Original Ann Landers Meat Loaf Recipe | CDKitchen.com (2024)

FAQs

How was meatloaf originally made? ›

American meatloaf has its origins in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal served by German-Americans in Pennsylvania since colonial times. Meatloaf in the contemporary American sense did not appear in cookbooks until the late 19th century.

Yet under certain conditions it may still be pink in color. You're right, this may be caused by the presence of other foods - particularly those containing nitrites. Nitrites may come from cured products such as bacon or ham, which are sometimes included in meatloaf recipes.

Meatloaf is a traditional German, Scandinavian, and Belgium dish and is a cousin to the Dutch meatball. American meatloaf has its origins in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork, and cornmeal served by German-Americans in Pennsylvania since colonial times. It's always made in the form of a loaf and then baked.

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

To help your meatloaf stay together add things such as eggs, bread, crushed croutons, oatmeal, crackers, and breadcrumbs, these are all key ingredients that help meat stick together. I hope that this helps to answer your question. What are the secrets to a firm, sliceable meatloaf that slices and won't fall apart?

Overall, ketchup adds a touch of sweetness and acidity to the meatloaf, so when you're looking for substitutions, you will want to use something that captures one or both of those tastes to really round out your dish.

Beef loaf is made primarily from ground beef, while meat loaf is a combination of ground beef and other types of ground meat, such as pork, veal, or poultry. The other ingredients in both types of loaf vary, but typically include eggs, bread crumbs, and seasonings.

When this happens, it's because you didn't use enough. Next time, try adding in an extra egg and/or some more breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rice, barley, corn flakes, crackers, and dried soup mix can also stand in as binding ingredients as well. Including larger quantities of these items should help solve the problem.

The oven temperature is typically set at 350 degrees F for making meatloaf. That's the temperature you want to be sure to use so the meatloaf cooks and doesn't dry out. Too high, and the outer crust will burn before the interior is cooked all the way, too low and you don't get that delicious crust.

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

Is it okay to eat canned meatloaf without cooking? ›

You can safely open the can and eat its contents. Are canned foods safe to eat right out of the can even if it's something like meats? Yes. Any safe canning process involves cooking the food in-can to a high enough temperature to kill any pathogens (the most notable threat being botulism).

Meatloaf in America can be traced back to scrapple, a dish created by German immigrants in colonial Pennsylvania. These immigrants brought the idea of making a cooked mixture of ground meat and spices from Europe, where the ancestor of meatloaf was born.

A neat trick to soak up the grease under your meatloaf is to line the bottom of the pan with bread slices. The bread soaks up the grease as the loaf bakes. When the meatloaf is done, you can either throw out the bread or bake it to make some truly indulgent toast.

Though modern meatloaf is an American innovation, its ancestry spans the globe, and centuries. In his cookbook, De Re Coquinaria, Roman gastronome Apicius features chopped meat combined with spices, bread soaked in wine and pine nuts and formed into a patty.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

A neat trick to soak up the grease under your meatloaf is to line the bottom of the pan with bread slices. The bread soaks up the grease as the loaf bakes. When the meatloaf is done, you can either throw out the bread or bake it to make some truly indulgent toast.