Cooking Grand with Joanne Carr

For New Year’s Day, something different

Grand Island Dispatch, December 29, 2006

What can you do for New Year’s Day dinner that you haven’t done twice in the past two months or so?

How about a meatloaf, along with baked potatoes and a crisp salad.

Traditionally, in my family as a child, it was oven-roasted beef. And my brother made a big deal of putting together Yorkshire pudding.

I disliked the entire meal, intensely. The idea of eating that much beef fat appalled me. I well remember thinking that my family was crazy to even taste the so-called pudding.

Although it is not yet a holiday tradition, my family loves meatloaf; I have baked one for several New Year’s Day dinners. Our family, Bob’s and mine, included one daughter and five sons. We had some rather lean years when the boys wore hand-me-downs and our daughter wore mother-designed and made dresses. Son Dan coined a phrase that pops up once in a while. He said that meatloaf was a “poverty pocket” meal.

With his dad carving the meat and serving each of us, meatloaf can go for more than one meal.

I’ve always made this recipe, modified over time. It was my grandmother’s own. The changes have come as time takes over and I hurry to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour.

I am also reluctant to ask for any extra considerations at the meat counter, because in 100 percent of the times I have bought ground beef over the past 10 years, I have picked out the leanest roast and asked to have it ground twice. Asking for another two ingredients at the meat counter is pushing my luck. The original recipe called for one-fourth pound of ground veal and one-fourth pound of lean, ground pork, in addition to 1 and one-fourth pound of ground beef. Admittedly, adding the veal and pork does make a more finely textured meatloaf.

I think maybe I’ll have the gumption to ask for a blend of the three the next time I want a meatloaf.

Maybe not.

Grandmother Kate’s Meatloaf

1 and one-fourth pounds lean, ground beef
One-fourth pound ground veal
One-fourth pound lean, ground pork, or
1 and three-fourth pounds lean, ground beef, instead.

And

.5 cup seasoned bread crumb
1 and one-fourth teaspoon salt
One-fourth teaspoon pepper
1 small onion, minced
1 and one-half teaspoons Bell’s seasoning or one-half teaspoon rubbed sage
1 egg
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, plus enough milk to hold mixture together.

Mix all ingredients and pat mixture into a loaf shape. Place mixture into an 8.5 by 4.5 inch or a 9 by 5-inch pan.

Bake uncovered in a 350-degree oven for about 80 minutes.

I generally buy a larger amount of ground beef than is necessary for a meatloaf – enough to have three or four meals set aside in the freezer for later eating.

When the groceries come in from the supermarket, out comes the multipurpose sealing wrap in the yellow and red package.

I wrap and freeze ground beef patties, putting them on a tray so they’ll freeze flat. I do meatballs (Italian and Swedish) or the meatloaf.

This makes it easy to pull out whatever I need for a meal. No more waiting for a pound of ground beef to defrost.

Happy New Year to all!