Wanted!

I need some help. I was thinking of making a 'Jerk Pork Meatloaf' and was wondering is anyone had any ideas.

Email me or leave a comment.

I know. I have been very remiss in posting lately. It has almost been a week and the last post said I was going to post the results from the pre-packaged taste off.

Sorry. The html tabling of the results has annoyed me enough to throw up my hands and swear. Loudly.

It will arrive soon. Please have patience. Until then, here is a little taste.

I made meatloaf!

Last Thursday was Tex-Mex night at mi Casa, so here is...

Peter's Chicken Mexi-Cali Loaf
A Mexican inspired loaf. Tastey, fragrant and sure to be a crowd pleaser. Quick and easy, this is the one to try (inspite of the picture).


Ingredients

2 lbs lean ground chicken
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 jalapeno, chopped fine
1 can refried beans
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup chili sauce
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Glaze

1 cup Green salsa
2 tbsp citrus hot sauce
3 tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Pour mixture into loaf tin.

4. Bake for 1 hour. Mix glaze ingredients in small bowl.

5. Remove loaf from oven and pour glaze mixture in loaf tin, covering loaf evenly.

6. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Let stand for 1o minutes; slice and serve with additional green salsa.

Since no one answered my call I was forced to use extreme measures in my unbiased rating of pre-packaged meatloaves (yes, that is the plural form).

I shanghaied the other members of my irregular Video Game Club.

I re-heated, we ate, they rated.

I will post the results later.

So I have thought long and hard about this and I don't want anyone to convince me otherwise. You heard me. My mind is made up so you can take your dissent and shove it.

Yup, I am going to taste test all the prepackaged frozen meatloaf entrees that I can find.

So, who's with me?

Here is my list so far:

Michelina's Comfort Classics Meatloaf and Gravy with Mashed Potatoes
"Michelina's Meat loaf is made with juicy ground beef. It's cooked with Worcestershire sauce, onions and red peppers, and served in its own gravy with mashed potatoes. Just-a one bite and you'll see why everything Mama makes is so perfecto!"

Stouffer's Meatloaf
"A tasteful combination of two meat loaves glazed with catsup, baked and smothered in a rich, brown gravy. Served with a green bean and carrot medley and a satisfying portion of Stouffer's creamy mashed potatoes."

PC Fully Cooked Beef Meat Loaf
"Pre-sliced, homestyle meat loaf prepared with our own President's Choice Ketchup. Ready in 16 minutes."

LeanCuisine Meatloaf and Whipped Potatoes
"Hearty meatloaf delicately seasoned with onions and green peppers, in a savory gravy with tomatoes. Accompanied by creamy whipped potatoes and a dash of paprika." NOT OFFERED IN CANADA

Swanson Hungry-Man Meatloaf Dinner
NOT OFFERED IN CANADA

Does anyone know of any others???

'Delicious all-beef baked to a peak of flavours' was what caught my eye. It took a while. I must have been pouring over the seven page 8.5x17 full colour laminated menu for ten minutes.

"This place has got to have meatloaf," I thought to myself. "It says 'All Your Favourites! All Day Long!' on the sign out front."

That's when I saw it. It would be too cliche to say out of the corner of my eye. It was more like it was smack dab in front of me on one of those acrylic table sign holders. 'Early Bird Dinner Specials (3-7 pm)' and right below it 'Homestyle Meat Loaf'.

"Waiter, I'm ready to order!!"

This was the auspicious beginning to my meal at Smitty's in London, ON.

Smitty's Family Restaurants seem to be a chain of aneurysm inducing kitsch factories first founded in Alberta, but it was attached to my hotel so why not. Kinda like Denny's but Canadian.

Mine was attached to the Best Western Lamplighter in London. The Best Western was pleasant. They gave me a King Suite for the price of Queen Regular so I can't complain. But Smitty's could only be described as a zit protruding from a pleasant mid-market hotel.

Smitty's is that oddly placed rotunda on the right. What the hell they were thinking no one knows. Inside was much worse. The interior was wood panelled and most of the lighting was provided by miniature wagon wheel chandeliers.


It wasn't the most tempting of dining establishments, but as I said it had a lot going for it. It was attached to my hotel.

Back to the narrative, I had just ordered the early bird dinner special meatloaf when it had hit me.

"Crap! What have I done," I thought. Everything else listed on the specials menu had been represented on the normal laminated dinner menu except the meatloaf. No meatloaf sandwiches, no dinner entree meatloaf, not even meatloaf and eggs for breakfast. It's like the menu had just gone into some sort of meatloaf twelve step program and come out dry and born again.

"I am in a franchise eatery that only serves meatloaf 4 hours a day and that is on the discount menu. I am soooo screwed." That is when my server reminded me of the soup and salad bar and off I went.

You see, Smitty's Early Bird Dinnner Specials appeared to have been created by some wholesaler turned restauranteur. Here is what the small print said,

All Smitty's Early Bird Dinner Entrees come with the following:
Unlimited soup and salad bar, fresh baked rolls, daily vegetable, choice of potato, dessert of the day & a bottomless cup of your choice of coffee, tea or soft drink.

Even on paper that seems like a lot of food. You should have seen the plate.

I moseyed over to the soup and salad bar and helped myself to a half cup of what turned out to be the blandest Cajun Corn Chowder I have ever tasted and heaping plate of greens with pickled vegetables and fresh cucumber and tomato topped with a small amount of French dressing. I also grabbed a fresh baked roll before tucking in.

Before I knew it, my ginormous square plate arrived. Filling every ounce of space was:

• a slice of meatloaf covered in sauteed onions and drizzled with gravy
• a large scoop of really creamy mashed potatoes also drizzled with gravy
• a really big pile of green beans glistening with butter and tossed with steamed peppers and carrots

Immediately, I dove into the 'loaf, breaking off a healthy fork full, making sure I captured a couple of onions and a smear of gravy. As it hit my tongue I instantly knew; yup, the answer came to me. 'What answer?' you ask. The answer to the question, "How can a franchise restaurant afford to make meatloaf everyday in hopes of selling some during an exclusive 4-hour window?", of course.

What I put into my mouth looked like meatloaf. It was a rectangular slice of ground meat that had been baked with a mixture of spices. It smelled like meatloaf. Hell, I would say that every single one of my senses except for taste would have judged it to be meatloaf.

But if I had closed my eyes before placing that succulent morsel into my gob, my brain would have announced something else completely. It had been a very long time since I had tasted Salisbury Steak. A very very long time, but not long enough to forget that distinctive flavour.

I don't know how they did it. I could hazard a guess why, but how still alludes even my imagination. Somehow the head cook at Smitty's in London, ON uses his Salisbury Steak mixture (which is on the regular menu) to concoct some sort of meatloafy substance.

And I ate it.

I had meatloaf last night for dinner!

More to follow.

The amount of times I have joked about Web Cafes being the growth industry of Toronto (a long walk down Bloor West is the prime example) makes me forget how rare they can be outside of the Big Smoke.

My hotel has no internet access. Well, that is not exactly true. My hotel only has WiFi access, so if you forgot to bring your own computer you are screwed. Too modern I guess.

Reporting from London, this is your faithful host signing off.

Existentialism is about as much fun as depression.

I hate leaving NFLD.

So what does meatloaf have to do with Newfoundland? Very little I'm afraid. Newfoundland is a British colony. It still, strangely enough, holds dear to its well formed isolationist roots.

But it still can throw you for a loop now and again.

Today was that day, but I am sure you bright readers already figured that out.

My trip home has been filled with booze, friends, fatty food, and sun. Some of these are strange. Some are not. But most of all, my trip has been filled with meatloaf... er people. I have reacquainted or met so many interesting people.

This evening I met Maioway (I hope that is right), a sixteen year old kid who happened to be walking home the same direction and time I was. He was alive, not afraid to walk or talk with an old foggie like myself, just trying to get home at 3 in the morning.

Maioway has lived in St. John's his entire life. He grew up here. He loves the place and identitifies as a Newf. But like every Newf, he wants to see the big city. He really wanted to know what Toronto was like. I told him.

He got it all. He liked it all, but he had one question...

"What exactly is racial profiling?"

He figured it out, after I told him, but he didn't really understand. He was still excited. His only response was, "Idonknow, everyone's been so nice to me"

Maioway was a black kid who was raised in Newfoundland. He loved the place, but wanted to leave for experience's sake.

He is just more concerned about Newfie jokes than racism.