSP of brown sugar and paint the top of the meatloaf before I put it in the oven.
If you like mushrooms or peppers or both in your meatloaf, feel free to add them or whatever else moves you. Enjoy
Yes, to each his own. Many people loathe the idea of vegetables in their meatloaf. But I think the celery and onion are essential.
ReplyDelete2 stalks celery
1 small sweet onion
2 cloves garlic
1 green pepper
Handful of fresh Italian parsley
2 beaten eggs
¼ cup (or more) Romano
Mix all the above.
1 & 1/4 to 1 & 1/2 hamburger (no less than 15% fat)
¼ lb (or more) mild Italian sausage.
Fresh breadcrumbs
Chili sauce mixed with tomato sauce for topping.
The fun part is getting your hands in the mixing. I save adding the crumbs til the end. Shape it with a dent on top. Add some mixture of chili sauce and tomato sauce or even tomato juice.
No salt, pepper or other spices or herbs necessary. Bake 325 til done.