Great Meatloaf Made Easy

Most everyone loves meatloaf. Some of us won't admit it, but who can resist a plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a good brown gravy?

As a chef, many people think I am a food snob, that meatloaf is somehow beneath me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Meatloaf is a celebration of all that is good about dinner at mom's table.

First off, let's understand that the following meatloaf recipe is by no means low in fat, calories or anything else for that matter. This meatloaf is all about taste, and comfort and the joy of a hot meal on a cold day.

So lets start with our beef selection. Fat content is very important when selecting your ground beef, too lean and it will lack flavor, too fatty and it will be greasy. I find that an 80/20 blend is perfect for meatloaf. Buy it in tubes, fresh or packaged, avoid frozen. The grade of beef should be select or choice. Ground Chuck is a good selection, as well as ground sirloin.

Now that we have our beef, let's get some bacon.

"Bacon?" I hear you asking. Yes, bacon. There is a classic culinary technique called 'barding' which is basically flavoring a lean meat with a fatty meat, typically bacon. We are going to cover our meatloaf in a fatty bacon before we slide it into the oven, you'll love the result.

Anyway, back to picking a bacon. Since we want to use the bacon fat to flavor our beef, we of course want a fatty bacon. That's a good thing, since most bargain brand bacon is pretty fatty (and thinly sliced). Find an inexpensive ½ pound package of bacon, like Corn King or Bar S.

OK, so now we have beef and bacon, next we need some breadcrumbs (no alliteration is intended!). We want plain bread crumbs, unseasoned. You can make this pretty easily, toast some bread and crunch it up, or you can buy some in a can. Here's the rest of your shopping list, you can refer to the recipe at the end for exact quantities of each item. We'll need some medium or large size eggs, some fresh garlic, a yellow onion, a carrot, a stalk of celery, some Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, salt, black pepper, paprika, a beef bullion cube (or canned beef broth), some flour and a splash of oil (vegetable, canola, olive, whatever).

First things first, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

We're basically going to mix everything together and then 'loaf' it, but we have to prep some of the ingredients first. Peel the carrot, onion and two cloves of the garlic (an easy way to peel garlic is to crush it with the flat blade of a knife, the skin will just crack right off). Mince (cut it up as fine as you can) the carrot, onion, celery and garlic. In the end, you should have about 1 cup of this mixture (a little more, a little less, its ok). We're going to quickly cook this mixture (often called a 'mire poix') in about a tablespoon of oil over a high heat. Get the pan and the oil hot, then toss in the Mire Poix., stir quickly with a wood spoon or similar utensil (a dinner fork will do). When the vegetables begin to brown a little remove them from the heat and let them stand to cool. After the pan has cooled down some, pour in about a tablespoon of the Worcestershire sauce. Swirl the pan or stir it with a fork, this will strip some of the cooked on goodness from the bottom of the pan (called the 'fonde' or 'base'). Do not wash this pan, we're going to use it just like it is in a few minutes!

Now get out a large ceramic or stainless steel mixing bowl, if you are squeamish about playing with raw meat, you might want some rubber gloves. Scrape the Worcestershire sauce and vegetables into the bowl. Add the bread crumbs, the eggs (no shells, just the eggs!), half the tomato paste, salt, black pepper and half the paprika. Mix these ingredients with a whisk or fork. It'll make a nice sloppy mess. Now break up your ground beef and add it to the bowl. Using your hands, mix the meat thoroughly with the breadcrumb/eggs until you have a fairly smooth, well blended mixture. Don't be too rough and turn it into a paste.

Now you need a loaf pan, pyrex or metal. Pack your beef mixture into the pan, press it down well so the shape will be uniform when you take it out. Take the remaining tomato paste and paprika and combine it with a little Worcestershire sauce to make a smooth paste and spread this over the top of your meatloaf. Now cover the enter meatloaf with strips of bacon.

Place the loaf in the oven for about 25 minutes, take it out and remove the bacon, then turn on the broiler portion of the oven for about 5 minutes or until the top browns nicely.

Now your meatloaf is done, to be sure, use a meat thermometer, the center of the loaf should be 155 degrees Fahrenheit or more. Now all we have to do is make some gravy, and this couldn't be simpler.

Remember the pan I told you not to wash? Put it back on the stove, with high heat. You'll notice that when you pulled the meatloaf out of the oven, it has shrunk some, and was surrounding by oil (grease), drain some of this grease off, right into the pan on the stove if possible. You'll want about 3 tablespoons or so. As this grease warms on the stove, mix about a 4 or 5 tablespoons of flour into it with a fork or whisk. It should have the consistency of wet sand. Make sure the grease and flour are well mixed and then pull the pan off the heat. (You've just made a Roux, something you're grandma did all the time, she just didn't know that the French had word for it) now use your bullion cube to make 1 cup of broth or measure out one cup from your canned broth. Pour this into the pan with the flour mixture and mix it thoroughly with a whisk or spoon. Return it to a medium heat and allow it to thicken, mixing it the whole time. It will thicken up quickly once it warms up, if it becomes to thick you can thin it with more broth or even water.

Ok, so now that you've let your meatloaf cool and your gravy is ready, turn the meatloaf pan over onto a cutting board while its in the sink or on a heavy towel as lots of grease will come out. Now slice, smother with gravy and enjoy!

Ingredient list:
1 ½ lbs Ground chuck or sirloin, 80/20
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato paste
½ lb sliced, fatty bacon
2 medium or large size eggs
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 yellow onion
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
a beef bullion cube (or canned beef broth)
1 tablespoon or so of flour
¼ cup of oil (vegetable, canola, olive, whatever).
¾ cup of breadcrumbs, plain