Meatloaf

July 14th, 2009

The dish, not the singer.

In preparation for my upcoming frugal menu I will begin adding recipes one at a time, so that they’re easier to access.

Here’s the first.

Our favorite meatloaf recipe has become Alton Brown’s Good Eats Meatloaf.  You can find his original recipehere.  Here’s our adapted one:

Ingredients

• 6 ounces bread crumbs (or crackers crumbled, croutons, whatever you have)
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 onion chopped (I grab a little of what I keep frozen, remember?  I chop and freeze an entire bag of onions when I buy them – makes cooking so much easier later)
• 1 carrot, peeled and broken
• 3 whole cloves garlic (I keep a big jar of minced garlic – 1 tsp = 1 clove)
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

For the glaze:

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 2 tbls  honey

Heat oven to 325.  In a food processor combine bread crumbs, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme.  Pulse until the mixture is a fine texture.  Place this in a large bowl.  Combine the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic in the food processor.  Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed.  Combine the vegetable mixture and ground beef with the bread crumb mixture.  Season the whole mix with the salt.  Add the egg and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing.

Pack this into a 10 inch loaf pan to shape the loaf.  Turn the meatloaf out of the pan into a casserole dish. Combine the glaze ingredients and pour over the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes.  Cook for approximately 30 minutes and check for doneness.  You’re supposed to use a meat thermometer, but we don’t have one.  So, I guess on the time.  I think it usually takes about an hour or an hour and a half, but I don’t really know.  Check it often for doneness.