If you’ve ever been stuck for a winter comfort food menu idea, it’s likely you’ve landed on old-fashioned meat loaf a time or two. It’s about as homespun as food gets in North America and requires only basic ingredients to get dinner on the table without a lot of tending. Whack it in the oven as you make a few sides and you’ve got a full meal sure to satisfy most. As nostalgic as your taste buds might be for some of Mum’s meatloaf, I think I have a slightly better way to fill your plate.
Meat mixed with grains happens all over culinary history. Sausages and black puddings in the UK, kebbeh in the Middle East, and even stranger locales like… Cincinnati Ohio. It seems the historic German immigrant population there has invented something called goetta (say “get – uh”) which is ground pork or pork and beef mixed with, of all things, steel cut oats. Yep, the hard crunchy sort before they’re cooked. I’m told it turns out like an interestingly-textured breakfast sausage and is usually spiced in the same fashion. Next time I find myself in Cincinnati, I’ll skip their famous chili and try the goetta.
Taking that cue and realizing that I really don’t fit the traditional definition of meatloaf any longer – namely three pounds of ground meat beaten into submission and shoved into a loaf pan, cooked until it’s swimming in a puddle of fat – I started trying to lighten up the classic. People almost immediately insist that adding grains or similar to their meatloaf must be a cost-cutting measure. Heresy some meat loaf fans would say. Stone the crows if there be an actual vegetable in there somewhere. I say those people are missing the flavour boat.
My theory is that the real reason historic cooks started adding grains to their meat was to keep it tender and juicy. All those drippings should stay IN the meat, not render away into the pan. Sure it stretches your allotment of meat a bit farther but if you use some clever tricks you’ll never know those grains aren’t just more meat on your fork. My weapon of choice, rather than some exotic grain, is something in most everyone’s pantry but a bit more manageable that those steel cut oats they’re so fond of in Ohio. I use plain ordinary rolled oats. Yes, I’m putting oatmeal in my meatloaf these days.
Old-fashion (long cook), minute, or instant should all work here but I stock the first so that’s what went into my tests. I practically double the weight of my meatloaf by including a hefty measure of celery, onion, and garlic then use soy and (optionally) liquid smoke to flavour up the oats before they meet the meat, as it were. Speaking of, I simply insist you try grinding your own from a single quality cut of meat and avoid the industrial mishmash of not only various unpredictable pieces but of an uncountable number of animals in the giant factory grinders. Of course a local butcher you know by name could also accomplish the task but understand that timing can also be critical. Ground just before use is best, frozen just after grinding then thawed immediately as needed acceptable. In all cases the critical point is to not over work the meat into a tight, dense mess. Leaving it ‘loose’ is perhaps the biggest benefit of grinding your own. You can let it simply fall from the grinder into your bowl and that will make the whole affair much more tender in the end. Until you try it for yourself you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that the flavour difference is significant when compared to prepackaged mince.
I use pork up here because I can get it from a local farmer cheaply during high season. Beef of course would work as well and even ground chicken or turkey can be used but for those last two use the trick of blooming a few grams of plain gelatin in water or stock to add to the mix. That will compensate for their typical lack of fat.
Unlike some other meat loaf recipes that dare include vegetables, I don’t pre-cook mine in an effort to keep every last bit of juice they might exude in the finished dish. Seasoning is simplistic as is the ‘glaze’ which should be familiar to every housewife of the 1970s who got the same recipe from their grandmother. Some parts of the classic you simply can’t touch.
Meatloaf With Oatmeal
125 grams rolled oats, old-fashioned, minute, or instant
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1-2 stalks celery, cleaned and minced
3-4 white or brown mushrooms, minced (optional, add 25 ml water/stock if omitting)
4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed well
2-3 tablespoons dark soy
1-3 drops liquid smoke (optional) or 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon paprika, sweet or smoked to preference
1/2 tablespoon dry chile flakes (optional)
450g (1 pound) ground meat, pork, beef, or poultry*
* for ground poultry, add 5 g unflavoured gelatin, bloomed in 1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Combine all ingredients except the meat and cornstarch and mix well. Add the meat and *very gently* fold together. Do not over mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes and up to an hour.
Gently incorporate the corn starch just before forming. Mixing before would inhibit the oats taking up the extra flavours.
Place an oven-safe baking rack on a sheet pan to catch any drippings and place a 12″ x 8″ double layer of foil in the centre. Very gently turn the meat mixture onto the foil and form into a loaf shape with wet hands. Do not pack or press tightly. Use just enough pressure to bring the loaf into shape. Return to refrigeration for at least an hour and up to four hours before baking. If rushed for dinner service, place the formed meatloaf in the freezer for twenty minutes instead. Preheat the oven to 205C (400F).
Brush one third of the glaze (recipe below) over the meatloaf and bake for fifteen minutes. Remove and brush half the remaining glaze over the first (now drier) layer. Reduce heat to 190C (375F) and bake a further twenty minutes. Remove and brush the remaining glaze over the top and return to bake to an internal temperature of 76C (170F), usually about ten minutes longer. If desired switch to broil in the last four minutes of baking for more crispy edges. Mmmmmm… Delicious crispy edges.
Learn to make good mashed potatoes and braised cabbage to go with this while you let it cool for *at least* fifteen minutes out of the oven, possibly even thirty under a foil cover. If you can’t wait it will still be delicious but won’t hold together in slices at all. You have been warned. Meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow if you manage to have any leftovers.
For the glaze:
250 ml (1 cup) ketchup
50 grams brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1-2 tablespoons hot sauce (optional, any preferred variety)
Stir all ingredients together and heat over medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mix is smooth. Some small splashes of water may be needed to obtain a brushable consistency depending on your ingredients.
