I have some frozen meatloaf my sister gave me, in individual-sized patties. The first time I made one (baked at 350 for about 45 minutes), it was good. But the pan was a real mess to clean out.
Well, the second time I made one, I had a flash of inspiration: I put a thick slice of bread underneath the meat in the pan, and baked it that way, so the bread would soak up all of the juices that dripped from the meat. Again, the meatloaf was good, and the pan was indeed easier to clean this time… but the bread was absolutely amazing, the perfect degree of crispiness, and full of flavor.
Now, I’m sure that I’m not the first person to do this, or to discover how good it was. There’s probably a French name for this, and all the professional chefs learn about it. So what was it?
It’s an open face meat loaf sandwich. Actually prepared in that manner by some restaurants. There was a bar and grill somewhere around the Reading PA area that had a number of open face sandwich meals like that.
All the open-faced sandwiches I’m familiar with combine the meat and bread only when the meal is plated. You put a piece of bread on the plate, then put the already-cooked meat on top, and then (usually) add gravy.
Mark Bittman has a recipe for roasting a whole chicken over thick slabs of crusty bread. Same idea: the bread soaks up the chicke juices and turns crunchy and delicious.
Boy that does sound good. Was this your sisters frozen homemade meatloaf?
I love meatloaf, and sometimes even serve it for Thanksgiving/Christmas. And I love open faced beef/turkey ‘sandwiches’. I am seriously going to try this the next time I make meatloaf. Sourdough sounds right.
Boy that does sound good. Was this your sisters frozen homemade meatloaf?
I love meatloaf, and sometimes even serve it for Thanksgiving/Christmas. And I love open faced beef/turkey ‘sandwiches’. I am seriously going to try this the next time I make meatloaf. Sourdough sounds right.
That is typical, but as you’ve discovered it’s not the only way to do it, or even the best way. The place I mentioned offered food that was fried or tossed on a plate and put in a big old cast iron oven. I’d much rather have it done in that style. The common method you describe is convenient, more of a fast food or cafeteria style of cooking. You have chosen the method of the true epicurean.
The closest equivalent I can think of to what the OP describes is the mediaeval dish/side known as “sops” - usually referring to toast with some sort of sauce, soup or gravy poured over it, but the actual ME word “soppe” just means “bread soaked in liquid” so what Chronos describes would fit the bill.
How is it like Yorkshire pudding, which is made from a batter not already-baked bread, cooked separately in hot oil, and usually drenched in gravy not just cooking juices.
It’s not at all like sops (a concept with which I’m already quite familiar). The bread soaks up a lot of liquid during the baking, but it doesn’t stay liquid. It comes out crispy on the bottom and slightly moist in the middle, but not wet.
I must be missing something here - I’m envisioning a slice of bread full of grease. My meatloaves are made with 80-85% lean ground beef, and I still end up with a puddle of grease in the pan.
Because you have two different products, each of which is a mixture of flour and meat drippings, which are cooked by baking. The main difference seems to be Yorkshire pudding starts out as raw batter while the OP’s dish starts out as already baked bread. So it’s sort of like Yorkshire pudding that gets baked twice.
I was picturing a much more sodden affair, just crisp on the edges. Then I don’t think there’s already a name for it, since it’s not exactly a sop (not wet enough) or a crouton (too moist).
