In the s, restaurateurs marketed upscale versions, and today, innovations continue as loaves are stuffed, wrapped , or laced with international flavors. Meatloaf typically contains a milk and bread panade learn more about different kinds of panades that helps lock in moisture. But the textural enhancement comes at a cost: all of that starchy bread dulls flavor. Our recipe cuts way back on the panade but still produces a moist, meaty loaf.
A milk and bread paste creates a juicy loaf, but the starches from the typical three pieces of bread mask many of the flavor compounds in the meat. The Ur-American meatloaf was born in the 18th century courtesy of Pennsylvanian Dutch settlers who were partial to an austere concoction called scrapple. To further stretch the yield of a slaughtered pig -- after the steaks, loins, chops, hams, bacon, and sausages were cut and produced -- meat was scraped from bones and combined with the lungs, liver, and heart in a cauldron of broth.
Cornmeal and seasonings were added and the resulting mush was pressed into loaves, allowed to set, then sliced and pan-fried. Had it not been for the advances of the Industrial Revolution, meatloaf as we know it might never have been. According to the Oxford Companion to Food , that meatloaf was first mentioned in print in the U. It was no accident this this was immediately after the invention of the mechanical meat grinder by German inventor Karl Drais.
From then on, recipes started appearing in cookbooks. Fannie Farmer's edition of The Boston Cooking School Cookbook included two variations of a ground veal-based loaf, as well as a recipe for Cannelon -- a dish that recalls almost every aspect of a beef meatloaf, except the name. For the gastronome, the grinder offered a new degree of fineness and consistency of texture. Cooks previously had to chop meat in large wooden bowls using a curved blade, but now they were buying pre-ground meat directly from butchers and working it through grinders.
A grinder from the Enterprise Manufacturing Co. This, and the fact that beef was increasingly accessible due to advances in refrigeration and a thriving meat packing industry in Chicago, propelled meatloaf onto every housewife's radar. For the millions burdened by the hardships of the Depression, it was lucky meatloaf arrived when it did. The notion of meatloaf as comfort food stems from its frequent appearance in this period.
Warm and filling, it provided cheap, nourishing sustenance. Tough cuts of beef like chuck or rump were tenderized by way of a good grinding. Small amounts of beef or veal were stretched by adding fillers. Aside from absorbing and retaining some moisture as the meatloaf cooks, they physically impede the meat proteins from rubbing up too closely to one another, minimizing the amount of cross-linkage and thus dramatically increasing tenderness.
In many ways, the physical structure of a meatloaf is much like the structure of an emulsified sauce stabilized with starch. In the latter case, starch acts like a bouncer, keeping fats from coalescing, while in the former, bread crumbs do the job, keeping meat proteins apart. I found that using crumbs from fresh bread slices ground in the food processor provided better moisture and binding capabilities than dried bread crumbs.
Finally, mushrooms, while not necessarily a standard meatloaf ingredient, are an invaluable addition. Why do I include them under binders and extenders rather than lump them in with the aromatics? Because they act much more like bread crumbs than they do like, say, onions. Mushrooms are extremely porous and are full of flavorful liquid. At the same time, they are soft and spongy. Just like bread crumbs, they prevent the meat proteins from interlocking, increasing tenderness while simultaneously adding flavor as they slowly release their liquid.
In fact, they're so much like bread that I treat them exactly the same way—grind them in the food processor and add them to the raw mix, no parcooking necessary at all! So, to summarize, we have the following chart:. With the meat mix and the texture of the loaf squared away, I shifted my focus to flavorings.
The base of carrots, onions, and celery made sense to me—the three vegetables are a classic addition to meat dishes and sauces for a reason—but when they are simply diced and added to the meat mix, their texture doesn't quite work in meatloaf; I found it interfered with the velvety-ness I desired.
How to deal with this? Easy, just chop them finer and soften them. We've got the vegetables in there, now for a few ingredients to up the meaty backbone of the loaf, namely deploying my trusty umami bombs: anchovies, Marmite, and soy sauce. All three of these ingredients are rich in glutamates and inosinates, chemical compounds that trigger signals that tell our brains we're eating something savory and meaty.
They make the meatloaf taste meatier without imparting a distinct flavor of their own. Mixing this flavor base into my meat produced a mixture wetter than any other meatloaf mix I'd seen. This led to a moister end product that retained moisture with the help of the gelatin , but it proved problematic when shaping the loaf.
I could bake it in a loaf pan, but I prefer making free form loaves on a baking sheet to maximize surface area for flavorful browning or glazing. The solution was to use a hybrid method. I packed my meatloaf mix into a loaf pan, covered it with foil, and then inverted the whole thing onto a rimmed baking sheet, spreading out the foil so that I now had a foil-lined baking sheet with an inverted meatloaf and loaf pan on top of it.
I baked this way for about half an hour—just long enough to set its shape—and then used a spatula and kitchen towels to lift off the pan. The result was a perfectly loaf-shaped meatloaf just right for slicing into sandwiches , with all the advantages of a free-form loaf and its extra surface area.
You can leave your meatloaf completely undressed, but I kind of like the old-fashioned, low-brow sweet vinegariness of a ketchup-and-brown-sugar glaze. Draping the loaf in bacon wouldn't do any harm either. I still haven't tried topping my loaf with bananas as Mr. Nickerson so helpfully suggested.
As he could tell you, though, the beauty of meatloaf lies in the almost infinite ways in which it can be customized. So long as your ratio of meat to binders is correct, the sky's the limit as to what you can do. I sometimes add chopped pickles or briny olives. Pine nuts or almonds also add texture and flavor. My mother—who, I believed for a long time, looked for ways to hide raisins where you'd least expect them—would probably enjoy some raisins in her loaf.
I'm not one to judge. Combine the chicken stock and buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the top. Set aside. Place the bread and mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside. Add the anchovies, Marmite, soy sauce, paprika, and garlic to the processor bowl and pulse until reduced to a fine paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Add the onion, carrot, and celery and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed. Heat the butter in a inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until foaming.
Add the chopped vegetable mixture and cook, stirring and tossing frequently, until it is softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes; the mixture should start to darken a bit.
Stir in the buttermilk mixture, bring to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms and bread, stir thoroughly to combine, and let stand until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Add the meat mixture to the bowl, along with the eggs, cheese, parsley, 1 tablespoon kosher salt or half that volume in table salt , and 1 teaspoon pepper. With clean hands, mix gently until everything is thoroughly combined and homogeneous; it will be fairly loose.
Pull off a teaspoon-sized portion of the mixture, place it on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave it on high power until cooked through, about 15 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan, being sure that no air bubbles get trapped underneath.
You may have some extra mix, depending on the capacity of your pan; this can be cooked in a ramekin or free-form next to the loaf. Tear off a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil large enough to line a rimmed baking sheet and use it to tightly cover the meatloaf, crimping it around the edges of the pan.
Stretch your minced beef and bacon loaf a little further by using leftovers to create homemade hamburgers with spicy sauce. This mince loaf with sausage, bacon and game meat is as good cold as it is hot. Serve it with our fruity Cumberland sauce. Make an easy meatloaf when you need to feed the family midweek.
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