Mom's Meatloaf

Yesterday, the first day of summer, I had an urge for meatloaf, just like my mother used to make us back in the 1950s and 60s. There you go, now you can guess at my age.

Funny that I should want to turn on the oven on what turned out to be a hot, sunny day following a long, busy morning and early afternoon. My grandsons finished school for the year and I went with their mother -- my daughter -- to pick them up and to attend the younger’s kindergarten graduation ceremony. Congratulations to Devon, member of the class of 2025! Meanwhile, his big brother Damian successfully completed 4th grade.

Back to the Mom’s Meatloaf... My mother always kept it simple and served it on weeknights, alternating with Macaroni and Cheese and other casseroles.

MOM’S MEATLOAF
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients...

2-3 slices white bread, torn into small pieces
1 cooking onion (5-6 oz.), diced
1 egg
1/4-cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Bragg Liquid Aminos (or Worcestershire sauce)
2 teaspoons Dusseldorf Style Mustard (or your favorite)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound 80% lean ground beef
1 pound 90% lean ground beef


Directions...

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Grease bottom and sides of loaf pan.

3. Prepare bread and onion. Can be done by hand or in a food processor.

4. Stir in slightly beaten egg, ketchup, liquid aminos (or Worcestershire), mustard, salt and pepper.

5. Break ground beef into small pieces and mix into other ingredients with large wooden spoon or by hand.

6. Spoon mixture into greased loaf pan and gently pat into shape.

7. Bake 60 - 70 minutes.

8. Using spatula/s, carefully lift from loaf pan onto serving platter. Cover with a tent of aluminum foil and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

9. Served topped with ketchup or serve ketchup “on the side”. As an alternative, about 15 minutes before the meatloaf is done, spread a thin layer of ketchup on the top and sprinkle with brown sugar.

Okay, so I didn’t do it exactly like Mom would have done it. I used the food processor for the bread crumbs and onions. Were there food processors in the 50s and 60s? We sure didn’t have one.

Also, no such thing as liquid aminos in our house back then. I just decided to throw that in for extra taste (it’s salty, too, so consider that when adding salt).

Last but not least, Mom would have used plain yellow prepared mustard.

I remember my grandmother -- my mother’s mother -- making meatloaf, too. She always let me watch and/or help. Don’t pat the mixture firmly into the pan. Keep your touch light, she said. She had a reason, but I don’t remember it.

TV TRAY

As a single person, I sometimes often take my meal to the living room and eat off a TV tray while watching a movie or documentary. TV tray meals are usually carefully prepared thrown together with whatever happens to be in the kitchen, no measurements recorded.

Baked tortilla, pierogies, cooked cranberries and carrots, sour cream



(Last but not least, I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit my other blog, CORNING NY STEP BY STEP -- a view of the city where I live.)