Meatloaf: Friend or Foe?

Good day to you, my friends!  Today's installment is intended to demystify one of those old American family dishes that may or may not have struck fear into your heart when you were young.  I speak, of course, of meatloaf.  Now, if the mere mention of that word didn't cause you to run screaming, you might be able to use a couple of these nuggets and reinvent this most quintessential of American family staples.

Ok, so if we break it down to its most basic elements, what is meatloaf?  If you've cleverly answered "well, it's meat baked into a sort of loaf-ish shape," then you may have missed your calling as a stand-up comic.  Read on, I beg you!  Ok, but seriously, meatloaf is quite simply meat baked together with some sort of binder, and flavored traditionally with a tomato-based product like tomato sauce or ketchup.  It is a very versatile dish in that it is truly a blank canvas for whatever flavor combination you can dream up.

The traditional meatloaf that you may fondly (or not so much) remember from your childhood was a mixture of ground beef, eggs and another binding agent like oatmeal, crackers, or bread crumbs, and tomato sauce or ketchup.  Add a few sliced onions and maybe another layer of ketchup on top, and voila! you have meatloaf.  That's the most basic of preparations that I can think of, and forms the foundation for your favorite blend of flavors and spices.

You may read the previous paragraph and say to yourself: "well, it's no wonder I hated the stuff when I was a kid; there's nothing to it!"  Well, in many ways you're absolutely right.  Meat, tomato sauce, binder, and sliced onions is a combination that would send any adolescent screaming for the hills.  Thankfully, due to new innovations in cooking (well, not that new...), we can doctor up this basic recipe to cater to even the most delicate of palates.

In building your masterpiece, it's important to remember a few basics; things that will form the foundation of the meatloaf and give you the body and texture on which you can build your flavor profile.  First is the meat you decide to use.  If you want to build a basic meatloaf foundation, then simple ground beef is the ticket.  85% lean ground beef (like you'd use for good burgers) will give you plenty of flavor from the meat and the fat while not being too greasy when it cooks.  Additionally, the fat content will keep the meat moist, where a leaner mix of ground beef needs a little help to stay moist.  Now here's your first opportunity to get creative. If you prefer a more Italian flair, then you can mix a bit of Italian-style sausage into your meat mixture.  If you prefer Southwestern flavors, then you could add chorizo.  If you don't feel like adding multiple kinds of meat to your meatloaf base (or can't find them), then read on.

Whether or not you decide to mix up your meat mix, you can impart different flavor profiles to the meatloaf with the addition of spice combinations that will meet your meat needs.  We'll get to that in a minute.  First, we need to cover a couple more basics.  You need to add a binding agent to the meatloaf to add body and texture; basically to make it a better vehicle for all those flavors you're going to add, and also to treat it as something other than a big hamburger, which is all it is without the binder.  Oatmeal, crushed saltine crackers, or bread crumbs will fit the bill, but only if you remember to combine them with eggs to make the mixture fluffy when it cooks, and not like a heavy meat brick.

Now for the last of your basics, you need to add something to form the basis of your flavor platform.  For your most basic meatloaf, tomato sauce does the trick.  This works if you prefer the traditional meatloaf flavored with ketchup and onions.  For something bordering on Mexican or Southwestern flavors, you might substitute your favorite salsa instead of plain-Jane tomato sauce.  For an Italian-style meatloaf, you might use the juice from a can of San Marzano tomatoes.

So to recap, your basic foundation needs to include your meat or meat mix, binding agent (eggs + oatmeal, crackers, or bread crumbs), and flavor baseline (tomato sauce or ketchup).  Add heat in the form of a 350-degree oven, and you've got a meatloaf.

So for those of you who want to make it a little more exciting, here's where you get to explore your culinary wild side.  The basic meatloaf concept is so plain that it forms a perfect base for your favorite flavor combinations.  You can go with something traditional, or go completely off the reservation and experiment with literally anything.  I already alluded to adding different meats to your meat mix to form the flavor base.  Chorizo, Italian-style sausage, or even andouille would start to nudge your meatloaf in the ultimate direction you wish to go.  A word of caution though: be careful of the fat content of what you add.  If you add too much of a very fatty ingredient you risk making your meatloaf greasy or overly mushy.

If you decide not to use other meats and go strictly with ground beef, you can add flavor profiles with a variety of spices.  For Italian-inspired flavors, consider basil, oregano, marjoram, and parsley.  You could go with fresh herbs if you want, but keep an eye on how much water content you're imparting to the meat.  The reason for this is the same as for overly fatty meat mixtures.  For something south of the border, consider cumin, coriander, chili powder, and cayenne pepper.  If you really want to light your face on fire, add a handful of minced habanero or serrano chiles and make sure to have a fire extinguisher handy.

Basically what I'm getting at is to add spice combinations which achieve the sort of flavor you're looking for. And if you're not sure, just throw something in there that smells good and see what happens.  You could even experiment with diced vegetables, whole herbs and spices (garlic, fennel seed, etc.), or whatever!  Just keep an eye on how moist they are so you don't waterlog your meatloaf.

Finally, once you've assembled everything you want, mix it all together with your hands (this is the fun part!!) and press it into a suitable glass baking dish.  If your mix is lean and devoid of moisture-rich ingredients, you might want to consider placing your vessel in a water bath in the oven.  For well-hydrated (high moisture/fat content) meatloafs, you could probably get away with no water bath.  It can't hurt, so do whatever you feel like.  Depending on the size and thickness, start with an hour on 350 and see how that does.  Feel free to adjust the temperature and cooking time to produce your perfect meatloaf.

Well, that's it for this installment.  I hope today's info helped demystify this American staple (or at least make it less gross to your kids), and give you something new and exciting to try in the kitchen.  Until next time, my friends, I wish you happy cooking!

Making Your Grandparents Proud

Well, hello again, friends! Yes, I'm back, and I'm just itching to share more ideas, tips, and other stuff with you. I've just returned from a long (7 month!!) military deployment, and I've had a lot of time to think about the kinds of stuff we should talk about when I got back. Well, I'm back now, and it's time to talk about those things. So, strap in and let's get to it!!

On my deployment I got to travel over a pretty significant portion of the world, and through my travels I got to see and experience a wide variety of culinary culture. I sampled everything from fresh hummus and tabbouleh in Dubai to Chinese street food in Singapore, and everything in between. And through it all, a thought for this first post struck me: why not talk about our own food backgrounds?

True, America is a melting pot in so many different ways, but one of the most fun for me (and most delicious) is sampling the many and varied types of food from people's cultural backgrounds. I would argue that paying tribute to your family roots through your family recipe book is one of the most powerful tangible ways to honor and remember that rich history. I'm sure we all have that "family secret" recipe, or closely guarded ingredient that makes our lasagna, meatloaf, chocolate cake, better than anyone else's. Our cultures, heritages, and traditions are reflected heavily in the food we share, whether it's a one-bite masterpiece or a spread for a house full of company. Just ask your grandparents sometime if your favorite dish (again, pick your favorite) is the best one out there. I can't imagine any self-respecting grandmother would concede that her cooking comes in second to anyone else's! 


I could wax philosophical all day on how culture and tradition play into our family recipe books, but while that's certainly an undertone of this post, it's not the point I was driving at. I wanted to throw a couple of tidbits out to hopefully spark some discussion along those lines, and to see what sorts of hidden treasures I could find for all of you. We all have that one favorite recipe or sauce that, while traditionally widespread and "standardized" by modern culinary standards, we just can't seem to derive our own version, make one that we like, or even begin to understand the mindset behind how it's constructed. Now, I hope I'm not hurting your head with all this, but when I cook I like to understand the "why" behind a recipe, and to get a sense for why certain ingredients go together in certain ways, certain orders, and under certain cooking methods and conditions. As a non-professional (that is to say I haven't been to culinary school) chef/cook/foodie, understanding a bit of the science behind combining ingredients gives one the proper foundation on which to experiment with new versions and variations of traditional favorites. 


Arguably, two modern culinary archetypes in America today (at least in my opinion) are those of Italian cuisine and good old-fashioned barbecue.  Both lend themselves to infinite variations, and they all contain a heavy dose of family heritage, which puts love into the food.  As long as you follow some basic fundamentals for these two veins of cooking, you can branch off and try wild and crazy offshoots until the cows come home.  


I love Italian food.  It's one of the most satisfying combination of flavors that I can think of, and playing with different combinations of herbs, spices, tomatoes, etc. in my tomato gravy is something I have a lot of fun with in the kitchen.  When I cook I like to play around quite a bit with the flavor profile, but I always follow a pretty basic set of fundamentals.  My palette likes a robust tomato flavor, but not one that's overly bright (that is to say that the acidity of the tomatoes make it taste very vegetabley...yes I know that's not a real word).  I prefer to cook my sauce with meat to add the depth of flavor imparted by the fats and the meat itself to the sauce, which adds a velvety texture to the mouth feel.  You don't have to use meat, and for a lot of sauces (like for pizza) I don't, but I will consider using tomato paste to add a bit of flavor and to thicken it up a bit.  You just have to take that into account and adjust your seasonings.  I use fresh herbs whenever possible (basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme).  Dried herbs are just fine, but the flavors - while similar since you're using the same basic ingredients - tend to be earthier and more assertive rather than subtle and velvety when using fresh.  And although I don't have an Italian bone in my body, I pay tribute to that school of cooking by including red wine in the sauce.  I add it after the aromatics and cook it down to form a good base before I add the tomatoes, which more often than not are San Marzano tomatoes.  I make my own Italian pork sausage (again, fresh herbs as much as possible!!), and use either 2 pounds of that, or one pound each of that same sausage and ground beef.  Again, this is where you get to be creative and either omit the meat or use different combinations/proportions.  As a side-note, a lot of people like to use veal in Italian cooking.  Whereas veal is certainly delicious, I like to keep it simple and use pork and beef.  And don't forget (like with everything) to season as you go.  Freshly cracked black pepper and Kosher salt are two things you should never be without in the kitchen!  Finally, the last ingredient in a good tomato gravy (in most cases) is time.  Simmering your sauce (depending on what you're going for) can impart flavors to it that you never knew were in there.  It literally can turn out a little different every time, which is the beauty of this style of cooking.  The most important thing I can tell you is to start with a good base, whether that's your old family recipe or one you get off your favorite cooking show, and work from there.  Practice makes perfect, and like anything else, you have to do it a few times to find out what you want to adjust for the next time around.


Likewise, I also love barbecue.  It's one of the coolest things about American food culture, and something guarded jealously by practitioners (including me!).  With so many different kinds of barbecue flavor (Texas, Memphis, Carolina, Kansas City, etc.), and the age-old rivalry of pork vs. beef, just imagine the permutations of recipes!  I myself prefer a thick, sweet barbecue sauce with plenty of heat, but it's got to keep that sweet, smoky taste and not just be liquid fire that rips your face off.  I've experimented a lot with combinations of rubs and sauces, and I like slow-roasting a pork butt with a lot of rub, and finishing with a good homemade sauce.  I go back and forth on being a purist and starting with tomato sauce and building from there, and just basing my sauce on ketchup and allowing those pre-spun flavors to form my taste foundation.  There's nothing wrong with using ketchup, sometimes I think it's just good to remember your roots and try to construct the sauce from scratch, sort of like the first purveyors of barbecue sauce had to do.  Pretty sure they didn't have a bottle of ketchup on hand to get them started!  


For the rub, and what has consistently worked for me is a combination of brown sugar, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and mace.  Yes, mace...but not because I'm trying to fend off a bear.  The stuff is actually a very sweet but assertive substance, and I think it goes very well in barbecue rub.  Again, this is where you get to be creative.  Definitely use the brown sugar, paprika, and cayenne, but experiment with some other flavors that sound good to you.  For the sauce, choose your base (tomato sauce vs. ketchup vs. vinegar for Carolina BBQ) and then build from there.  Onions or onion powder, garlic or garlic powder, cayenne, liquid smoke, and brown sugar or molasses are all good base ingredients for a solid sauce.  Try a little lemon juice to give your sauce a little extra tang.


Ok, well since I'm not actually going to divulge my family recipes (I did mention that they were closely-guarded...), I'd better wrap it up.  Just remember: no matter what combination of flavors you decide to try, make sure you're always having fun in the kitchen.  Until next time, my friends, I bid you happy cooking!