Meat Loaf

There is something about meat loaf that is so suggestive of what popular culture imagines 1950s suburban America to have been.   It was probably the main course that June served to Ward, Wally and The Beaver every Tuesday night for years.   I suspect that it grew out of a need to economize by adding cheaper ingredients to ground meat.   Since so many things can be added to stretch the meat and since you can add so many different things for flavoring, this dish has the potential to never be the same twice.

A couple of general principles before getting to recipes.   First, using fattier forms of ground meat, such as ground beef or hamburger meat, will result in a moister loaf than using leaner cuts, such as ground chuck or ground pork.   Second, you want to make a loaf that will hold together during cooking.   Some fillers, such as bread crumbs or corn flake crumbs, will tend to dry the loaf out.   When you use them, add something that will either moisten the loaf or that will tend to hold it together.   One or two beaten eggs will serve, though there are more interesting alternatives. Finally, any seasoning mix used for beef, hamburgers or other things can be used to create a tasty meat loaf. The main example I give is what I call pseudo-Italian meat loaf.   Down below, I'll adapt an Armenian meatball recipe to give an example.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the meat in a bowl.   Salt and pepper it to taste.   Add the chopped onion, green pepper and garlic.   Mix coarsely.   Add the thyme, rosemary and fennel seed.   Mix.   Add the parmesean, bread crumbs and ricotta cheese.   Mix thoroughly and knead the loaf until the fillers are mixed through. Form this into a loaf.   The loaf should be a light pink and should hold its shape.   It should not be wet to the touch. If the loaf is too moist, add a bit more bread crumbs.   Place the loaf in a baking pan or a shallow casserole that can be covered.   Cover and bake for 40 minutes.   Pour the tomato sauce over the loaf and sprinke with basil. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, until the meat loaf is cooked through.

Notes

I use unseasoned bread crumbs and tomato sauce for this.   If you use seasoned, you may want to cut back on the spices.

Variations

1:   Pseudo-Mexican meat loaf   Omit the thyme, rosemary, fennel, parmesean
      and ricotta.   For spicing add: two finely chopped jalapeno peppers, 1/2 tsp
      ground cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano.   To make this hold together add two slightly
      beaten eggs to the loaf and mix well.   Five minutes before serving top with
      grated Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese.

2:   "Armenian" meat loaf   Omit the thyme, rosemary, fennel and parmesean
      cheeses.   Add 6 Tbs chopped parsley, 1/2 cup toasted and chopped pine nuts,
      2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp each of salt, pepper, cinnamon, chopped mint leaves and
      chopped basil.   Omit the tomato sauce.

3:   Traditional American meat loaf   This can be made by combining 2 beaten
      eggs with 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup finely chopped onions, 2
      tablespoons of snipped parsley, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground sage, and 1/8
      tsp black pepper.   Mix 1 1/2 pound of ground beef into this.   Form into a loaf.