This was inspired by a thread in IMHO (I think) about the glory of meatloaf sandwiches. Please post your favorite meatloaf recipe.
Nott’s Horseradish Meatloaf with Bourbon Cornmeal Crust, vers. 4.0.
Makes two loaves
2 lbs. ground beef, not the lean kind
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 1/2 cup pasta sauce
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
6.5 oz. prepared horseradish (not sauce, and yes, that’s the whole jar)
1/2 Hungarian (banana) pepper, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons ginger root, grated or minced
8 dashes Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (dash= quickly, vigorously turn the bottle over so you get a squirt)
2 teaspoons brown sugar
The crust:
1 ounce Kentucky Straight Bourbon per loaf
yellow corn meal
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Put all ingredients (except the bourbon and cornmeal) in a big bowl, and moosh them together with your hands. Divide in half, and form into two loaves with sloping sides in two baking dishes.
Pour 1 ounce of bourbon on each loaf. Dribble cornmeal with your fingers onto each loaf until the loaf is hidden. It looks like too much, but it’s not.
Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. There will be a crispy, fatty ring of corn-mealy stuff around the bottom of each loaf. You may discard that, but it’s mighty tasty.
This is the meatloaf I used to make at the catering company I worked for:
Makes 2 small loaves
2 pounds ground chuck
1 pound spicy or sweet (depending on your preference) Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 large white onion, chopped
1 bunch green onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup finely ground Ritz Cracker crumbs
3 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
I like to drop everything into my KitchenAid bowl and let it go until it’s completely mixed through. Squish into loaf pans, bake at 375 for about 1 1/2 hours. About 30 minutes in, I’ll glaze the top with ketchup or Heinz Chili Sauce. It’s done when the internal temperature hits 180.
Ground beef (or chuck)
add chopped onions
worcestershire sauce
a piece of white bread with a bit of water on it
one egg
pepper, garlic powder, oregeno, basil, whatever else strikes my fancy
I don’t really measure anything, just put in what amount seems right. (It’s how I do all my cooking, hasn’t failed me yet)
mix well
Bake at 325 degrees. After about an hour or so, top with pizza sauce.
This seems like a minor thing, but meatloaf is basically a sausage recipe. An icy cold liquid is fairly important to successful sausage.
I would gently disagree with this. Overmixing ground meat makes for a dense product. Hand mix until just combined, then place in pans without mashing it down. The loaf is lighter and less dry.
Wow, you folks get fancier with your meat loaf than I do. Here’s mine:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
about 3-4 slices of bread, torn up, or 3 slightly stale hamburger buns that I’ve tossed in the freezer over the past few weeks, whirred into crumbs in the food processor.
2 eggs
splash of milk
dash of Worcestershire sauce
couple dashes of garlic powder
couple dashes of onion powder, if I have it pinch of oregano or basil, or that Italian seasoning blend
salt & pepper
Mush it all together. Slop it into a loaf pan, and bake at 350 for about an hour.
I don’t top it with anything, because I prefer to add ketchup after it’s all done. I used to include a chopped onion and a chopped green pepper, but my SO gets heartburn from those, so I leave them out now.
I once tried using substituting ground venison that someone had given me, and wow, that didn’t work. Very smelly.
Recently, my step-mother-in-law made meat loaf with these potatoes that had been peeled and cut in half, and they were incredibly good. Any tips on how to do this? I know that it involves baking the meat loaf in some way other than a loaf pan, but what sort of pan, and how do you deal with all the grease that comes out of it? Mine always makes so much grease that can’t imagine how the potatoes would survive.
I just happen to have my meatlof recipe propped up by the computer because my sister called from Omaha again (twice in one month) to ask for it…she always loses the paper she writes it on. She must have 14 copies floating around the house. I bought these magnetic sheets for my printer, and I’m going to make her a refrigerator magnet with the recipe (and the turkey stuffing recipe) on it. So here goes…I also use this recipe to make meatballs and mini-hamburgers.
1 large can undiluted evaporated milk
2 eggs
3 lbs. ground beef
1 cup cracker crumbs…usually Saltines
1 T salt
1/2 t pepper
2 t dry mustard
1 large onion, grated
Mix all ingredients by hand until smooth. Form into two loaves. Bake at 350’ for about 50 minutes (25 minutes for meatballs) My sister microwaves this, but I don’t know for how long…I don’t like it that way.
Meatloaf pans are just a plain evil invention. The meatloaf sits and stews in it’s own juices, you get fat pooling everywhere and it’s a PITA to work with. IMHO, making a freeform loaf on a flat sheet pan is the best solution, you get browning on 3 sides instead of 1, the fat drains by itself and it’s 1 less pan to clean. It looks a bit less pretty but who cares?
This is a flat meatloaf without grain filler, and with an unusual topping
LOAF
1 pound 90+% lean ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 vidalia onion
1 cup frozen corn
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
TOPPING
1 cup molassas
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup yellow mustard
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350. Chop produce vegetables into medium sized chunks. In large bowl, blend ground beef, vegetables, egg, and salt with hands until veggies are distributed evenly. Place meat mixture into 9x13 baking metal baking pan (or similar) and spread evenly to all sides. (It’ll be about an inch, inch-and-a-half tall or so.)
In small bowl, stir molassas, ketchup, and mustard until well blended. Pour topping evenly over meat. Spread to cover well.
Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Drain fat. Serve in squares.
(You can sub any veggies you like, and use more or less as desired.)
1.5 pounds of EITHER ground chuck or a combination of beef/veal/pork that my grocery store puts together.
2 eggs cracked right into it.
Breadcrumbs, by “feel”
Ketchup to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Worcestershire to taste
Hand-mix until just combined. Don’t overmix.
Free-loaf it onto a pan like Shalmanese said, and cover the top of it with a few strips of bacon.
Bake at 350 for about an hour.
Eat, in front of the TV, with ketchup, mashed potatoes & cheap American beer.
I think it’s a mistake to get carried away with onions & peppers, though garlic powder and onion powder are fine with me. Maybe even a couple herbs.
I used to make one years ago with a jar of apricot jam (jelly to Americans) and any old meatloaf recipe. In Australia we can get jam that is just 100% fruit. You chuck some in the meatloaf mix and use the remainder to glaze it at the end of baking. Kids loved it.
“Bob loved me because he thought my testicles were removed too. Being there, pressed against his tits, ready to cry. This was my vacation and she ruined everything.”
In America, “jelly” is made from fruit juice while “jam” is made from crushed fruit (or fruit pulp). To confuse matters further, “preserves” are typically “jams” with chunks of fruit in it.
I don’t usually like meatloaf but this stuff is to die for. It makes and weighs a ton. I will generally half the recipe and still have plenty.
2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups dry italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1 cup steak sauce
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg and steak sauce. Mix thoroughly. Blend in soup mix, green pepper, onion, cilantro and garlic.
On a large piece of aluminum foil, pat the beef mixture into a thin, flat rectangle. Layer about 1/2 the ham on top of the beef from end to end. Layer ham with the Cheddar cheese. Layer cheese with remaining ham, then the broccoli.
Using the foil, roll the meatloaf while pinching the ends. Keep aluminum foil around the meat loaf and place on a medium baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
My dad made good meatloaf. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the recipe and it’s too late to ask him.
I know he used two pounds of ground beef and one pound of ground pork. I thin the rest was: 2 eggs, two packets of Lipton Onion Soup mix, and some dehydrated onions. (I’m not sure about the onions.) A half-hour before it was done, he’d pour Hunts tomato sauce over it.
I’ll have to experiment to see if I can make a meatloaf that tastes the same. The only bad thing about dad’s meatloaf was that the dehydrated onions (either added, or just the ones in the soup mix) gave me horrible, smelly gas. But it was worth it.
1/2 lb each of ground beef & ground pork.
1 to 1-1/2 cups bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned).
1 egg.
1/4 cup ketchup.
1 medium onion diced small.
1 medium green pepper diced small.
Salt & Pepper to taste.
Mix ground meats, diced veggies, 1 cup bread crumbs, egg, salt & pepper in large bowl until combined. Add more bread crumbs as needed until the mixture is the consistancy of dough. Place into bread pan. Bake in a 350 oven until almost cooked completely. Pour (or squirt) ketchup on top of almost finished meatloaf. bake additional 10-15 minutes until meatloaf is finished cooking. Slice. Serve between pieces of bread.