Many people could give you horror stories from their childhood about Mom's meatloaf. I really never had this problem because my Mom's meatloaf was very good. I'm not too sure if her recipe was her own or if she got it from the numerous cookbooks that lined the top shelf of our pantry. In my opinion the meat loaf is a close cousin to the meatball. So many recipes vary by the ingredients that are combined with the meat, but the idea is pretty much the same. There are 3 major problems that lead to a meatloafs demize. The first is of course drying out. The major culprit of a dry meat loaf is the choice of meat. Ground beef is usually the pick of choice for the classic meatloaf however, ground turkey, ground pork, or even portabello mushrooms have surfaced in a health conscience America. To help combat dry meat pick a meat that is a bit higher in fat content than what you may use in a soup or casserole. I use ground chuck. The second culprit is the added ingedients. Many recipes that I have tried use too much breadcrumbs and not enough fresh vegatables. The final culprit is the cooking temperature. So many times I have seen people baking the meatloaf at 375•f. I have even seen that temperature all the way up to 425•f. I think 325•f-350•f is the perfect temperature for chuck but each type of meat has an optimal cooking temperature. So really lowfat meat+overly used dry ingredients+high cooking temperature=dry meatloaf.
A wonderful website, Foodtimeline.org had a great article that I wanted to share with you.
The raw, ground meat commonly used to make today's American meat loaf has a humbler heritage. In the 19th century, we know the Industrial Revolution made it possible for ground meat be manufactured and sold to the public at a very low cost. At first, many Americans were slow to purchase raw ground meat products and generally regarded them with suspicion. Lack of reliable home refrigeration may have played into this decision. Cooks continued to mince their meat (often already cooked, as was the practice for centuries) by hand. Companies selling meat grinders to home consumers at the turn of the century endeavored to change this practice by provided recipe books to promote their products. Some of these recipes were simple, others quite creative. A late 19th century recipe for "Meat Porcupine" instructs the cook to press her ground meat into an animal-type shape mold and decorate it with pieces of bacon to achieve the desired effect. Eventually, the American public began incorporating ground meat into family meals.
Since that time, meat loaf variations have been introduced and promoted by women's magazines, cookbooks, fairs, food manufacturers, diners and family-style restaurants. Meat loaf & gravy [often paired with mashed potatoes and canned green beans ] was very popular in the 1950s. This meal is still considered by some to be the penultimate comfort food. Did you know that "frosted meatloaf" is ground beef covered with mashed potatoes? Perhaps this recipe is a distant relative of shepherd's pie.
In my next post I'll share my meatloaf recipe.
Food time line
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