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If you grew up with a designated meatloaf pan in your house and now have serious opinions about the ground meat ratios (and the role of ketchup), weve got the cookbook for you. A Meatloaf in Every Oven by Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer, out this month, is a collection of recipes, obsessive essays, conversations, and more meatloaf content than you ever knew existed. And its the perfect way to kick off a week of nostalgia stories on BonAppetit.com. —Alex Beggs
But where did it all begin? How far into the past must we travel to see, on the culinary horizon, the meatloaf lumbering into view? There are various theories. There are competing histories, including the belief that meatloaf, or its closest antecedent, emerged in medieval Europe, around the fifth century, in a Mediterranean dish of finely diced meat scraps joined with fruits, nuts and seasonings. From that moment on, meatloaf in its many iterations and guises was often a sort of culinary scrap heap, a refuge for leftovers, in the spirit of many casseroles and of shepherd’s pie. It was a way to stretch protein. It was a way to use up excess vegetables. It was a ragtag orchestra of ingredients on the verge of expiration. And it made music more uplifting than anyone could have anticipated.
Americans embraced it with more fondness and fervor than perhaps anyone else, to a point where it’s often mentioned alongside hot dogs and hamburgers as one of the country’s iconic dishes and essential comfort foods. Its narrative in this country includes an early chapter set in colonial times, when German immigrants made scrapple, an amalgam of ground pork and cornmeal that established the meat-starch union at the core of most meatloaves.
The first recorded recipe for the modern American meatloaf is from the late 1870s, according to the food historian Andrew Smith, who told us that it instructed the cook to finely chop “whatever cold meat you have.” That meat, he said, would likely be beef, because New Englanders killed their cows before winter, when feeding them would prove more difficult, and tried to take full advantage of every last bit of the meat, looking for uses for the cheap cuts. Meatloaf was such a use. To the chopped beef they added pepper, salt, onion, slices of milk-soaked bread and egg. You’ll find these very ingredients and steps in many a meatloaf recipe today. But back then, Smith said, meatloaf wasn’t for dinner. It was for breakfast.
From the late 1800s, a meatloaf-esque recipe for ground veal with bread crumbs and eggs appeared in the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. But the profile of meatloaf rose to a whole new level in the 1890s, with the spread of industrial-scale meatpacking, which created scraps aplenty. Scraps were best chopped or ground and softened and seasoned, and that’s precisely what happened to them in a burger, in a meatball and in the most physically imposing member of this culinary family: the meatloaf.
The meatloaf was a home not just for scraps but for spices that connected it to the cook’s epicurean ancestry. One old American recipe combined veal, ham and bread crumbs with grated nutmeg, mace, cayenne and lemon rind for a decidedly French flavor profile. This loaf was covered with an egg wash and crushed crackers.
Meatloaf became a staple of many Americans’ diets during the Depression, because it helped home cooks extend precious protein farther than it might otherwise go, so that more people could be fed with less meat. By then meat grinders were common and meat grinding less difficult, two developments that helped to popularize meatloaf. In the 1940s meatloaf was an emblem of wartime ingenuity; this was the era of Penny Prudence’s “Vitality Loaf,” made with beef, pork and liver. The Culinary Arts Institute published a recipe for Savory Meat Loaf that called for beef, vegetable soup and cereal.
By the 1950s, meatloaf was here to stay. Betty Crocker had recipes, which home cooks tweaked. A 1958 book, 365 Ways to Cook Hamburger, included 70 recipes for meatloaf, and while you won’t find nearly that many in our book, that’s because some of those 70 went a bit wild, advocating smashed bananas, for example, or ketchup-filled peach halves. (We’ve exercised more restraint.) Meatloaf became an expected option at American diners. It never made inroads like that into upscale restaurants, but every now and then, an ambitious chef will sneak it onto his or her menu, either presenting it in some exalted form or keeping it simple and serving it as an act of nostalgia, as a gesture of respect for a food that so ably sustained Americans through hard times.
We both feel that when we cook meatloaf, we’re connected to something bigger: a tradition, a time line. Meatloaf is elemental. It’s enduring. And if comfort foods are those that are not only an answer to hunger but also an existential balm, served without undue fuss or expensive implements, then meatloaf rules the category. It reigns supreme. It’s the fluffy caftan of comfort foods.
Excerpted from A Meatloaf in Every Oven: Two Chatty Cooks, One Iconic Dish and Dozens of Recipes – from Moms to Mario Batalis by Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer. Copyright © 2017 by Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Life & Style. All rights reserved.
In the UK, there are regional pork meatloaf dishes known as haslet, which can be eaten cold or hot.
The meatloaf was a home not just for scraps but for spices that connected it to the cook’s epicurean ancestry. One old American recipe combined veal, ham and bread crumbs with grated nutmeg, mace, cayenne and lemon rind for a decidedly French flavor profile. This loaf was covered with an egg wash and crushed crackers.
By the 1950s, meatloaf was here to stay. Betty Crocker had recipes, which home cooks tweaked. A 1958 book, 365 Ways to Cook Hamburger, included 70 recipes for meatloaf, and while you won’t find nearly that many in our book, that’s because some of those 70 went a bit wild, advocating smashed bananas, for example, or ketchup-filled peach halves. (We’ve exercised more restraint.) Meatloaf became an expected option at American diners. It never made inroads like that into upscale restaurants, but every now and then, an ambitious chef will sneak it onto his or her menu, either presenting it in some exalted form or keeping it simple and serving it as an act of nostalgia, as a gesture of respect for a food that so ably sustained Americans through hard times.
Meatloaf became a staple of many Americans’ diets during the Depression, because it helped home cooks extend precious protein farther than it might otherwise go, so that more people could be fed with less meat. By then meat grinders were common and meat grinding less difficult, two developments that helped to popularize meatloaf. In the 1940s meatloaf was an emblem of wartime ingenuity; this was the era of Penny Prudence’s “Vitality Loaf,” made with beef, pork and liver. The Culinary Arts Institute published a recipe for Savory Meat Loaf that called for beef, vegetable soup and cereal.
But where did it all begin? How far into the past must we travel to see, on the culinary horizon, the meatloaf lumbering into view? There are various theories. There are competing histories, including the belief that meatloaf, or its closest antecedent, emerged in medieval Europe, around the fifth century, in a Mediterranean dish of finely diced meat scraps joined with fruits, nuts and seasonings. From that moment on, meatloaf in its many iterations and guises was often a sort of culinary scrap heap, a refuge for leftovers, in the spirit of many casseroles and of shepherd’s pie. It was a way to stretch protein. It was a way to use up excess vegetables. It was a ragtag orchestra of ingredients on the verge of expiration. And it made music more uplifting than anyone could have anticipated.
From the late 1800s, a meatloaf-esque recipe for ground veal with bread crumbs and eggs appeared in the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. But the profile of meatloaf rose to a whole new level in the 1890s, with the spread of industrial-scale meatpacking, which created scraps aplenty. Scraps were best chopped or ground and softened and seasoned, and that’s precisely what happened to them in a burger, in a meatball and in the most physically imposing member of this culinary family: the meatloaf.
Final note – you might feel a bit unsure about adding stock to your mixture, but as I’ve learned from Food52’s genius recipe for meatballs, your dry breadcrumbs will suck up all that liquid and keep your meat wonderfully moist.
Meatloaf has European origins, and makes an appearance in the 4th or 5th century Roman cookbook Apicius. It’s a traditional German, Scandinavian and Belgian dish. Wikipedia thinks that British haslet is a variation on meatloaf, but given that haslet (or harslet, or the more meatball-like savoury duck) is traditionally made from the liver, lights, heart and sweetbread (and often pretty much whatever other pig offal comes to hand) that’s not strictly true. Haslet does have a lot in common with the Pennsylvanian dish scrapple, which was an ancestor of American meatloaf, though. (I’m also, I would like to add, super excited about getting to haslet/savoury ducks. Big plans for haslet in my life.)
I can’t honestly tell you exactly how meatloaf found its way to Yorkshire, but the recipe I based mine on comes from Mrs Appleby’s Traditional Yorkshire Recipes (1982) which is largely compiled from recipes published in The Dalesman, many of them sent in by readers over the years. So, I’m going to trust her.
I get where they’re coming from. I tend to think of it as a North American dish, too. It conjures s of American moms from 1960s sitcoms you never watched serving up dinner to bright-eyed kids who are eagerly chatting about the duck and cover drills they did earlier in school. But, it would be rather weird to think that no-one thought to combine finely-chopped or minced meat with assorted herbs and spices then bake it until Americans needed to start eking out their food during the Great Depression.
If you fear the implications of this meatloaf for your waistline, you could opt for leaner meat and bulk out the vegetable content with more onion and a pepper or two. And maybe ditch the cheese on top. But, personally, I’m more inclined just to enjoy it as is and serve it (preferably in a bap or two slices of sourdough) with either steamed veg or a salad. It’s great cold, too. For bonus points, re-fry it and serve it up with Blackberry Ketchup.
Classic Family Meatloaf Recipe
FAQ
Can you get meatloaf in England?
What is a haslet in British English?
Why is meatloaf so popular in America?
What country invented meatloaf?
How is meatloaf made?
Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients and formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray, or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan.
Where did meatloaf come from?
The first recorded recipe for the modern American meatloaf dates from the late 1870s. Those preparing the dish were told to chop up whatever meat was on hand, the meat most likely being beef. To that they added salt, pepper, onion, egg and milk-soaked bread. This meatloaf was originally served as a breakfast food.
What is a meatloaf?
Of course, meatloaf is just the American name for a very old idea, a way of stretching those expensive scraps of meat a little further by binding them with other ingredients, as in the Middle Eastern kofte, Germanic frikadellen, or indeed, our very own faggots.
What is Danish meatloaf called?
Danish meatloaf is called forloren hare (‘mock hare’) or farsbrød (‘ground-meat bread’) and is usually made from a mixture of ground pork and beef with strips of bacon or cubed bacon on top. It is served with boiled or mashed potatoes and brown gravy sweetened with red currant jam. Finnish meatloaf is called lihamureke.