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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Day 168 - Not My Mother's Meatloaf (fortunately!)

I have to be honest, I always dreaded hated when my mother would make her meatloaf for dinner.
Hers was dry and I had to drown it in ketchup.
Not only that, but just the word "meatloaf" is a HUGE turnoff for me!
Meat.
Loaf.
A loaf of meat.
BLECH!!


Really?  Who thought of that?!  I know that that's what it is, but that word...
Couldn't it have been named something like, I don't know, meat...
Ah, phooey, I can't think of anything.
I looked up synonyms for loaf on Thesaurus.com and found some interesting ones.  All we need to do is insert the word meat in front of them.
Meat Bun,
Meat Cake (DEFINITELY NOT - how can those two words possible be uttered in the same sentence?!),
Meat Cube,
Meat Dough,
Meat Lump,
Meat Mass,
Meat Slab, or you could go with visually pleasing
Meat Twist.
Unfortunately, meat loaf, I guess, is the best choice.
Pairing these words up reminds me of this:


I'm sure some of you are too young to remember The Electric Company.
You were deprived.
It was a wonderful show with Bill Cosby as Hank, a guy named Crank, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman.  I used to watch that and Sesame Street ALL the time!  Hence my love for the Muppets and reference to them here.

I had the trio of ground meats in the freezer from the meatballs I made on Day 128, and those were yummy, so I wanted to see how they would be in a...(gulp) meatloaf.
Not really, but I knew it was something I should at least try.
BUT, I remembered I didn't have any eggs.
Meatloaf needs eggs, right?
Well, not necessarily.
You'll see...

Tasty Meatloaf - serves 6

8 oz. ground pork
8 oz. ground veal
8 oz. ground beef
2 tablespoons chili sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1 packet Lipton Onion Soup (not mixed with water)
1 large carrot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons A1 Steak Sauce
½ cup Ritz crackers, crumbled (about 15 crackers)
1¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Glaze
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground mustard

Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl and mix together; set aside.

Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Cover a baking rack in tin foil and spray generously with cooking spray.  Place in a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
In a small bowl,  mix chili sauce and flour until smooth.
In a large bowl, combine pork, veal, beef, chili sauce/flour mixture, packet of soup mix, carrot, garlic, steak sauce, Ritz crackers, salt and peppah.


Mix all ingredients together until well combined.  I found it is best to do this with my hands, so get in there and get MESSY!!
Mix, fold, squeeze, squoosh - really mix those things ALL together!
Place meat mixture onto foil covered prepared rack and shape into a 3 X 11-inch loaf (of meat).


Using a pastry brush, spread glaze over top and sides of loaf.


Bake for approximately 50-55 minutes when a meat thermometer inserted reads 160ºF.



My apologies for the slightly blurry pictures.  When I take them, they look sharp, but then when I upload it's a different story.  Guess it's time to have the old eyes checked.

I have to say that I was quite pleased with the taste of this loaf of meat - very pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
I was curious as to how it would bind together without the eggs, but it held together very well and I didn't even miss them.
The family really liked it, too and Mr. 365 said it was the best he'd ever had.
Then our oldest said, "Well, you were really hungry anyway!"
He smiled sheepishly and nodded his head.
I made it free form instead of putting it into a loaf pan because there's more of a "crust" that way and with a pan there's just too much meat for me.
I don't like thick hamburgers either.
I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being "DON'T waste your time or money" and a 4 being "you haven't LIVED until you've made this!".
Believe it or not, this Tasty Meatloaf earned 3½ rolling pins!  I will definitely make this version the next time we need dinner and there aren't any eggs in the fridge.
Happy baking!!

6 comments:

  1. Free formed meatloaf is always SO much tastier!! A friend taught me that trick. :) I haven't made a meatloaf in years. My husband would be in heaven.

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  2. Go for it, Mary! A definite way to win him over.

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  3. This looks great! I (and my mother) would love it! :)

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  4. I make a meatloaf called Not Your Mom's Meatloaf too. When I have the time I go all out and make it into a meatloaf spiral with layers of spinach and cheese. My whole family will eat it which is a huge win for me.

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  5. That sounds good! I definitely check it out.

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