Mealoaf, Smeatloaf, Double Beatloaf!

Name that movie?!?!  My husbands favorite all time movie!

 

Anyway, I have finally mastered the mystery that meatloaf has always been to me.  I never liked it, it seemed like nothing more than hamburger in a loaf pan, and I dreaded that my mother covered in in ketchup or tomato sauce. YUCK!  As I grew older, I never liked it any better, UNLESS it was drowning in brown gravy.  YUM-MO!  Another important Chris fact, I adore FAKE, straight from the little 33 cent package brown gravy!  One of my secret indulgences!  Since my husband loves meatloaf I took it on as my mission, to concoct and bake the perfect meatloaf.  I actually used a few tried and true tricks that I practice while making meatballs.  It isn't my meatball recipe but it COULD be used as such.  You may find some of the ingredients peculiar.  

Milk. The acid helps break up the proteins in the meat to make it tender and less clumpy.  

Hot sauce.  People always assume the addition of hot sauce in any recipe means its hot and they don't like spicy and they totally disregard it.  Please, understand, the addition of the hot sauce, just adds another layer of flavor.  It Is not enough to even taste any hot, trust me.  

Poultry seasoning, is my secret ingredient and if my husband knew I put it in, he would DIE because he claims to hate it.  Never seems to inhibited to throw some meatloaf down his ol hatch!


LOTS of breadcrumbs!  Celery, carrot and onion, is easiest food processed, you can even cook it in some boiling water first if you choose.  I must hide veggies in my husbands food because he hates them.  Have you ever considered the ridiculousness that is hiding veggies from a 45 year old man?  I know....spoiled rotten.  If you choose to omit this step or just used finely chopped onion, I encourage you to soften it until translucent in olive oil first.  A nicely cooked meatloaf deserves more than a hunk of raw onion to chomp down on.  

The most important however is how you mix it.  Use a hand mixer or stand mixer and let the entire mixture mix for a good 3-4 minutes.  It changes the consistency of the meat and makes the absolute perfect meatloaf.  I mean this is like, THE STEP you must not skip.  


ADJUST your salt and pepper to taste, I happen to enjoy salt, way to much, so you might want to use half as much and salt individual portions to taste.  



1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground turkey
2 eggs
1/3 cup parm cheese
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (seasoned or plain)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley-1tsp dried, try and go fresh!
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp pepper
1 tsp hot sauce
1 carrot + 1 rib of celery + 1 quarter of medium onion (food processed with 1/4 cup water OR grated FINELY into mixture)


Mix all ingredients EXCEPT ground meat together well, add ground beef and ground turkey and mix well.  Using your hand mixer, blend mixture for 3-4 minutes.  Or put into your stand mixer and let it rip for 3-4 minutes Turn into loaf pan, or form loaf shape and put in 9x13 pan.  You can also divide into mini meatloaves.  
Top with ketchup mixed with brown sugar,  BBQ sauce or leave plain to top with brown gravy!

Bake 350 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour.  Let rest for 15 min before slicing.

So.....GO, enjoy some good old fashioned meatloaf!  Maybe add some mashed potatoes, some nice fresh green peas?  And don't forget plenty of brown gravy!

Sing while you cook this week.  Make your family wonder if you have gone crazy!

Its late...sleep well, wake up and eat well!

Curiousity........did not kill the cat, and it wont kill me either.

Good Thursday evening!

I have a question for all of YOU.....

What is the ONE thing in your kitchen you can NOT live without.  Only ONE thing.  


Use the comments to post your answer and why you can't live without it!  I will post mine as soon as I see what everyone else's is, so mine doesn't look stupid. Mwaahahaha :)

Steaming, and boiling, and roasting, and searing. These are a few of my favorite thingssssss...

When you read a recipe, or watch a cooking show on television, does it ever seem they aren't quite speaking  your language?  Braising and roasting, parboiling or poaching?  Without knowledge of at least some of these terms, your cooking skills might not be what they COULD be.  I mean, at least use it as an excuse for burning the pasta.  "Oh my GOODNESS, I should have boiled, but instead I blackened!!!"  Ok, ok, maybe a lame excuse but you get my point.  Short of being trained at Le Cordon Bleu, there is no way you can just know ALL these terms without purposely looking these things up.   When speaking to a friend recently, I suggested she parboil her brussel sprouts, drain them and then saute them in a skillet with shallots, bacon and butter.  Her response?  "HOLD UP....what in the HELL is parboiling and what are shallots?".  I occassionally forget others have lives that dont revolve around cooking 24 hours a day. . It's what I dream about, I think about, and  love.  I want to clear up that as long as you know how to cook pasta in my world, nothing else matters. :)  So lets clear up some terminology issues using terms you may occassionally run across in my blog.   These are some easy, basic terms.  Ready?  We will start with the most important one first!  

Al Dente- Italian cooking term meaning "to the tooth". Referring to pasta that is slightly chewy. Not overdone.  Nothing is worse than mushy pasta, its sticky and nasty. If you have to use sauce just to unstick it from each other, we have a problem!

Bechamel -A rich sauce made from butter, flour and milk. Sometimes used as a base for preparing other sauces.  Unless your name is DONNA and you worship PAULA DEEN, you will do this in your pot over low heat..  Use your whisk people!!!

Blanch- Cooking food in boiling water and then placing in cold water to stop the cooking process. Helps to keep vegetables crisp and flavorful.  Nobody wants olive green, fresh green beans, blanch blanch blanch!

Broil - Cook by exposure to direct heat under the broiler of a gas or electric range, in an electric broiler, or over an open fire.

Deglaze- After sauteing meat, liquid (commonly wine) is added to the pan to loosen bits of food. This usually becomes the base for a sauce.  You can also deglaze with stock!  On a side note when you go to clean your pan.....deglaze with water, it will get all the mess out of the pan!

Egg wash- An egg beated with a small amount of water or milk. Brushed on top of pastry dough, pie crusts, anything yo want to bake to a sweet scrumptous golden brown color.  Definitely magazine photo quality kinda golden!

Ganache- Creamy frosting made with semi-sweet chocolate and cream. Possibly one of the most important terms in the kitchen because it involves chocolate!  I prefer milk chocolate, and it also requires some butter!  I will be doing an entire blog just on ganache at some point.

Marinate/Marinade - To let foods stand in a marinade, usually an acid-oil mixture of oil and vinegar or wine, often flavored with spices and herbs.

Poach- To cook in liquid. Poached eggs...YUM!

Puree- Strained or blended food.  Do this with peaches in a blender, add it to prosecco and its a bellini!

Render- Slow cooking meat to extract fat.  For instance bacon, or pancetta.

Roux- A flour and butter mixture used to thicken soups, stews and gravies.

Saute- To cook in food in fat, briefly over high heat. Butter, drippings rendered from bacon, or other meat.

Scald- Heating milk almost to the boiling point.

Sear- To brown meat quickly over high heat in order to seal in the juices.  Done often before putting it in the oven to bake.

Simmer- Cooking liquid just below the boiling point.

Steam - To cook on a rack or holder over a small amount of boiling water in a tightly covered container.

Stock- A base for soup which is made from cooking meats, seafood and/or vegetables in water and straining the liquid.   Another topic we will discuss in depth, especially with fall and winter coming!

Sweat - To saute over low heat with a lid on. This method causes steam and expedites the cooking time.  If you sweat onions, they will become translucent.  You will smell them.  Just like when we sweat we SMELL, so will onions!

Temper - To heat food gently before adding it to a hot mixture so it does not separate or curdle. Often eggs are tempered by mixing with a little hot liquid to raise their temperature before they are stirred into a hot sauce or soup.

Whip - To rapidly beat eggs, heavy cream, etc., in order to incorporate air and expand volume.

Zest- Grated peel from the outer covering of a citrus fruit. CLEAN your fruit first!  I am a non organtic girl but I think even organic people should wash it first!

So those are a few basic kitchen terms.  Anyone have any questions?  In case you have dinner cooking, go check it now.....unless you planned on a "blackened" dish!

Your steamy, zesty chefwannabe who wonders if she can jump in a pan and "Render" herself....
Chris

Hello everyone!  

Welcome to my new FOOD blog!

This blog was suggested and inspired by my mother-in -law.  It feels great to have someone have faith in your ability and I appreciate and love her very much!  

Mary, super cool mother-in-law *for the record I actually MEAN that*

If you read my profile, you will understand what this blog is going to be about.  Its been a food journey of sorts.  I grew up as the youngest of 10 children.  I OBVIOUSLY never had to cook for myself.  (or do anything else if you ask my 9 older siblings) teehee   I truly love cooking, its stress relieving and therapeutic and simply enjoyable.  


My only real problem with cooking is that I find it difficult to follow recipes, and tweak them all to MY liking and when I make up my own dishes, I rarely pay a lick of attention to how much of anything I have added.  When I share recipes and photos, please, please accept and love that you will need to follow them with a "grain of salt".  I will work on it, I promise!  


I will be including my family and my friends in this blog..  I enjoy cooking with people I love.  I will share photos, and I will even have the guts to share kitchen mishaps.  I have a friend who will likely announce that one time, in my precooking days, I added baking soda instead of cornstarch to thicken the sauce of a Chinese food dish.  There Kris, I already let it out!  


Please never hesitate to ask questions, share tips, share recipes, or suggest recipes you would like me to try.  Share your mishaps, I wont laugh, I promise.  Ok lets be serious, I am going to laugh but you won't know since I am behind my computer.   I will give pointers to beginners, as well as share tried and true tips with more advanced cooks.  I like any funny stories in general so share share SHARE!


Please pass my blog on to friends or family or anyone who loves to cook or would love to learn to cook. 


I look forward to meeting new friends and cooking great food!


Your own chefwannabe,
Chris