Sharon’s Deluxe Meatloaf

Meatloaf sandwich makes good use of leftovers, if there are any.

Meatloaf sandwich makes good use of leftovers, if there are any.

Not all meatloaves are made equally. The one that follows was sent me by Sharon Frost in Calais who commented that it was the best thing for family gatherings, which we are likely to have in Maine summers, plus she wrote, “My mother made this many times for Legion suppers, etc. Good!”

I’ll say. If you like your meat loaf dry as a chip and flavorless, well then, pass this by.

It rests entirely on beef (while some high end meatloaves call for a mixture of beef, veal, and pork). The addition of onions, celery, tomato puree and a mix of spices that includes chili, sage, and mustard, boosts flavor but none predominate.

Nothing is more comforting, I think, for a meat-eater than a meat loaf. It is also a good friend to us in the kitchen because the leftovers can be warmed up in a jiffy on a frying pan, and makes such good sandwiches. Of course, you have to have mashed potatoes with it. Maybe peas.

Sharon’s mom called for five tablespoons of onions. Now, you can measure out five tablespoons of finely chopped onions if you want, but I am a round-up-to-the-nearest-whole-vegetable person, and I’d say five tablespoons is about one small onion or half a medium. Ditto on the celery: One–half cup is roughly one rib finely chopped.

You can also let this meatloaf be an inspiration for you: use your usual basic meatloaf (meat, eggs, bread crumbs) but season it as this one is seasoned. One time, I made this recipe with half moose meat, half beef and it was grand.

Deluxe Meatloaf
Serves: eight
 
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds of ground beef
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups breadcrumbs
  • 5 tablespoons finely chopped onions
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon finely crumbled sage
  • ½ cup tomato puree
  • ½ cup celery, finely chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl.
  3. Pack into a loaf pan.
  4. Bake for one and a half-hours or until well-done.

 

Sandy Oliver

About Sandy Oliver

Sandy Oliver Sandy is a freelance food writer with the column Taste Buds appearing weekly since 2006 in the Bangor Daily News, and regular columns in Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors magazine and The Working Waterfront. Besides freelance food writing, she is a pioneering food historian beginning her work in 1971 at Mystic Seaport Museum, where she developed a fireplace cooking program in an 1830s house. After moving to Maine in 1988, Sandy wrote, Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Foods at Sea and Ashore in the 19th Century published in 1995. She is the author of The Food of Colonial and Federal America published in fall of 2005, and Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie which she co-authored with Kathleen Curtin. She often speaks to historical organizations and food professional groups around the country, organizes historical dinners, and conducts classes and workshops in food history and in sustainable gardening and cooking. Sandy lives on Islesboro, an island in Penobscot where she gardens, preserves, cooks and teaches sustainable lifeways.