Sunday, December 7, 2008

Dec 07: Comfort Food - Meatloaf

Meatloaf is another one of those dishes that has many variations. Even though it's essentially meat and filler...
The question is what type of meat? All beef? Beef/Pork? Beef/Veal? Beef/Pork/Lamb?

Also, for the filler... bread, croutons, oatmeal? What veggies?

Variations are endless, but here's what I did today.

Meatloaf
Preheat Oven 350F

1 1/2 lb Ground Beef [I used a lean ground beef 7% fat.]
~~ Solid Ingredients ~~
1 C (140 g) Onions, chopped [Red onion for today]
1/2 (64 g) Bell Pepper, chopped
1 stalk (70 g) Celery, chopped
1 C (85 g) Oatmeal, quick oats
2 cloves Garlic, grated [since I have a greater]
3T (15 g) Green Onions, Chopped
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Black Pepper
~~ Liquid Ingredients ~~
1 egg
2T Heavy Cream [or 1/4 C milk]
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 t Prepared Mustard

The solids (except for the beef) were mixed together. After which, the liquid ingredients were mixed together and poured into the veg mixture. Lastly, the meat was added and thoroughly mixed.


Loaf was hand formed and baked as shown.
LOL! Looks like a veggie loaf with a little meat to hold the veggies together... instead of the other way around.

The next question... To glaze or not to glaze? Some recipe call for coating with catsup or bbq sauce. I decided to bake as is...


A probe thermometer was placed in the center of the meatloaf and baked at 350F. Baking time was about 1 hour when the meatloaf was taken out of the oven at 160F. While sitting on the counter, the carryover heat brought the meatloaf to 170F.

Because of the lean beef and the oatmeal, there were no drippings or splatters in the pan. I've made meatloaf with higher fat ground beef and the result is a shrunken meatloaf floating in a sea of grease. This time cleaning the roasting pan should be a snap. :-)

The meatloaf was plated on a bed of boiled cabbage.


The plated meatloaf...
Meatloaf served with a quick mushroom-onion gravy, macaroni salad and boiled cabbage.


The taste of the Worcestershire sauce is noticeable... I could have added more salt and pepper, plus used a yellow onion for a stronger onion flavor. Surprisingly, the garlic is barely noticeable. Overall, not bad.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meatloaf is one of my top family meals. Strangely meatloaf is an expansive dish in Australia since mince costs a lot here so it is an occasional meal for me.

I usually use cooked spaghetti as my filler and use oyster sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Also I sometimes use cooked bacon pieces in the mixture. I always use a beef/veal/pork mixture for the meat component.

About the glaze sometimes yes and sometimes no it depends on the fattiness of the meat mixture.

Your meatloaf looks juicy and not too soft.

plutosangel said...

That really looks comforting.. MMm

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious!

I bet your house smelled great!

Did you share with the pups?

Eat4Fun said...

Audax... Meatloaf in Aussie? I've always thought it was a USA dish, but in hindsight, an Italian coworker brought a meatloaf (stuffed with whole hard-boiled eggs) to a company potluck. I didn't try any since it was gone by the time I made it to the dish.
However, anywhere there's mince, then a delicious meatloaf is a natural progression.

Plutosangel... Comfort food for sure :-)

Micael... Yes, the pups got a little. lol! They look at me with their sad eyes... :)