Comfort Food Part III: The Meatloaf Debate

By Kevin Grzyb in Food on Jan 12, 2006 6:47PM

Meatloaf, the word itself has the ability to conjure up a plethora of mixed emotional responses and scent, having the ability to trigger memory, can relate back to pleasant or painful meatloaf experiences of youth. This depends on whether you hark back unto the wafting aroma of meatloaf, with its caramelized onions and aromatic herbs beckoning to you from the warm oven of the house you grew up in, as you come in and shake off the bitter cold of a January day in Chicago, or if the first olfactory bouquet comes as you peel back the plastic on that micro waved Hungry Man dinner, and you decide you would rather dig in on the apple crumb dessert, we understand.

Maybe, for you, meatloaf isn’t tied to a smell, but rather to a visual. The pale gray slab of meat (never expressly called beef, so they could probably just call it ‘beastloaf’) covered in a thin, greasy film of gravy that seems to be concocted of “mostly just brown and water” and slapped down next to powdered, mashed potatoes and limp over boiled green beans from the school cafeteria or cafetorium, may be all you know.

We feel, other than being quite possibly the pinnacle of comfort food in all its glory, meatloaf is part of the moral fiber of our nation (cue the patriotic music). It carried us through the tough times; the noble meatloaf has been cut with bread crumbs or chopped loaf heels to feed a family of six when, only enough meat for three could be afforded, leaving enough leftovers for work and school brown bag lunches the next day.

Meatloaf, because of the emotional ties people have, is a hard recipe to share in this venue. There are so many methods, secret and key ingredients, processes and tricks that have been passed down through families, that we don't want to be told that we're idiots, because you're nana told you that you can only use Hungarian paprika and ground white pepper, if we say we like smoked Spanish paprika and ground black pepper. So, rather than give a definitive recipe, we’ll just offer some guidelines and suggestions. Proof in point: go around and ask ten different people (without any prior discussion) if ketchup should be baked on top of a meatloaf.

Meatloaf is a blank canvas and it is up to the cook (or chef) to bring the skill and the love to make it a culinary work of art.

Meatloaf Basics:
Meat:
Use different kinds of meat. We suggest ground beef, ground pork and ground veal (if you can get it). A butcher will have all of these, but not every grocery store with a meat department will have veal. Want to mix it up at the base level? Instead of ground pork, get sausage meat, again a butcher will sell this open or already cased in sausages, if they only have sausages, you can slice the casing and squeeze out the sausage meat at home, because once you get a sausage home, it's your business. A one to one to two ratio (1:1:2) pork, veal, beef is our mix of choice. The beef is the backbone, the pork adds flavor and the veal adds structure, the difference noticable. Remember to season (salt & pepper) appropriately.

Our pick for beef is ground chuck (not Sudo), but the higher quality of the meat will mean leaner meat and less fat=less flavor. To compensate there is always the bacon strips on top of the meatloaf trick.

The filler:
Breadcrumbs are the choice of filler. Dry is fine, but they will soak up extra fat from the cooking process, where as you can add some flavored liquid to the breadcrumbs (ie beef broth, red wine, beer...) and add the breadcrumbs moist.

A fine meatloaf can be made without any filler.

The loaf itself:
Meatloaf, by name is usually made in a basic loaf pan, but there are variances and variable that can be considered. There is a meatloaf pan, this is a basic loaf pan with a rack or insert that holds the loaf above the bottom of the pan, allowing the fat to drip off. Others argue that the loaf pan approach is inefficient as it only allows the top of the loaf exposed to direct heat and allowed to brown, so, one could also make a free form loaf on a deep baking sheet (and/or on a n additional rack for the fat to drip off) so that three sides and the ends are exposed for browning.

Miscellaneous additions:
Onion: Finely chopped
Herbs: go for it
Cheese: we stay away from cheese in the meatloaf, but you could add about a half cup of shredded or grated cheese per pound of meat
Worcestershire sauce: a must
Ketchup: we have baked it on the top and flashed back to the cafeteria of our youth.. then that big seventh grader who always wears the Def Leopard t-shirt, like everyday, took my milk money and I had regular milk that the lunch lady gave me because it was expiring anyway, rather than the chocolate milk I was really, really looking forward to...aw hell, now I'll need an extra hour at therapy this week...
Bar-B-Q Sauce: Yes, but in, not on and switch the sides to baked beans and a baked potato

Cooking Time:
This will vary, but in general a meatloaf in a 4"x3"x8" loaf pan (like in the pictue) took just over an hour in a 350 degree oven. If you have a meat thermometer, look for an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

Friends of Meatloaf:
The classic: green beans and mashed potatoes.
Substitutions: cheddar mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, blue cheese mashed potatoes, blue cheese and bacon mashed potatoes, etc...
Also- green beans w/ almond slivers, peas, peas and carrots, grilled asparagus, spinach, creamed spinach, spinach salad, etc...You get the idea.

There is no such thing as vegetarian meatloaf.

Please feel free to share your favorite ingredients or additions, as well as your favorite restaurants around town that serve meatloaf.

Enjoy.

Photos by author.