In my Roaring Twenties era book, Chicago Lightning, which begins with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre-1929, I mentioned two meals that my protagonists eat. One is potato soup with homemade yeast rolls they have in a family setting, and the other is a meat loaf special they purchase at a roadside diner.
I also have the female protagonist, Ceara, think about meat loaf being her least favorite meal, but she’s hungry, and she eats it happily. That reaction is 100% mine. I absolutely loathe meat loaf.
My mom made meat loaf a lot when I was growing up, and it wasn’t tasty. It was swimming in shimmery brownish-red liquid grease that concealed on the bottom when it cooled; the texture gagged me; and the flavor changed each time she made it. I’ve never gotten over that taste bud trauma and, at my age, I’m not about to get over it and like meatloaf.
This is my mom’s meat loaf recipe exactly as she wrote it for me some
forty-five years ago when I first began collecting family recipes. Granted, this
is a c. Depression Era recipe and you made do with the ingredients on hand or
that you could afford, but…damn…nutmeg?
- Ground beef
- Crackers or oatmeal or breadcrumbs
- Salt
- Pepper
- Butter
- Eggs
- Milk
- Nutmeg
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Onion
- Ketchup
- Mix by hand. Press into a loaf pan. Bake at 350° for one hour.
- The first recorded recipe for the modern American meatloaf is from the late 1870s, according to the food historian Andrew Smith, who told us that it instructed the cook to finely chop “whatever cold meat you have.
- In the 1940s meatloaf was an emblem of wartime ingenuity.
- By the 1950s, meatloaf was here to stay. Betty Crocker had recipes, which home cooks tweaked. A 1958 book, 365 Ways to Cook Hamburger, included 70 recipes for meatloaf.
Since I wouldn’t know one edible meat loaf recipe from the next, I don’t have one to share. However, here is an image of a decent looking meatloaf that I envision Ceara might have been served at the diner alongside mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
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| Image Renee Comet (photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Chicago Lightning Meat Loaf Excerpt
“Take this window booth. Slide in on this side so the handcuff
is to the wall.” He slid onto the booth across from her.
A radio played somewhere in the back. The only other person
in the restaurant sat on a stool at the far end of the long lunch counter, his
coat and hat on the stool beside him. He nursed a cup of coffee while reading
the newspaper. A tendril of smoke rose from his cigarette.
“There’s a pay-phone in the hallway.”
“No privacy. We’ll find another.”
A waitress came with two cups and a pot of coffee. “Hi, folks.
My name’s Maddie. You want coffee?”
“Yes, thanks,” Hagen said.
Maddie sized them up as she filled the cups. “You look like
you’re having a rough day.”
Ceara nodded, her eyes downcast.
Hagen answered, “You might say that.”
“I saw you pull up in that fancy car. We don’t see many of those
come through. You don’t quite fit the picture of folks who can afford a
Rolls-Royce. You’re obviously a nurse, and I’ll bet you know car engines inside
and out.”
“You have a good eye.” Hagen picked up his coffee cup.
“It’s part of the job. You wait tables as long as I have,
you eventually see it all. After a while, it’s easy to peg the profession.
Wherever you came from, you must have left in a hurry.”
“Why’s that?”
“Most people wear coats and hats on cold winter days.”
“They’re out in the car.”
From the narrow slant of her eyes, she clearly didn’t believe
him. “So…passing through town or needing a place to stay?”
“Passing through. Headed for Louisville to see family.”
She spoke over her shoulder. “Thanks, Ralph.” To Ceara, Maddie observed, “From the looks of your face and the blood on your uniform, you’ll want to clean up. The restrooms are just off the kitchen.”
Ceara didn’t look up. “Thank you.”
“You just missed the lunch crowd. We’ve still got a couple of
specials left. Meat loaf and mashed with apple pie baked fresh this morning.
It’s hot and quick. You can get on down the road in a jiffy.”
“Thanks. It sounds good.” Hagen asked Ceara, “Okay with
you?”
She nodded.
“Two specials and keep the coffee coming. Couple of glasses
of water when you have the chance.”
Hagen took his break when Ceara returned. She divided her attention between the Rolls and the hallway, anxious for Hagen to return. Maddie brought their food as Hagen slid into the booth. Ceara couldn’t remember when her least favorite meal tasted so good.
I’d love to hear your meat loaf stories. Seriously...
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
Writing through history one romance upon a time
Clip art images from clipart.com
Look for Kaye here:
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I've never had meatloaf. It's not a 'thing' this side of the Atlantic. You certainly don't make it sound appetising. Love the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteC.A.,
DeleteHAHAHA For me, it certainly isn't appetizing, and I can't bring myself to pretend it is. Yuck.
An Internet search offers meat loaf recipes galore to choose -from. My mother-in-law has her favorite recipe. Friends of mine swear by their recipes and the 'special' ingredients that make their recipe the BEST.
Well, all I've got to say about that is while they're all dining on meat loaf, I'll have another glass of wine. ;-)
I shouldn't have been so snarky in my response to C.A., when I cavalierly stated about each recipe having the "ingredient that made it the best". I meant to be witty. (Sorry if I offended anyone.) I really do want to hear meat loaf stories.
DeleteKaye, I'm sure meatloaf really got popular during the Depression. There are so many different recipes for it--and my mom told me once that some people made meatloaf by "cleaning out their refrigerator" because it made everything go further for a large family to do it like that.
ReplyDeleteBut, I will say, my mom had a fabulous meatloaf recipe. I even liked it as a kid! And my picky kids liked it! AND...my husband even liked it and he was like you about his mother's meatloaf--hated it. I don't make it much anymore because we don't eat much meat and there's just the 2 of us, but I DO miss it sometimes!
Cheryl,
DeleteI agree with you about the menagerie of ingredients in Depression Era meat loaf. It was the everything but the kitchen sink era and you couldn't afford to waste anything.
I'm spoiled, I know, when it comes to food. I'm also thankful I can be picky about the food I eat. If I had to 'tighten my belt', I'm sure I'd be able to eat a lot of foods I don't like.
I've noticed that romance writers often put meatloaf into their stories, and heroes are usually thrilled to be served it because it seems to represent homey security. I think it's a perfectly vile dish too, and it kills the romance for me.
ReplyDeleteJ. Arlene,
DeleteI hadn't thought about connecting meat loaf symbolically to home. I think you've hit upon something with that. Vile...vile is a good word for my experience with the meat loaf from my childhood. haha
I have one thing to say other than congrats on your new novel, Kaye! ... and that is ... your recipe for meatloaf pretty much shocked me. Crackers, butter, nutmeg? Where in the world did she get such a recipe? I am going to brag shamelessly and say my meatloaf recipe is fabulous. It's based on my mother's recipe, but it's strictly mine. I would happily serve it to anyone. I even wrote a blog and shared the recipe. Crucial with meatloaf at our house is mashed potatoes, gravy, hot rolls, salad, and a vegetable such as fried okra or corn on the cob. Dang! This is making me hungry, lol. Thanks for the meatloaf history. Really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteJodi,
DeleteThanks!
Yes, the recipe is atrocious. Who knows where the recipe came from, but thank you for feeling my meatloaf pain. haha
Meat loaf is a 'brown food', which normally for me qualifies as comfort food. I know I'm missing out on some really good meals by not being able to even taste meatloaf, but the aversion runs deep in this one.
Thanks for stopping by.
Our meatloaf recipe is pretty much the same, minus the nutmeg and butter. I have added diced green peppers or cheese. It is a comfort food meal for us - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
ReplyDeletePatricia,
DeleteI know people who make meatloaf also have gravy recipes that are meatloaf-specific. It's my observation that a meat loaf meal without mashed potatoes is practically criminal. :-) Thanks for stopping by.
Mom definitely didn't use the same recipe as you published here. Her meatloaf was actually kinda tasty. She also drained all the fat from it or it might have been gross. There was always mashed potatoes and usually green beans or peas with it. I liked the leftovers in sandwiches with lots of catsup.
ReplyDeleteI did not know how to cook when I first married, but my mother-in-law gave me her recipe for meatloaf which I use to this day. It did not contain the usual fillers most cooks put into their meatloaf. There was no milk, butter, Worchester sauce, or catsup in it. She used canned tomatoes, diced onions, 1 egg, salt and pepper. Sometimes I added chopped bell pepper in mine.
I hated liver, but back in my childhood they thought liver had lots of iron and encouraged people to eat it. UGH! My mother tried every conceivable way to get me to eat it. She even tried fixing it so it looked like a hamburger. Not for me. I hate the very sight of it. Fortunately, my parents never forced us to eat something, but encouraged us to try one bite, so I wasn't traumatized by her efforts to get me to eat liver.
Great excerpt. Nice to start with a massacre. LOL You chose a good time period for a story. Any meal was a good thing in those days. My parents talked a great deal about how life was during the Great Depression.
All the best to you, Kaye.
Sarah,
DeleteLike you, I was encouraged to taste whatever was served, but I was never forced to eat what I didn't like. I am a 'selective' eater to this day, and I get along just fine. (I like selective better than picky.)
Liver. Nope. Not going in my mouth. haha
The few foods I like, I really, really like, and I don't get tired of them, so I've never had motivation to 'try new things'. If I won't eat it, I also won't cook it, so my three now-grown kids pretty much ate what I could tolerate. They grew up just fine, and each has a wide range of tastes and adventure for new foods.
However, I'll never go hungry if the only food available is something I don't like. I can muscle past my taste, texture, appearance, and aroma aversions if I have to.
Thanks for stopping by.
Great post, Kaye. And you have my empathy for eating foods you hate. My mother never made meatloaf because that kind of cooking was foreign to her, coming from the "old country". However she made cabbage rolls (which could be considered as a petite version of meatloaf): parboiled cabbage leaves stuffed with a combo of ground pork/beef, two or three-layer deep in a roaster and topped with sauerkraut. Lord I hated it and we'd have it for a week, taking out a portion each day to heat. My dad loved it, as the flavors intensified with time. I'd lose weight that week. Seriously, because there was no such thing as a choice. You ate what was put in front of you or starve. I hate it to this day and never make it. At some point in my marriage I made meatloaf and I very much like my version: Season lean hamburger with salt, pepper, diced onions and mix with a beaten egg and a bit of canned tomato soup. Spread this out on a sheet of wax paper, spread on leftover rice and frozen peas, roll up, removing the wax paper, and place in a loaf pan, top with remaining tomato soup and bake. I have a loaf pan insert that has holes that allows the fat to run off so meatloaf doesn't sit in the grease. Crusty bread and a salad rounds out the meal. And it's even good sliced in a sandwich or bun the next day.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
DeleteCabbage rolls don't appeal to me, either, but oddly enough what I call a cabbage pocket, but is also known as a cabbage bierok is really tasty to me. It's the yeast bread that makes it edible to me, I'm sure. Although, the first time I ate a cabbage pocket was in early elementary school in the cafeteria. I thought the cooks were absolutely the greatest ladies in the world, because they baked a big old hot roll for lunch. Holy moly. I bit in to that and my gag reflex kicked in hahahaha I did, however, acquire a taste for cabbage pockets some thirty years later.
Thanks for sharing your meat loaf recipe and your aversion to cabbage rolls. I feel your taste-bud pain.