Old Fashioned Meatloaf

Comfort Food At Its Best

There are some dishes that never go out of style, exactly because they soothe the soul on some deep level. I find meatloaf to be one such dish. I have played around with it over time and I have found a recipe that is both rich in flavor and equally good hot or cold. Truth to tell, I prefer my meatloaf cold, cut in thick slices, even without being sandwiched between two slices of bread.

It’s not at all complicated to make but it does take an hour to an hour and 10-15 minutes to bake in the oven. Just take that into account.

I like to make it with bread rather than breadcrumbs, but you can do either way. So, take 4 slices of bread, a little stale is fine (a nice repurposing of old bread) (or a full cup of breadcrumbs)

I used wholegrain but you can also use white. It’s a good way to sneak healthy bread in there 😉 .

Next, tear to pieces with you hands like so

Next pour 1/2 cup of soy milk over the bread.

Let the bread soak up the soy milk till it’s all absorbed. Now I will use a technical term. Gush it all up together with your hands (I used latex gloves for the whole process and the mixing of the meat too).

It should look like this.

Next add into a bowl chopped onion, garlic, paprika, soy sauce and ketchup and an egg, stir together and add the chopped meat and the soaked mushed bread or the breadcrumbs.

Then take your clean or glove covered hands and mush together but try not to overdo it or it gets a bit dense. I actually don’t mind a little dense but some people do.

It should form a smooth mass and look like this.

Then, take a loaf pan and spray with oil spray, which you are basically using to shape the meatloaf since you are leaving it freestanding and pack the mixture into it.

Flip it out onto a baking tray or sheet pan, lined with parchment paper.

Then, mix molasses and ketchup and drizzle on meatloaf and using a pastry brush or gently with your hands, coat the whole loaf with the combo. I’m very stingy with it since there is so much flavor in the meatloaf that you don’t need to drown it with the topping.

And this is how it should look

Bake for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes till nicely browned. Let sit for about 10 minutes so the juices reabsorb and you have a wonderful lunch or dinner, great with mashed potatoes or rice or served as a sandwich or just as is. Yummmmm.

Old Fashioned Meatloaf

4 slices bread OR a cup of breadcrumbs
1/2 cup soy milk
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 rounded tablespoons chopped fried onion
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon paprika sweet or smoked
1 egg
1 kilo (2.2 pounds) ground beef, not too lean
For topping:

2 tablespoons ketchup
1 generous tablespoon molasses
oil spray for loaf pan

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

If you use the breadcrumbs, you will skip tearing the bread etc. but I confess I think using bread adds flavor, but it will cut your prep time to use the crumbs, so up to you.

If using bread, tear into pieces and put in a bowl and pour the soy milk over all and let the bread absorb the lot. If using breadcrumbs, put in a bowl and pour the soy milk over and let sit a minute or two. Take the soaked bread and mush it up till pasty. Then add the ketchup, soy sauce chopped fried onions (remember, I’ve mentioned I prefry onions for this very purpose of only needing a bit. Otherwise, take a small peeled, chopped onion and fry till light brown in a tablespoon of oil.) and garlic and paprika. I like the smoked kind for a nice flavor but sweet is also good. Add the egg and stir all together. Then take the chopped meat and break it up with your hands and mix all together till a nice mixture is formed. Take the loaf pan and spray with oil, pack the meatloaf mixture in to shape nicely and flip out onto a parchment lined baking tray.

Take the additional ketchup and drizzle on top of meatloaf and drizzle the molasses as well (you can use silan, date syrup/molasses but it’s not the exact same results) and with a pastry brush or your hands, coat the loaf on all the sides. Put the loaf into the hot oven and bake for an hour and 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for about ten minutes so the juices reabsorb. Slice into nice healthy slices and enjoy.