Dish of the month (February 2022): Meatloaf (including plant based)

caseydog said:
Just an observation, cheap seafood is often farm raised in countries with little or no regulations.

CD
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That's true, I've seen stuff at the market that was from Indonesia or Vietnam. It's not what I buy.

If you want to start critiquing my observation skills now I'm going to shut you down, lol. I can read, and like many others on this forum, I read information on the packaging of food that I buy.
 
Morning Glory said:
On a cultural note, meatloaf is not really a popular thing in the UK. You would be hard pushed to find it on a cafe, restaurant or pub menu and my guess is that the majority of cooks here haven't ever made one. I think I possibly made one once more years ago than I care to remember. I don't think many in the UK would consider it traditional comfort food.

This is not a criticism of its popularity in the US - simply an observation.
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What about terrines? Any demand or are terrines more of a French thing. In Canada a meat loaf is generally minced beef or a combination, served hot generally but cold in sandwiches are done as well.
 
Thinking about making a loaf in the shape of a dookie, then. I've heard people refer to those as loaves, lol. Hemulen entered a chocolate dookie in a challenge once, lol.

Just found it:
Recipe - Choco dookie cookies
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And one final entry, double dipping as it were. Recipe - Meatless Meatloaf (Tempeh Meatloaf)

I spotted a meatless meatloaf recipe yesterday in a cookbook we don't use too much because some of the ingredient lists can be a bit vague. This is are of those vague ones that I've adapted & recorded my modifications.

All example or two...
½ bottle (16-18 ounces) great quality BBQ sauce or teriyaki style marinade.
¼ beet, grated
6 green beans, chopped into ⅛ inch pieces

Now 16-18 ounces (assuming fluid ounces) is about 500ml. So is that 500ml half of a 1 litre bottle or is the bottle 500ml and you want half? I went with 250ml.
The beetroot? What size? For the carrot, it says ½ a large carrot. Now most beetroot raw tend to be quite small in my experience, perhaps 5-7½cm diameter maximum. ¼ of one of those hardly seems worthwhile. Ditto with 6 green beans. So both were increased.

So I've changed the vegetable ratio in the loaf.

Tempeh loaf just out of the oven

Tempeh loaf just out of the oven

It isn't burnt, just dark and very tasty!

Tempeh loaf before slicing

Tempeh loaf before slicing


A slice of Tempeh Loaf

A slice of Tempeh Loaf


I'm really impressed that the loaf turned out in one on the first attempt. I had only run a plastic spatula around the outside, nothing more.

I'll add a final picture of it baked in the sauce in a couple of hours time. Just needed to sneak this in before the end of the challenge.
 
Now, I grew up hating Meatloaf. It's not just ground meat formed into loaves, it has extenders in it. Breadcrumbs, or more recently, panko.

But, back ten years ago more or less, I ended up in a meatshare - each month we got a bolus of meat, which always included around 4 pounds of ground beef. I got tired of making burgers or sloppy joe's or even stuffed peppers, and decided to re-visit meatloaf. At that point I was also on the Paleo food plan - no grains.

But, I didn't want to make just a solid loaf of ground beef or pork (with seasonings and a few chopped onions) - so I had fun experimenting.
My meatloaves, without any grains whatsoever, were actually TASTY and enjoyable! (Dad had always made well-seasoned meatloaves, and I loved that aspect of that dish at his hands - turns out I hate the emphasis on GRAINS!) I then branched out to trying this with ground pork, too.

SO: I made the following -

)
pork-meatloaf-with-cauliflower-apple-and-fennel.jpg

Tender pork meatloaf with cauliflower, apple and fennel, topped with applesauce and fennel sprigs.


The other dish didn't photograph as well, but here we are, two photos:

meatloaf3.jpg

Serve with lettuce, or other green veggies, raw or steamed.

meatloaf1.jpg

Beef Meatloaf with Sweet Potato and Seasonings (that work with sweet potatoes). You could top the loaf with ketchup if you actually like that stuff.

One of the benefits of using veggies instead of grains is one avoids that "dry and bland" non-taste that the grains impart. I may no longer be Paleo, but I think my meatloaf has improved vastly because of it.
 
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Mountain Cat said:
Now, I grew up hating Meatloaf. It's not just ground meat formed into loaves, it has extenders in it. Breadcrumbs, or more recently, panko.

But, back ten years ago more or less, I ended up in a meatshare - each month we got a bolus of meat, which always included around 4 pounds of ground beef. I got tired of making burgers or sloppy joe's or even stuffed peppers, and decided to re-visit meatloaf. At that point I was also on the Paleo food plan - no grains.

But, I didn't want to make just a solid loaf of ground beef or pork (with seasonings and a few chopped onions) - so I had fun experimenting.
My meatloaves, without any grains whatsoever, were actually TASTY and enjoyable! (Dad had always made well-seasoned meatloaves, and I loved that aspect of that dish at his hands - turns out I hate the emphasis on GRAINS!) I then branched out to trying this with ground pork, too.

SO: I made the following -

)
View attachment 80422
Tender pork meatloaf with cauliflower, apple and fennel, topped with applesauce and fennel sprigs.


The other dish didn't photograph as well, but here we are, two photos:

View attachment 80423
Serve with lettuce, or other green veggies, raw or steamed.

View attachment 80424
Beef Meatloaf with Sweet Potato and Seasonings (that work with sweet potatoes). You could top the loaf with ketchup if you actually like that stuff.

One of the benefits of using veggies instead of grains is one avoids that "dry and bland" non-taste that the grains impart. I may no longer be Paleo, but I think my meatloaf has improved vastly because of it.
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I've always been hesitant to use a lot of veggies in meatloaf, because of the water content. I was concerned that the loaf would fall apart into a pile of meat an veggies on the plate. I'll have to re-think this. Your first meatloaf is holding together well. The Sweet potato meatloaf, not so much. Certainly food for thought.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I've always been hesitant to use a lot of veggies in meatloaf, because of the water content. I was concerned that the loaf would fall apart into a pile of meat an veggies on the plate. I'll have to re-think this. Your first meatloaf is holding together well.
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As is SatNavSaysStraightOn's above which also contains lots of vegetables.
 
Morning Glory said:
As is SatNavSaysStraightOn's above which also contains lots of vegetables.
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I understand why SatNav is vegan, but I'm not ready to go as far as a meatloaf with no meat in it. I would like try putting some finely diced veg in my meatloaf. I've got this idea in my head to add some roasted and diced veggies in a future loaf. It would kind of be a balanced meal in a meatloaf.

CD
 
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