Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Better than Bryn's?

Time to try my hand at the Edmonds meatloaf (p126), an interesting undertaking as there's no way I'll be able to resist comparing it to the one I usually make, i.e Bryn's famous meatloaf with barbecue sauce. Of course, in essence, the two meatloaves are pretty similar - it's just that on this one, there's an oat-based topping instead of that delicious gooey barbecue coating.


I discovered long ago that the easiest way to prepare the ingredients for a meatloaf is to use a food processor. Mine usually ends up being a bit over-full, but it's much faster, easier and combines the ingredients effectively and tidily.


I started by grating a carrot, since that was the only thing I needed the grater attachment for. Pushing the grated carrot to one side, I switched to the chopper blade, then added garlic, onion and parsley to the food processor bowl.


Somehow I managed to cut two fingers while chopping the onion into chunks suitable for the food processor. Shortly afterwards I dropped a large knife precariously close to my foot, and started to wonder whether I was risking my health by staying in the kitchen in such a clumsy mood. The meatloaf was half done, however, so I persevered.


The onion, garlic, carrot and parsley were chopped and combined in a matter of seconds, so I put in the remaining ingredients: mince, sausage meat, mixed herbs, mustard, salt and pepper, and an egg. Combining this thick gooey mixture took a bit longer, but it was still done within a couple of minutes.


I spooned the meat mixture into a loaf tin, and mixed together a topping comprised of rolled oats, brown sugar, tomato sauce, and more parsley. I spread this mixture thinly over the top of the meatloaf, and plonked it in the oven.


A few minutes later, I rushed back to the oven, on recollecting that I was supposed to cover the meatloaf with foil for the first half-hour's cooking. No harm done, though - it hadn't been in long and adding the foil took only a few moments.


After half an hour in the oven, I took off the foil and returned the meatloaf to the oven for a further 30 minutes while I prepared some veges. At the end of this time, the meatloaf looked and smelled delicious.


You know what? It tasted delicious too! The meatloaf itself has a fairly standard sausagey flavour, but the star of the show is definitely the sweet, crunchy, almost caramelised topping. I only wish there were more of it. Better than Bryn's meatloaf with barbecue sauce? Hmmm.. not quite, but a close second!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular posts this week