America’s family meat loaf, made with ground beef and a milk-soaked bread panade, shaped by hand and topped with a ketchup glaze.
Some evenings call for a dish you can cut into thick slices and eat with a mountain of mashed potatoes. Meatloaf comes out of the oven with its red glaze still glossy, caramelized edges and the smell of warm ketchup and mustard.
Under the knife, each slice stays tender and shows the onion and parsley set in the meat. And if there are leftovers, the next day’s cold slice ends up in a sandwich, and it’s often even better.
What Is Meatloaf?
Meatloaf is the meat loaf of everyday American cooking. Ground beef, an egg and a panade of bread soaked in milk are mixed by hand with onion and parsley, shaped into a long loaf on a baking sheet, then baked in the oven under a ketchup glaze.
Half of the glaze coats the loaf while it bakes, and the other half is served at the table. In Japan, the same base of ground meat bound with soaked bread becomes hambagu, served as individual steaks.
The English name describes what you see: meat in the shape of a loaf. In French, it is simply called pain de viande; the American version stands out for its sweet and tangy glaze.
From the Mechanical Meat Grinder to 1950s Dinners
Ground meat baked as a loaf already existed in European kitchens, but American meatloaf owes a lot to the mechanical meat grinder, which spread in the 19th century. Tough cuts could finally be ground easily at home, and they became a cheap base that was simple to season and bake in the oven.
In late 19th-century New England, meat loaf was sometimes served at breakfast to use up leftover beef.
During the Great Depression, in the 1930s, it became a budget dish: stale bread, rolled oats or crackers made it possible to feed a family with very little meat. After the war, 1950s cookbooks set the formula that is still the standard, with the meat, the binder and the ketchup glaze.
Meatloaf thus joined the popular dishes of the American table, alongside the Big Mac and the Philly cheesesteak. It is mostly made for weeknight dinners, and the leftovers go into sandwiches the next day.
The Main Ingredients for Meatloaf
The ground beef should be about 15 percent fat: at 5 percent, the loaf turns dry and dense. A mix of beef and pork works too. The panade, two slices of bread soaked in milk and then mashed into a paste, keeps the meat moist, and the egg binds everything together for clean slices.
Diced raw onion and chopped parsley go into the meat, never on top. Salt, black pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce round out the seasoning, and the sauce boosts the umami flavor of the beef.
The glaze brings together ketchup, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and jarred prepared horseradish, which adds a sharp kick. European ketchup is a little less sweet and more acidic than American ketchup, which makes for a slightly brighter glaze.
Technique Tips for a Good Meatloaf
Shaped by hand on a baking sheet rather than packed into a loaf pan, the meatloaf browns on all sides, and the juices that run out are easy to spoon off. A thermometer is still the best guide: 71 °C in the center. Letting it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing gives clean slices.
At dinner, serve it with the reserved glaze, mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic and lemon, or mac and cheese. Onion rings, sweet potato fries or a potato salad go well with it too. The next day, a cold slice between two slices of white sandwich bread, with mayonnaise, tomato and iceberg lettuce, makes a really good sandwich.
Ingredients
Glaze
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon horseradish prepared, from a jar
Panade
- 2 slices bread (white, whole wheat, rye or sourdough)
- 120 ml milk
Meatloaf
- 900 g beef ground (round or chuck)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt kosher, or 0.5 teaspoon table salt
- 0.75 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 tablespoons parsley fresh, chopped
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Glaze
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, the Worcestershire sauce for the glaze, the Dijon mustard, the ketchup and the horseradish.2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 4 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon horseradish
- Whisk until smooth.
- Divide the glaze in half: one half will be used to coat the meatloaf, the other will be served at the table.
Panade
- Tear the bread into very small pieces.2 slices bread
- Place the bread pieces in a small bowl.
- Pour the milk over the bread.120 ml milk
- Let soak for 5 minutes, until the milk is completely absorbed and the bread is very soft and soggy.
- Mash the bread with your fingertips to form a paste.
Meatloaf
- Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl.900 g beef
- Add the panade.
- Mix by hand, mashing the larger pieces of bread, until the bread is almost completely blended into the meat.
- Add the egg, salt, pepper and the Worcestershire sauce for the meatloaf.1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 0.75 teaspoon black pepper,, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- Mix by hand until everything is evenly combined.
- Add the onion and parsley.1 small onion,, 4 tablespoons parsley
- Mix until the onion and parsley are evenly distributed.
- Transfer the meat to the prepared baking sheet.
- Shape it by hand into an oblong loaf.
Baking
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
- Spread the half of the glaze meant for coating over the entire top of the meatloaf.
- Return to the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 71°C.
Resting and Serving
- Let the meatloaf rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
- While it rests, spoon off the whitish juices (coagulated proteins) that have collected around the meat.
- Transfer the meatloaf to a serving platter.
- Cut into slices.
- Serve with the reserved glaze on the side.
