Is "outstanding" meatloaf possible?

[Anonymous No.19381623]

Is it even possible to have a meatloaf so good that it makes you go "DAMN that is some good meatloaf"? I have never had this experience. To me, meatloaf is just one of those foods that will just be like "eh, meatloaf", and although I may enjoy it, it's certainly not gonna be something I find amazing and I don't think anyone else really does. For comparison, you can get a good pasta dish and be like "holy shit, that was the best meal I've had in my life", or perhaps you can have a juicy roasted chicken and feel the same way. But meatloaf feels like a dish eternally shackled to the chains of mediocrity. The best meatloaf can't even compare to a medium-quality version of most other dishes, hell even a burger

[Anonymous No.19381632]

>>19381623
grandma made a killer meat loaf but the recipe died with her.

[Anonymous No.19381639]

My mom can cook outstanding meatloaf. Love you, mom and dad.

[Anonymous No.19381643]

>>19381623
I find the best meatloaves never loaved the meat to begin with

[Anonymous No.19381652]

My babymomma, my ex and I all agree that my meatloaf is the only meatloaf worth eating. I don't even do anything special. I mix wine-caramelised onions into the mince and use cornflour and only cornflour as the binder. No eggs. No breadcrumbs. No milk.
All the rendered fat gets used to make a roux for a mushroom gravy which the sliced meatloaf is served with.
I can never manage to get American-style meatloaf with the ketchup glaze the way I like, so if you mean that sort specifically, idk.

[Anonymous No.19381659]

>>19381632
Think about it. If meatloaf were actually a god tier food, then why isn't there a Meatloaf King? But you do have Burger King. You have restaurants that specialize in pasta, fried chicken, burgers, sushi, tacos, ect. But no one caters specifically to meatloaf. That's because it's simply destined for failure and all the recipes of meatloaf will be forgotten one day, forever.

[Anonymous No.19381667]

>>19381623
I always got really excited when my mom cooked meatloaf and scalloped potatoes when I was a kid, I’ve tried to cook it but it doesn’t taste quite as good

[Anonymous No.19381670]

>>19381652
>American-style
Where do you live where they eat meatloaf? I thought this was an American only thing

[Anonymous No.19381693]

Yes, absolutely. My mother’s meatloaf was always absolute shit, but my wife started using the Nourishing Traditions recipe and now I could literally eat it every day.

[Anonymous No.19381699]

it is, but only the day after in a meatloaf sandwich

[Anonymous No.19381700]

Using tomato paste instead of ketchup as a topper alone improves the recipe like a whole order of magnitude.

[Anonymous No.19381701]

>>19381623
Yes. Use beef and pork, put onions and garlic in with your other seasoning, glaze with ketchup, Worcestershire, and Karo mix after 20 minutes on 365, bake another 20 min after.

[Anonymous No.19381719]

>>19381700
Tomato paste on its own or mixed with something? If just paste, you're fucking crazy!

[Anonymous No.19381729]

>>19381652
>My babymomma, my ex and I
I hate niggers so much its unreal.

[Anonymous No.19381737]

>>19381719
I’m telling you, it’ll change your meatloaf game forever. Thin layer of tomato paste over the whole loaf, no ketchup, no condiments.

[Anonymous No.19381738]

>>19381670
Almost literally every country on earth has some variant of meatloaf, bruh.
Fucking China has one, for fuck's sake.

[Anonymous No.19381745]

>>19381729
So do my babymomma and my ex and they're both black (babymomma's part black, anyway). It's weird. I'm more comfortable around them than my ex was. The dumb bitch only associated with white people and the occasional Asian.

[Anonymous No.19381757]

>>19381745
Do you speak English?

[Anonymous No.19381760]

>>19381623
Yeah good meatloaf is called a pate.

[Anonymous No.19381765]

>>19381760
No that’s salty liver mush. Meatloaf actually has texture and vegetables and stuff and it’s actually warm.

[Anonymous No.19381767]

>>19381737
>>19381719
Try mixing the tomato paste with ketchup and reducing it with a little worshtershire
Put anchovy paste in with the meat, just a bit

[Anonymous No.19381780]

>>19381767
The recipe I use calls for fish sauce in the meat.

[Anonymous No.19381783]

>>19381745
Ewwww. I'm imagining your squirming little mulatto baby right now. Makes me sick to my stomach, thinking of that little abomination writhing around, begging for fried chicken and a Glock only a few days after it's able to speak. Disgusting.

[Anonymous No.19381791]

>>19381783

[Anonymous No.19382070]

>>19381623
All meatloaf is great, my mothers meatloaf is outstanding. I ask her to make a big batch for me every time I visit.

[Anonymous No.19382076]

everything about a meatloaf seems like it should be great, but somehow the sum is worse than the parts

[Anonymous No.19382091]

>>19381700
Not for me. I love the baked ketchup on top.

[Anonymous No.19382096]

make swedish-meatball style meatloaf.

[Anonymous No.19382098]

>>19381623
Yeah my dad makes it he crushes up plain Kellogg's corn flakes and mixes it with the meat. No idea how he seasons it, or what he bastes on. Would have to ask. It was always his signature dish though.

[Anonymous No.19382148]

>>19381780
That'll do

[Anonymous No.19382185]

>>19382098
Do the cornflakes add a crunch or do they become too mushy during the whole mixing and baking process?

[Anonymous No.19382204]

>>19381783
Eh, she's already mixed race (Marathi and Black) and I am, too (Eurasian) making our son is so mixed that he'll either be insufferable when he gets older or just totally chill about it. No chance for anything in between.
PS everyone loves fried chicken and we are no exception.

[Anonymous No.19382214]

>>19381757
It's one of several languages I speak, yes.

[Anonymous No.19382219]

>>19381623
My wife legitimately makes meatloaf that is fantastic. I think she said she adapted a Bourdain recipe.

[Anonymous No.19382226]

>>19382185
I can't really call it a crunch, it isn't like chewing on the meatloaf is going to make it hard to hear the TV. But they definitely contribute to the texture of the loaf.

[Anonymous No.19382258]

>>19381623
It's possible, but it wouldn't be a standard one, and you could do better stuff with the same primary ingredients. Really, it's just a cheap and easy terrine made with or without the rectangular dish, and there are a lot of really nice terrines, some that are quite old recipes. You can also dress up a standard loaf with some combination of extra cost and effort. Venison loaf with rabbit, hazelnut, rosemary, garlic, leeks, and a honey port glaze, for instance. That's likely too fancy for a lot of people, but the vast majority would like it in a blind taste.

[Anonymous No.19382522]

>>19381623
i found top racking it and getting the outside braised was a good method to making it more than just meatloaf. I use commissary bbq sauce on top 1/2 way through cooking instead of ketchup. load is just onion, bread crumb, worchester, and garlic, and 80/20

[Anonymous No.19382731]

>>19381623
I like meatloaf, but IMO any meatloaf recipe is objectively better as meatballs. It's just a different form factor of the same thing, and you get a higher ratio of the broiler-caramelized crustiness on meatballs than meatloaf. Meatballs can certainly be outstanding.

That said though - maybe it's the nostalgia factor, but there's something special about two nice thick slices of meatloaf with mushroom gravy, mac and cheese, and a cheapo frozen veggie mix with butter salt and pepper. There are times when that just hits the exact right spot. And you can execute the recipe far, far better than tv-dinner-tier

[Anonymous No.19382754]

>>19381652
>My babymomma

[Anonymous No.19382939]

>>19381623
i usually free ball it with seasoning but if you get two pounds of ground beef (usually the leaner the better) a can of diced tomato, half an onion and a cup of steel cut oats mix and cook for an hour on like 350 idk my mom made it every week my whole childhood so thats probably why i shit it out whenever im too lazy to cook everyday for a week.

[Anonymous No.19382972]

American style meatloaf is the worst.
You've gotta make it like a good beef patty or Salisbury steak.
A touch of MSG and some fresh thyme, fine diced onion and not too much bread. Either Worstershire or Vegemite
And if you ever go near it with ketchup just throw it straight into the trash

[Anonymous No.19382998]

>>19382972
As an American I've only ever had Salisbury steak at school and it was kinda horrid.

[Anonymous No.19383065]

>>19381652
Post the recipe, I need a good meatloaf one

[Anonymous No.19383069]

>>19381623
Make Frikadellen/Bouletten instead. More browning.
The key is always not using bread crumbs but fresh bread that still provides some moisture. Also the seasoning is important.

[Anonymous No.19383770]

>>19381623
>Is it even possible to have a meatloaf so good that it makes you go "DAMN that is some good meatloaf"?
Usually unless I really fuck it up because I never make it unless I'm really craving it. It's good when it's juicy but still stays intact, and seasonings matter

[Anonymous No.19383774]

>>19381659
There's no major nationwide chains for hot dogs either. Maybe locl places or food trucks or gas stations but no big places. I've always wondered why mcdonalds etc don't add one

[Anonymous No.19384243]

>>19383774
portillos is nationwide now

[Anonymous No.19385013]

>>19383065
I'm sorry, I don't really have one. I just kind of "wing it."
I do occasionally also add dried tomato to the mix since they will prevent moisture loss by absorbing it from the meat before it has a chance to cook out.
The basic set up is:
>chop onion; for 1kg meat, I'll use about 200g onion
>caramelise using wine (any is fine)
>cool and mix into the mince (100% beef)
>add chopped dried tomatoes now, if using
>add cornflour (US english: cornstarch) until it holds
>season to taste; I cheat and use beef stock powder in place of salt (in order to taste it, if you're scared of eating raw mince, take a small bit, put it on kitchen paper and nuke a few seconds then eat)
>form into loaf
>roast at 180 until done
>carefully tip out rendered fat and add flour to make a roux
>cook to medium brown
>mount roux with mushrooms and onion
>whisk in mushroom stock
>cook until gravy-y
>slice meatloaf and pour gravy over
>serve with mash and green veg side and a second veg side of choice (butter-braised brussells sprouts with garlic and sauteed beetroot-and-onion or carrot-and-onion with sour cream are nice options but it's best and cheapest to use whatever's in season).

[Anonymous No.19385032]

Bacon wrapped mini meatloafs in the muffin tin. Great for leftover sandwiches
Also making it very wetly in a MEATLOAF pan so that it drips down and doesnt cook in its own fat I think makes it better and less greasy

[Anonymous No.19385040]

>>19385032
I just freeform the loaf on a baking tray, like the sort you'd use for biscuits because baking it in an actual pan, even one with those slatted inserts, makes the edges never brown quite right.

[Anonymous No.19385087]

>>19383774
Sonic's big thing is that they have hot dogs, also I've heard of Wienerschnitzel but never been there or seen one

[Anonymous No.19386349]

>>19381659
>>19381623
i work at a restaurant where meatloaf is the house specialty we even do meatloaf sliders and eggrolls

[Anonymous No.19386798]

>>19386349
Which 'raunt? You have to tell us, this is big if true

[Anonymous No.19387375]

>>19385087
>Wienerschnitzel
it sucks unfortunately

[Anonymous No.19387533]

>>19387375
That's unfortunate, I remember watching Joeysworldtour eat there and wish I could try some