My Cooking Confidential: MeatLoaf – I’d Do Anything for Love

Hey, in a few days we are going to celebrate Christmas again …how time flies. I start thinking 'what to cook for Christmas dinner?

My second daughter has been ‘nagging’ me to cook ‘Frog Chicken’ (please see my earlier post on ‘Frog chicken or ayam kodok’) for our Christmas dinner this year. But so far I have not got the time yet to practice on how to debone the chicken – the hard part of cooking ‘Frog Chicken’ so how can I cook ‘frog chicken’ for our Christmas dinner….?

Again my daughter came with an idea. She said ‘why don’t you just cook Meatloaf so you don’t have to trouble yourself to debone the chicken’

Well, good idea….I can cook Meatloaf.

As always, when I want to cook or write something, I go to my best friend ‘Google’ for advice. This time when I visited Google and without thinking I typed ‘Meat Loaf’, it came out ‘Meat Loaf – I’d Do Anything for Love’ (But I won’t Do That). Apparently, it‘s a song composed and written by Jim Steinman, and recorded by Meat Loaf, an American Rock Musician and Actor.

Well, although it was a mistake but this finding has given me a kind of a sign that Meatloaf is the best choice for our Christmas dinner this year …as the song said ‘Id Do Anything for Love = cooking Meatloaf for my family’ but I won’t do That = no need to go through the trouble to debone a chicken’

More about Meatloaf (not Meat Loaf)

Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat formed into a loaf shape and baked or smoked. The loaf shape is formed by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on a flat baking pan. It is usually made from ground beef, although lamb, pork, veal, venison, and poultry or a combination are also used.

Many meatloaf recipes are interchangeable with meatball recipes, the distinction coming from shape and from the accompaniments or choice of sauce. Sometimes tomato paste or ketchup is in the meat and baked along with the meat.

Meatloaf is a versatile dish. The ground meat may be mixed with a binder such as eggs and breadcrumbs, small pieces of bread soaked in milk (or red wine or another liquid), or wheat germ, finely ground almonds, or oatmeal, to make it more dough-like.

Salt, spices and herbs (such as parsley), as well as chopped vegetables (such as onions, green peppers and celery), may also be added.

Some recipes add strips of bacon on top. Meatloaves may be filled with eggs, cheese, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, or a combination of these ingredients.

Some meatloaves can be made by adding meat and sometimes also eggs to a meatloaf mix before baking.

This my version of meatloaf recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups (150 gram) breadcrumbs
1 cup (60 ml) red wine
500 gram minced beef
250 gram minced veal
250 gram minced pork
15 gram finely chopped parsley
1 teasppon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten

How to make:

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook for a few minutes or until soft and golden
Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and continue cooking for 5 minutes
Remove from heat and allow to cool
Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl and pour the wine over them
Stir to combine and leave to soak
Combine the beef, veal, and pork mince, parsley, thyme, sage, nutmeg, Worchestershire sauce and onion mixture in a large bowl
Add the egg and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing the meat
Add the breadcrumbs mixture, season and mix well until well combined
Pack this mixture into a 10-inch loaf pan to mold the shape of the meatloaf
Brush the top of the meatloaf with the remaining oil
Bake the meatloaf in the oven (pre heat at 180 degree Celcius) for 45 - 60 minutes or until cooked through (when tested with a skewer, the juice should run clear and the laof should be firm to the touch).

And this was the result:

To help you get an idea on making meatloaf, I found very good pictures of the step by step from preparation to cooked meatloaf in Wikipedia as follows:

Step 1: Mix the minced beef, veal and pork