Julia Child's Meatloaf Recipe | CDKitchen.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the basic meatloaf formula? ›

In essence, it boils down to a few simple steps: Combine ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, and other flavorful ingredients of your choice. Put this mixture in a lightly greased loaf pan and bake it until it's cooked through.

I later learned how I could avoid this problem and make a fully smooth meatloaf by pre-cooking any vegetables, especially the onion, before adding them to the ground meat. This way the meatloaf gets the flavor without the rawness -- a method from the smart people at Cook's Illustrated.

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

The number of eggs to use in the meatloaf recipe may vary depending on the specific recipe and the quantity of the other ingredients. In many meatloaf recipes, eggs act as a binder that helps hold the ingredients together. A common ratio is about 1 to 2 eggs per pound of meat.

Binders like eggs or breadcrumbs will certainly help to keep your meatloaf together.

No bells and whistles - just a few ingredients including beef, egg, bread crumbs and a simple tomato-based topping. Use a gentle touch with ground beef. Over-mixing will result in burgers, meatballs or meatloaves with a firm texture.

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

Cool before slicing: Let the loaf cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. If you baked your meatloaf in a loaf pan, carefully drain off the liquid fat before transferring the meatloaf to a cutting board. Cut into thick slices and serve.

Without milk, the meatloaf may be slightly drier [1]. However, there are alternative ingredients that can be used to maintain moisture, such as water or dairy-free milk substitutes. Binding: Milk acts as a binding agent in meatloaf, helping to hold the ingredients together.

Sure, egg yolks add some rich flavor to a meatloaf, but the real reason we need eggs is for structure—to help bind the meatloaf together. This is especially important since we're making a free-form meatloaf, or one that you shape by hand, versus using a loaf pan.

Do you have to put ketchup on top of meatloaf? ›

Luckily, there are plenty of options for a meatloaf glaze that doesn't include ketchup and adds new and unique flavors to a classic dish. Some popular substitutions include: Barbecue sauce.

Properly mixing a meatloaf prior to forming not only assures an evenness of flavor, but it also facilitates the linking of myosin in the meat, creating more of the protein network that will help to hold the slices together. However, overmixing can cause meatloaf to become springy, rubbery, and too dense.

You can often buy meatloaf mix at the store, but if you'd rather make your own, it's simple to do. The ratio of meatloaf mix is usually 1:1:1, meaning that you'll need equal parts ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal.

Combine ground beef, onion, milk, bread crumbs and egg in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Transfer into prepared loaf pan. Mix ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard together in a small bowl until well combined; pour over meatloaf and spread it evenly over the top.