Comfort Food: Meatloaf

Can anyone not picture meatloaf? In America, grandmas, moms, greasy spoon diners and all-you-can-eat buffets have their own favorite recipes for this classic comfort food, usually served with mashed potatoes. Meatloaf is ground meat, but recipes dart off into all different tangents after that. North Americans generally use equal parts of ground beef, ground pork and ground veal, but some cultures use only beef or only turkey or add ham, venison, lamb, chicken, types of sausage—even seafood.

Some recipes add an egg to bind the meat (my mother’s did;) others say no eggs or add hard boiled eggs (chopped or inserted whole.) Spices vary, too: parsley, salt, pepper, curry, oregano, rosemary—or no spices. Chopped onions, celery, carrots, or not. Gravy or tomato sauce? My mother topped ours with tomato paste.

Most modern cultures should be familiar with meatloaf because it’s been around for two millenniums. Its first recorded recipe appeared in a Roman cookbook from the fifth century. Researchers think today’s meatloaf in the United States is based on recipes brought by German settlers, and those, in turn, may have come from the Dutch meatball. The dish became even more popular during the Great Depression and World War II, when families were stretching their foods and budgets. Meatloaf became an economical way to serve meat, adding vegetables or eggs, and stretching it even farther with breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs.

Calorie counts and nutrition will vary based on the ingredients, but, according to Fatsecret.com, one “large” slice of meatloaf, similar to what is in this article’s photos, without gravy or sauce, averages 294 calories (17.44 g of fat and 23.27 g of protein.) As always, beware of restaurant comfort foods. The “low calorie” version of Bob Evans’ Meatloaf and Gravy entree is 1,470 calories, which comes with two pieces (total fat 78 g and 71 g of protein.)  

Here are some of the variations of this Blue Plate Special from other cultures:

• Puerto Rico: ground beef, pork and turkey, breadcrumbs, parsley, red beans, potatoes, adobo sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk and ketchup, and a hard-boiled egg is in the center.
• Denmark: a loaf of ground pork and beef, topped with bacon strips or cubes, and on the side, potatoes with a red currant-sweetened brown sauce.
• Philippines: ground pork, minced carrots and seasoning wrapped around sausages and boiled eggs; it’s steamed in banana leaves (or aluminum foil,) then sliced and fried for breakfast.
• South Africa:  originally from the East Indies hundreds of years ago, their version is meatloaf sweetened with curry, dried apricots and almonds, then covered with a whipped egg and milk mixture and baked.  

From Scandinavia to South Africa, Mexico to the Middle East, meatloaf is a staple in comfort food culture. What should you drink with meatloaf? See the “Wine Pick of the Week” for a review on Zinfandel and why it’s a great meatloaf partner.