I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE, BUT I CAN’T DO THAT… WELL MAYBE.

Are you my mummy?

Wahhhh, it’s almost Fall and I just want my Meatloaf Mummy!!I

I know meatloaf is a classic childhood (and adult) comfort food for many, but I am really squeezing my brain matter to see if even a nostalgic drop of memory includes a meatloaf meal growing up. Nope. Nada… not my family’s bag. I really can’t recall my first date with a Meatloaf (save for listening to the band which I love very much) but trying this staple of North American cuisine did not don on me ‘til at least my 20s (I think).. not unlike dating. And kind of like dating, the first couple times I tried meatloaf it was a dry and unpalatable experience... that was until as of late.

I can’t remember what inspired me to make one at all really. Many times my inspiration is divined from food talk that pops up in one of a handful of radio podcasts and Netflix shows that I listen to in the studio throughout the day. Most of the time it is simply born of curiosity like a “huh, I don’t believe I’ve tried that” cartoon bubble that pops between my ears and so the grocery starts to grow legs. Bon Appétit (BA) magazine/website has many sections and slideshows of “Best” recipes to do with one basic kind of meat, vegetable or dish, like salads, beets or chicken, that I often like to take for a test drive. Making meatloaf for me is now like cruising around in a well worn Subaru.

In the case of Bon Appétit’s “Best Beef-and-Bacon Meatloaf,” more likely than not it was the crisscrossed strips of bacon all over the loaf the photo that did it for me; and much like on online dating, if you have a lot of meat in your photos, well, my interest has officially been piqued. Double Meat, aka meat-on-meat is pretty Meta and ergo, pretty irresistible. (PS Not that kind of meat, like actual meat)

In addition to their Best Meatloaf recipe being simple to follow without an endless scroll of ingredients (check, check) it lent itself to tweaking. Let it be said that I like to tweak A LOT of recipes to see if I can make things even just a little BETTER! You know, like use brioche bread instead of plain old white bread, add different types of mushrooms instead of just (yawn) white button mushrooms, fry more bacon, stir in more tahini, add more chilies; why, let it rain down a hurricane of Parmesan til the cheese gods weep!!! You get the idea. I not only want my Meatloaf Mummy, I want my Umami Mommy.

And then of course, I also enjoy putting my art school chops to good use and consider final presentation, or as in this case, pre-presentation! Usually I focus on making “done” dishes just look a little more enticing to eat, but not like Michelin star tweezed-to-death-precious sort of enticing. (Tweezers are for splinters and my eyebrows when the Pandemic is over!) I am not looking to take my food out on the town, but I do want it to look good just before I put it into my mouth. Anyway, in this case, the finished anthropomorphized meatloaf looks like a scene out of post-volcanic/apocoplyptic eruption Pompeii zombie movie , but the pre-pictures still, to this day, are the real seller that make me return to the scene of the kitchen crime to re-offend over and over again. Often times I cook up a double batch of things and deliver a little to neighbourhood friends to share, but when it comes time to deliver my artfully assembled Meatloaf, I like to do so uncooked. Let my friends discover the true horror of post-oven Pompeii on their own; I can wait to hear the screams across town. (PS Soon you will scroll into a photo of a finished meatloaf; consider yourself warned to find the nearest “exit” button)

Truly, the carnivore/carnival version of Mr. Potathead, in its innocent raw state, is what I want them to see, experience and feel good about! The bacon lips, the bulging mushroom eyes studded with peppercorn pupils and the mouthful of broken corn teeth... sigh. I still laugh at the first time I thought of filling the fatty, streak-filled pork strip lips with busted teeth; the Rocky theme song on firm repeat in my head.

Sigh, memories, like the back bacon of our minds. I say make a meatloaf just as soon as the outside temps start to drop a notch and you feel the need to wrap you and your meat in a bacon sweater. The takeaway of this post is that as Fall slowly falls upon us, it is time for us to turn that ground round upside down and stop making (quite so many) burgers. All we are saying, is give loaf a chance.

Accolades and links!
Thank you Bon Appétit for the recipe that launched a thousand faces.
MEATLOAF (the band) I really would do anything for love…maybe even that.
ROCKY. I think Adrienne would like this meatloaf very much.
To my neighbours and friends, sorry, not sorry.