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.

Last night at a party, I asked a bunch of my friends from high school if they remembered her. Even with the prompting of a first name, none of them could.

Are we all going senile?

I am going to have to track down my yearbook.

Last night, very late, while reading a book, her name came to me.

I think it was Karen.

I am still working on the last name.

What is with the Newfoundland diaspora? I know it is huge. I know it is widespread. But why is it that, when I sitting alone in the Maple Leaf Lounge in Pearson, minding my own business, enjoying a beer and reading quietly, am I acosted by someone I went to high school with?

I know it is a small world. I am the first to admit that Newfoundlanders get into to more cracks, crevices and hard to reach places then roaches, but come off it.

She was nice, we knew common people, but I couldn't remember her name and I think she could tell. That is always awkward and painful. We chatted pleasantly about me being a bad friend and pregnant peers and she ran off to catch a flight.

Maybe I will bump into her in St. John's, too.

(I still can't remember her name)

Bruce Campbell has made my life really busy, so I haven't updated very regularly. I will update soon. Off to Newfoundland for a wedding tomorrow. Maybe someone will serve meatloaf.

A few days ago, Athena mentioned her idea about a 'Thanksgiving Loaf', which was basicly a turkey meatloaf with a vein of dressing (stuffing to you mainlanders) running through it. On Saturday, I was all keyed up when I was leaving work from selling roughly 1000 copies of Harry Potter combined with seeing almost every child in the free world get excited about reading. So needless to say I was jazzed and needed an outlet. Making a meatloaf seemed to be as good an idea as not and since I had been negligent in that area I felt it was my duty to try something new. So without further ado, here is:

Stuffed Turkey Loaf with Sweet Potato Frosting

2lbs lean ground turkey
2 med carrots, grated and chopped
1 lrg onion, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup cream of celery soup, undiluted or milk
2 tbsp chili sauce or ketchup
1 tbsp dried rosemary, ground
1 tsp black pepper, ground
all-purpose flour

Dressing/Stuffing
1 box Pepperidge Farms Stuffing
1 stalk of celery
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp savory, ground

Sweet Potato Frosting
1 lrg sweet potato (I mean large, use two if you are unsure)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 375F.

2. Combine carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic, rosemary and pepper in large bowl. Add turkey, soup and chili sauce. Mix evenly with hands.

3. Lay out large sheets of wax paper and dust with flour. Lay turkey mixture out and roll flat until about an inch thick with rolling pin or bottle (I personally use a full bottle of Jameson's). Width should equal length of loaf pan. (see below)



4. Mix your dressing according to instructions on the box or make it from scratch (I sauteed onions and celery which I combined with my box dressing. I also added savory to make it taste more like traditional Newfoundland dressing). Distribute dressing/stuffing evenly over tukey mixture leaving small area at either end uncovered. (see below)


5. Roll turkey mixture into a loaf as you would roll a jelly-roll. Lightly press to connect join at end. (see below)



6. Place roll in loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 180-190F.

7. Boil sweet potato in salted water until soft. Drain (you may want to reserve some of the water for a gravy base) and mash. Add cinnamon, 3/4 tbsp brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

8. Take meatloaf out of oven when cooked. Cover top of loaf with uniform coating of potato mixture. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar on top of loaf. Broil for 5-10 minutes or until sugar begins to caramelize. Remove meatloaf from oven. (see below)


9. Let stand for 10 minutes. Slice and serve. (I served it with mushroom gravy - see below)

A few things I learned were, firstly, make your dressing/stuffing a little drier than you think as it absorbs a lot of the meat juices. Secondly, it is important to get that internal temperature up because, although it is a meatloaf, it is still poultry. And finally, it may be a little better with a brown sugar glaze instead of sprinkled sugar.

All in all, a pretty good recipe that is easy to modify to your ideas about Thanksgiving. Although, in making it it reminded me of an old joke whose punchline is "Wrecked 'im? Damn near killed 'im!".

I made a new meatloaf on Saturday. I will post a quick recipe and photos!! by Wednesday. It is an answer to Athena's request for Thanksgiving loaf.

My AC works!!!

Well, I am still kinda blah about writing. Maybe it is the heat, maybe work (you go HP!!), but I'm bummed. so I need to talk about something else for a day or so.

Tonight I saw The Wedding Crashers and, yes, I do think Vince Vaughn is the god of comedy. I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, it was crass. Yes, it was smaltzy, but dammit it made me laugh. Not to mention that meatloaf played a small role in one very funny scene.

So go see the movie. It is funny, it has nudity wedding music, Vince Vaughn is really tall, they mention meatloaf and the Weakerthans are on the soundtrack. What more could you ask?

I have been a little stymied with regards to this blog, as of late. It may be my work load, a lack of inspiration, or, as many of you have pointed out, a lack of meat loaf in my diet. I imagine a combination of all these factors (and maybe some unknown ones as well) have contributed to my loafishness.

So today, I got up early and after making a very pleasant omelette for breakfast, I thought about meatloaf. Where does it come from? Who created it? Why does it seem to be cross-cultural, at least in the meat eating cultures?

My friend Stephen said something to me recently that stuck with me. In having a conversation with his mom, Antonia, they came to the realisation that most American dishes are just versions of famous ethnic or gourmet dishes made with prepackaged ingredients and more time saving shortcuts taken in the preparation. This would marginally explain Chef Boyardee or the use of transfats, but how does it impact meatloaf? This made me turn to my Larousse Gastronomique. I have two of these useful books, one from 1961 and one from 2001. For those of you that don't know Larousse Gastronomique is basically an encyclopedia of food and food preparation. It gives the origins, common types, and uses for any number of ingredients, dishes and utensils. It does all this from a French cuisine bias, but it still is incredibly useful, especially for a trivia nut like myself.

Anyway, Larousse doesn't have a listing for meatloaf and there is barely a mention of it under the entire meat section. Being of French origin, I didn't think this was too surprising. I mean meatloaf isn't French in spite of the huge section on pates and forcemeats. So I went to the English for help. The Oxford Companion to Food (1999) is basically an English knock off of Gastronomique. This is a common practice among dictionary/encyclopedia publishers, but Oxford does, at least, have a reference to meatloaf. According to Oxford meatloaf is:

a dish whose visibility is considerably higher in real life, especially in N. America and Britain, than in cookery books. This situation might be changed if it had a French name (pate chaud de viande hachee, prealablement marinee dans du vin de pays et des aromatiques), but it does not. In the USA the term was only recorded in print from 1899, in Britain not until 1939 (although liver loaf and ham loaf occurred earlier). The use of 'loaf' is particularly appropriate as most recipes include bread, usually in the form of soft breadcrumbs. Also, it is shaped like a loaf and may indeed be baked in a loaf tin or something similar. A worthy dish, which can embody the sort of rusticity which the word 'peasant' evokes, but can also exhibit the kind of refinement associated with bourgeois cookery. Its range, however, does not extend into the realm of haute cuisine.
The editors of the OED assert that meat loaf is usually eaten cold in slices.

Strange that Oxford fails to mention that a meatloaf is actually made from meat, but I guess they are not perfect. I should mention that, the editors of this book crack me up. There is a underlying humour in almost everything they write. You can almost picture the smarmy, mousey looking researcher sitting at their desk giggling as they write stuff like "this situation might be changed..." or "a worthy dish..."and especially, "the editors... assert that meat loaf is usually eaten cold...". You can almost hear the resounding 'Jolly Goods' and 'Brilliants' coming from the editorial meetings, but I digress.

It is funny that it seems to be a point of honour, taken up by the contributor, that meatloaf is too low brow for the French, but it coould be rectified by a high-falutin' name change and also that the 'loaf could never be part of haute cuisine.

And I don't know if it is just me, but it is like this reference simply says that meatloaf is a peasant dish, served earliest in the USA (ie the peasants) with adoption in the UK at a later date where it is raised from its humble roots (ie bourgeois cookery), but, of course, it could never possibly be improved, especially not by those haughty French bastards.

I guess meatloaf, like other dishes, is, in fact, best served cold.

It has been a rough week at work and I am feeling less than creative. I will update soon.

Just 'cause you love meatloaf doesn't mean you can't love vegetables. Good food is good food and creative competent cooks can be meat eaters and not. Well, my friend Bill is a meat eater and his girlfriend Keri is not. So Bill cooks phenomenal vegetarian dishes when he is at home and eats meat when he is out with friends.

Because of this I asked Bill to send me his recipe for nut roast. It is a great dish (so is Bill) and I thought it needed to be shared. It is a great example of vegetarian cooking that isn't bland or boring, isn't a poor copy of a meat dish and is better than the sum of its parts. So here you go.

Vegetarian Nut Roast with Miso Gravy

You won’t believe how delicious this nut roast is especially when it’s smothered in rich miso gravy, which tastes like the real thing. But it’s purely veg – perfect for those nostalgic vegetarians who pine for the flavour of gravy on special occasions – or any time, for that matter. Don’t assume this dish is just for vegetarians, either. The biggest meat-eater I know tried this nut roast and he loved it. It’s perfect as a side dish, too. But you absolutely must to try the gravy on some mashed potatoes.

Vegetarian Nut Roast

1 large onion
2 large cloves garlic
1/8 cup butter
1/8 cup olive oil
1 cup whole unsalted cashew nuts
1 cup whole pecan nuts
1 cup white bread, torn into pieces
1 cup vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
thyme leaves

Stuffing

1 x 284 gram bag spinach
2 cups water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 shiitake mushroom, sliced, cut in medium dice
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 cup white bread, torn into pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable stock

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F.

2. Grease and line a 1 lb loaf tin with parchment paper. Use a pair of scissors to cut the paper into two strips – one strip to fit the length and one for the width of the tin. Make sure there is enough paper hanging over the edge so that you can easily pull the paper up to remove the nut roast from the tin. Make sure the parchment paper is greased, as well.

3. In a medium-sized saucepan, lightly sauté the onions in a combination of olive oil and butter until tender but not brown. Remove from the heat.

4. Grind the cashews and pecans in the food processor with the bread and garlic and add to the sautéed onion in the saucepan (off the heat), together with the boiled vegetable stock, fresh thyme leaves and salt and pepper.

5. Let this mixture stand while preparing the stuffing.

6. Wash the spinach leaves, break off and discard the stems.

7. Fill a medium-sized saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil. Fill a small bowl with ice water and place near saucepan on stove.

8. Plunge spinach leaves in boiling water and blanch for 1-2 minutes.

9. Immediately remove spinach from boiling water with a slotted spoon and drop into the ice water in order to cold-shock it. The spinach will retain its vivid green colour this way.

10. Drain and thoroughly squeeze excess water from spinach. Set aside in small bowl.

11. Put shiitake mushrooms into a different bowl and drizzle sherry vinegar and olive oil over top.

12. Add chopped garlic and thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper. Let stand for 10 minutes to absorb flavours.

13. In a small skillet, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until it turns translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until they are tender and the juices have released. Let cool.

14. Grind bread, spinach and mushroom mixture in food processor and moisten with vegetable stock, if necessary.

15. Pour half of the nut mixture into the prepared tin, top with all of the stuffing, then spoon the rest of the nut mixture on top.

16. Dot with the remaining butter and stand the tin another larger tin to catch any drippings.

17. Bake for 30 minutes or until it turns deep brown. Remove from oven.

18. Cool for a minute in the tin, then slip a knife around the sides. Turn the nut roast out onto a cutting board and strip off the parchment paper strips.

19. Cut roast into slices and serve fanned out on a platter. Serve with miso gravy.

Miso Gravy
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 carrot, peeled, finely, diced
1 finely diced stalk celery
1 finely diced medium Onion
1 leek, (white part only), rinsed, finely, diced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups canned vegetable stock
1 tbsp barley miso, soybean paste available from any health store
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh parsley, with stem, cut in 3 parts
1 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. In a skillet, over medium heat, saute the carrot, onion, celery and leek in the vegetable oil until caramel-y on the edges and the pan is fairly dry.

2. Add the wine and bring to a medium boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve any brown bits into the liquid. Simmer until most of the wine has evapourated.

3. Add the vegetable stock, Miso, soy sauce, thyme and parsley and stir until Miso is dissolved. Bring up to the boil then reduce to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let the herbs steep in the liquid for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Strain the sauce with a fine sieve. Bring the mixture back up to a simmer over medium high heat. Mix the cornstarch with 1/3 cup water in a measuring cup and stir together with a fork.

5. Add the cornstarch mixture to the gravy and simmer until it thickens slightly.

6. Keep warm until ready to serve, or refrigerate and warm up when ready to go.