I hadn't expected to find an entry on meat loaf in Alan Davidson's magisterial Oxford Companion to Food (1999). Indeed, I only looked it up there so I could say that meat loaf was a great and ubiquitous dish that everyone snubbed. Meat loaf, I intended to say, is a kind of joke.... Alan Davidson let me down. He had plenty to say about meat loaf..."a dish whose visibility is considerably higher in real life, especially in N. America and Britain, than in cookery books."
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Step 2
2. Combine all the ingredients with your scrupulously clean hands. Arrange in a standard 9 1/4 by 5 1/4 by 2 3/4-inch loaf pan lined with oiled aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Step 3
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake 30 minutes longer, basting with water as necessary. The meat loaf is done when an attractive brown crust has formed on top and the juices run clear.
Step 4
4. Let the meat loaf stand for 10 minutes. Then grasp the top of the aluminum foil at both ends of the loaf and pull it out of the pan and onto a serving platter. Raise the loaf off the foil with a spatula and slip out the foil.
Step 5
5. Serve with ketchup and/or the hot sauce or chutney of your choice. Like all meat loaves, this one is excellent eaten at room temperature.
