Unlike Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story", I grew up loving meatloaf as a kid. I always thought my mother was some kind of super whiz in the kitchen when she would make it because it was so good. Don't get me wrong, my mother was an amazing cook and the restaurants she managed proved that beyond the shadow of a doubt. However, as I got older, I realized that meatloaf is one of the easier meals to make and that's why people love to make it so much. The basis for this recipe, the "meat", comes from a video on YouTube by Sauce Stache. I took his base, changed it for me, and added a little of what I remember from the meatloaf my Mom used to make when I was a kid. This is great when you are craving an old school slice of meatloaf...
Old School Meatloaf
Yield: One ~3lb meatloaf
Recipe From: Sauce Stache with my tweaks
What you will need:
300g textured vegetable protein
45 g pea protein
1 tsp dried thyme
4.5 tsp mushroom powder
3 tbsp methylcellulose
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon beet root powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 cup Panco Japanese Bread Crumbs
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
3 cups cold water
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tbsp molasses
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup onions, diced
1/2 large red bell pepper, diced
3 tbsp no salt added ketchup
How to Make The Old School Meatloaf:
Preheat your oven to 375*F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well.
In a separate mixing bowl, add the soy sauce, water and vinegar and stir to combine.
Pour the liquid mixture into the dry and stir well to combine. Then you will want to let it sit for at least 30 minutes for the liquid to be absorbed into the TVP.
After waiting 30 minutes, mix in your diced onions and red bell peppers by hand. The meat mixture will probably be pretty stiff, so get your hands in there and get that mixed up good.
To cook the meatloaf I like to use a bread pan. I will line it will parchment paper, then scoop in the meat. I will them make sure its nice and packed down, so the loaf will stay together. If you take your parchment paper a little longer, so it over hangs your bread pan, you can fold it back and use it to press down the meat to form your solid loaf. If you do this, I do suggest cutting the extra parchment paper off before baking.
Once your loaf is all set, spread the 3 tbsp of ketchup evenly across the top of the meatloaf.
Cook this for 40 minutes, at 375*F, uncovered.
After that 40 minutes you will want to cover it with foil and reduce the heat to 350*F. Put the loaf back into the oven to cook for another 20 minutes.
Once done baking, you should be able to remove the loaf from the pan by pulling up on the excess parchment paper. You can then slice it and serve it.
Serving Suggestion: I am old school. I like to serve this with sides of a potato and another vegetable, like asparagus spears or steam broccoli. Tip: This is great on a sandwich, but you will want to heat it up first. The methylcellulose can be a bit "gummy" when cold. Tip: This will freeze nicely and stays good for about 2 months in the freezer.
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