What is meatloaf? Is it an American thing?

Question

I see it on TV but not in real life - The Simpsons, for example, eat it all the time.

Answer 1

The meatloaf I know of is ground beef, egg, cracker crumbs, and spices all mixed up and baked.  

It is an inexpensive beef dish that is a little fancier than plain hamburgers.  

Usually eaten with mashed potatoes and a vegetable like green beans.

It's common in the US, I ate it a lot when I was a child, my mom made it and it was so good.

Answer 2

I used to cook this 40 years ago when my children were small and money was tight.

It is minced beef, breadcrumbs, diced onions beaten egg to bind, and whatever herbs you like.

Put into a loaf tin, and bake in the oven.

Serve with the usual potatoes and veg, with lots of gravy.

By the way, I live in England, when I lived in South Africa it was called Frikadella.

Answer 3

It is just and oversized Rissole???

Answer 4

well it originated in america

Meatloaf is a meat dish consisting of seasoned ground meat (usually ground beef or a combination of ground beef with veal, lamb, or pork), which is formed into a loaf shape and baked or smoked. In 2007, it was voted the 7th favorite dish in the United States according to the Good Housekeeping website. The loaf shape is formed by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on an ordinary baking pan. During the Great Depression it was popular to add cereal grains to the meatloaf to stretch the meat; the tradition lives on with the merits of producing a lower-fat dish with superior binding and consistency. It is normally served warm as part of the main course, but can also be found sliced as a cold cut.

Many meatloaf recipes are interchangeable with meatball recipes, the distinction coming from choice of sauce and accompaniments. Many of these recipes call for pasta sauce or tomato sauce to be poured over the loaf to form a crust during baking. In the Midwestern United States, the sauce may be replaced with simple gravy but is prepared in a similar manner. Barbecue sauce or a mixture of tomato ketchup and mustard may also be used.

Answer 5

it's like ground beef baked in a pan with sauce on top, and sometimes cheese baked in...I guess you could say that it's kinda like a really big and thick hamburger

Answer 6

We have it about once every two months.  I just mix ground beef with some egg, cracker or bread crumbs or oatmeal, seasonings and usually some Lipton Onion Soup mix and a little catsup/ketchup.  Shape it into a loaf and bake.  Usually put catsup on top.  Bake about an hour at 350.  Baked potatoes go well with it and a veggie and salad, too.

Answer 7

It's a very typical American dinner, usually with mashed potatoes, but is probably made in many countries, since it's so basic.  It's just ground beef (sometimes mixed with ground pork), formed into a loaf and baked.....

Answer 8

It's meat in the shape of a loaf. Don't know what meat, but it's tasty, especially with gravy. You should be able to pick you up at your butchers.

Answer 9

More than you ever wanted to know:

"Who invented meatloaf, why & when? Good question! Food historians tell us that from Ancient times to present cooks have been mixing ground meat with bread products, spices, sauces, and other thickeners.

For what reasons?

1. To distribute meat to more people (protein economy)

2. To conserve resources (use it up, don't throw it out)

3. To make tough meat more palatable (aid digestion)

Early ground (finely chopped or minced) molded meat recipes featured sausages in skin casings, meat fritters (similar to meatballs), rissoles, hashes, terrines, and croquettes. The meat employed in these early recipes was usually already cooked, as opposed to the raw meat typically used to make meat loaf today. Finished products were typically fried, stewed, or baked (in molds or pastry).

The raw, ground meat commonly used to make today's American meat loaf has a humbler heritage. In the 19th century, we know the Industrial Revolution made it possible for ground meat be manufactured and sold to the public at a very low cost. At first, many Americans were slow to purchase raw ground meat products and generally regarded them with

suspicion. Lack of reliable home refrigeration may have played into this decision. Cooks continued to mince their meat (often already cooked, as was the practice for centuries) by hand. Companies selling meat grinders to home consumers at the turn of the century endeavored to change this practice by provided recipe books to promote their

products. Some of these recipes were simple, others quite creative. A late 19th century recipe for "Meat Porcupine" instructs the cook to press her ground meat into an animal-type shape mold and decorate it with pieces of bacon to achieve the desired effect. Eventually, the American public began incorporating ground meat into family meals.

Since that time, meat loaf variations have been introduced and promoted by women's magazines, cookbooks, fairs, food manufacturers, diners and family-style restaurants. Meat loaf & gravy [often paired with mashed potatoes and canned green beans ] was very popular in the 1950s. This meal is still considered by some to be the penultimate comfort food. Did you know that "frosted meatloaf" is ground beef covered with mashed potatoes? Perhaps this recipe is a distant relative of shepherd's pie."

~~BTW...I generally make it once a week.  :)

Answer 10

i make meatloaf regularly , i`m english.

its gorgeous

Answer 11

Surprised nobody has mentioned the singer Meatloaf.

Answer 12

Versions of meatloaf, although not always called that, are found all over the world and date back to long before the American Meatloaf. Plenty versions are found here in the UK and have been for centuries. I was taught to make it by my dad and he learned it from his mum which takes this recipe back to at least the early 1900s. I very much doubt it was new then.

They are basically made with minced meat (either just one or mixed) with some form of herbs/seasoning, perhaps some onion etc and often something to soak up the juices like breadcrumbs. The mix is pressed and/or shaped in someway and then cooked by steaming/boiling/roasting.

Like apple pie it is a dish that didn't originate in America but has been taken to their hearts.

Answer 13

It's basically a beef burger in the shape of a small loaf. And people wonder why Americans are so fat.

EDIT:

____

To the person who gave me a thumbs down, you tell me the difference between the ingredients of a homemade beefburger and a meatloaf then? Hmmmmm?

Answer 14

I know! I've never had it but i see it on the simpsons and malcom in the middle lol

Answer 15

Who knows, but you know what americans are like.

they will eat anything..........     :]

Answer 16

A bloody good singer! hehehehe