In My Mother's Kitchen: Meatloaf
Anything that was leftover from my mother's flank steak made fantastic sandwiches with mustard and cheese. Just about the only sandwich I liked more when was I made the same sandwich with leftover meatloaf.
My mother's meatloaf was unique. For starters, it was not loaf shaped. I've made a few other meatloaf recipes upon occasion, and every one of them was made in a loaf pan. My mother used a unique glass shaped container that was something like a glass pie plate with higher sides. She never used it for anything else, and we in fact called that container "the meatloaf dish." The second thing that was unusual about my mother's meatloaf was that she didn't make it in the oven. Instead her meatloaf was made in the microwave.
Meatloaf
2 pounds lean ground beef 88% or higher
1 egg
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp ground sage
2 tbsp fresh or 1 tbsp dried parsley
2-3 tbsp ketchup
Mix all ingredients except ketchup in bowl.
Pack into a round 8" dish with a drinking glass in the middle to make a hole.
Spread ketchup over top.
Remove glass.
Cook in microwave with rotating platter on #7 for 23 minutes. Drain fat. Then go for another 7 minutes.
Remove from pan as soon as cooked.
So as you read this recipe, you'll have a few questions:
- What does #7 mean? On our old microwave from my childhood, I can tell you exactly how to do that. On my current microwave, I'm not sure. Since I have no idea how many watts that microwave had, I can't even try to do a conversion.
- Where did this recipe come from? I also have no idea about that. I sort of assume that it was in some magazine back in the day when they were all pushing the new fangled microwave concept. Maybe Good Housekeeping? My mother certainly read that one for years. That's just a guess though.
- What does having the hole in the middle do? I assume it was because the food in the very certain of the dish gets hot and you don't want it to burn. That inner edge gets pretty crispy, which is probably just a bonus.
- What else have you ever made in the microwave that took 30 minutes? I can't think of anything else.
- How do drain the fat out at 23 minutes without taking the meatloaf out. I usually try putting a cooling rack over it and tilting it enough to get a spoon in. That mostly works. Mostly.
Warm, this meatloaf is very good. Cold, it's much, much better. Unfortunately, I've never gotten it to come out quite right when I've made it myself. Before I gave up red meat it was often the only thing I used ground beef for. After I started hanging out with people who didn't eat red meat I tried using ground chicken or ground turkey or a blend. In all circumstances, it comes out good, but not as good as my mother made it. It lacks a certain crispness, and no matter how carefully I attempt to drain the fat, it always taste a bit fatty to me. I'm sure that the difference in microwaves accounts for some of it. It might also be the pan. As I don't own "the meatloaf pan", I use (at my mother's recommendation) a glass pie plate, which works.
Frankly, my failure to match my mother's meatloaf probably explains why I don't make her recipe very often (I'm not sure I've ever made it for M), and why I dabble occasionally in other meatloaf recipes. It's still in my cookbook, but it is the only beloved recipe from my childhood that I have not satisfactorily recreated as an adult. Even if it wasn't up to my lofty standards, on at one occasion it did give me one of my favorite Tulip stories, so it's got that going for it.
My mother's meatloaf was unique. For starters, it was not loaf shaped. I've made a few other meatloaf recipes upon occasion, and every one of them was made in a loaf pan. My mother used a unique glass shaped container that was something like a glass pie plate with higher sides. She never used it for anything else, and we in fact called that container "the meatloaf dish." The second thing that was unusual about my mother's meatloaf was that she didn't make it in the oven. Instead her meatloaf was made in the microwave.
Meatloaf
2 pounds lean ground beef 88% or higher
1 egg
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp ground sage
2 tbsp fresh or 1 tbsp dried parsley
2-3 tbsp ketchup
Mix all ingredients except ketchup in bowl.
Pack into a round 8" dish with a drinking glass in the middle to make a hole.
Spread ketchup over top.
Remove glass.
Cook in microwave with rotating platter on #7 for 23 minutes. Drain fat. Then go for another 7 minutes.
Remove from pan as soon as cooked.
So as you read this recipe, you'll have a few questions:
- What does #7 mean? On our old microwave from my childhood, I can tell you exactly how to do that. On my current microwave, I'm not sure. Since I have no idea how many watts that microwave had, I can't even try to do a conversion.
- Where did this recipe come from? I also have no idea about that. I sort of assume that it was in some magazine back in the day when they were all pushing the new fangled microwave concept. Maybe Good Housekeeping? My mother certainly read that one for years. That's just a guess though.
- What does having the hole in the middle do? I assume it was because the food in the very certain of the dish gets hot and you don't want it to burn. That inner edge gets pretty crispy, which is probably just a bonus.
- What else have you ever made in the microwave that took 30 minutes? I can't think of anything else.
- How do drain the fat out at 23 minutes without taking the meatloaf out. I usually try putting a cooling rack over it and tilting it enough to get a spoon in. That mostly works. Mostly.
Warm, this meatloaf is very good. Cold, it's much, much better. Unfortunately, I've never gotten it to come out quite right when I've made it myself. Before I gave up red meat it was often the only thing I used ground beef for. After I started hanging out with people who didn't eat red meat I tried using ground chicken or ground turkey or a blend. In all circumstances, it comes out good, but not as good as my mother made it. It lacks a certain crispness, and no matter how carefully I attempt to drain the fat, it always taste a bit fatty to me. I'm sure that the difference in microwaves accounts for some of it. It might also be the pan. As I don't own "the meatloaf pan", I use (at my mother's recommendation) a glass pie plate, which works.
Frankly, my failure to match my mother's meatloaf probably explains why I don't make her recipe very often (I'm not sure I've ever made it for M), and why I dabble occasionally in other meatloaf recipes. It's still in my cookbook, but it is the only beloved recipe from my childhood that I have not satisfactorily recreated as an adult. Even if it wasn't up to my lofty standards, on at one occasion it did give me one of my favorite Tulip stories, so it's got that going for it.