Monday, October 19, 2009

The Case of the Missing Meatloaf, Its 1950s Replacement, and a Goat



I lost my meatloaf last week and can’t find it anywhere. How does one lose a meatloaf? I thought I placed the leftovers in a small container. Did I actually do this? Am I going crazy? No one claims to have touched it, and Rocky the Dogapotamus is much too short to reach the counter, and hasn’t yet figured out how to open the refrigerator.

This has left me particularly on edge and paranoid. My running shoes went missing too, but then I remembered tripping over them in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom. I’ve lost my keys as usual, but they somehow turned up as well. So where is this missing meatloaf? Even the container is gone.

I think I’m losing my mind.

Anyway, I decided to replace the missing meatloaf with a recipe out of the 1950s The Family Home Cookbook I purchased from Evalois, a woman in Lewiston, Idaho who's purging her life-long cookbook collection.

When I open this book I can’t help myself, I start to laugh and can’t stop. Every savory recipe in this nutty text is seasoned with enough salt to make your eyes twitch, and don’t forget the Accent! Accent is a seasoning product consisting of MSG and a few specks of spices. No wonder everyone who lived through the 1950s has such fond food memories. I would too if everything I ate had MSG in it, including the water for all those boiled vegetables. Of course I would have also had a killer headache.

I wonder if enough people smoked that they could no longer taste food without the excess salt saturation. Or maybe people were accustomed to more salt back then, and our food today is too bland. Or just maybe we spice our food today instead of salting it to the hilt all the time. Who knows, I’m just guessing here, but I can see why physicians used to tell their patients to cut back on the salt!

I’ve copied the recipe for you in its original form, including the bold of the ingredient list and their spacing. I left notes in parentheses the way I made it, but feel free to follow the original recipe. Just don’t complain I didn’t warn you.

I’m still missing my meatloaf. I’m afraid that I’m going to find it in a cupboard five years from now. I wonder if one can smell rotting meatloaf through an airtight plastic container.

This might be further proof I’m going nuts, or perhaps it might prove I’m not as crazy as I think I am. Driving down a main street in the city of Clarkston, Washington last week I spotted a man walking his goat on a leash. I thought I must have been seeing things, and decided to turn around and stop my car.

Whew, I wasn’t seeing things. This guy was taking Scooby Doo the Goat, his beloved potty trained house pet for a walk. All I had on me was my lame camera phone, but I had to grab a shot anyway. I didn't catch the man’s name, but he looks identical to the "Miner 49er" from the old Scooby Doo cartoon. So Miner 49er he is.

Miner 49er asked me not to call Scooby a goat, as he believes himself to be a dog. And you thought I was crazy? Although I admit, a pet goat might be a lot of fun to walk down a city street.

Meat Muffins
(Heh. I like the words, "meat muffins".)

Grease twelve 2 1/2–in. muffin-pan wells. (These grease grenades do fine in a nonstick pan without any extra grease)

Combine and mix lightly
1 ¼ lbs. ground beef
½ lb. ground pork
2 cups (2 slices) soft bread crumbs
(Ground up in the food processor for me)
1 cup milk (way too much, I added a ½ cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce


and a mixture of
2 teaspoons salt (Holy cow, cut this in half unless you really really like salt)
1 teaspoon accent
(Does this really need an MSG bomb on top of too much salt?)
½ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon pepper

Divide mixture into 12 equal portions. Pack meat mixture lightly into muffin wells.

Bake at 350°F about 40 min.

Meanwhile, blend together and set aside
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup

After 20 min. of baking time, spoon about 2 teaspoons ketchup mixture on top of each meat muffin and continue baking. Unmold.

12 Meat Muffins

UNMOLD MEAT LOAVES-With spatula, gently loosen meat from sides of pan. Pour off excess juices; invert onto platter and remove pan. For meat loaves with topping, pour off excess juices and lift loaf onto platter with two wide spatulas.

Recipe from “The Family Home Cookbook” by the Staff Home Economists at the Culinary Arts Institute. Melanie De Proft, Director. Copyright 1956 & 1963. Pictures and write-up by Laura Flowers, cartoon still from Scooby Doo.


17 comments:

Scott said...

Omgosh...the Miner '49er pic made me burst out laughing (as Scooby Doo is one of my favorite cartoons). Very cool...and I definitely see the family resemblence!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I use that same brown sugar/ketchup topping on my meat loaf. Glad you like the earrings, but I can't see them in the picture. The goat? too precious. My husband keeps saying we should get one.

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Laura - you crack me up! I can attest to this fact, an airtight container of rotting anything will not be airtight forever. Eventually that sucker is going to blow!

:)
ButterYum

PS - Cool recipe, although I'd omit the Accent - never liked the stuff.

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Hey, did you ask Dishboy if he knew what happened to the missing meatloaf

Erin from Long Island said...

HA! Too funny! I know my grandmother only uses salt and pepper for everything and is often suprised when she eats anything I make b/c of all the flavor.
I loose stuff in the fridge all the time! It usually gets tucked behind something that takes up a lot of visual space, like a produce bag of something. Or I find it in the cabinet where I got the container to put it in. Hope you find it!

The Cooking Photographer said...

Hey Patricia,

Yeah Scott looked, Jesse looked, I looked, the dog would like to look. The sucker is gone.

Laura

Hi Erin!

Thanks, hope all is well your way.

Laura

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your nose or ants will eventually lead you too it. My parents hid Easter eggs and of course there came a time when we kids came up one egg short. Three or four months later the unmistakable scent of sulfur dioxide perfumed the air. The egg had been placed in the grill of an old steam radiator. Moral...don't do wine and eggs at the same time. Have a great day, Laura. I love your blog's new look.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thank-you Mary. That means a lot coming from you! And thank-you for the laugh!

Laura

Ginger said...

Laura,

Chuckling! What a great blog post. My husband just said he would like the meat muffins for dinner this week, so thank you for that!

Donna-FFW said...

haha meat muffins

lost meatloaf.. once I lost a head of broccoli and dont know for the life of me how it ended up on my front lawn..

Coleens Recipes said...

Maybe the Miner 49'r ate your meatballs? Your meat muffins look very tasty...so easy to just pop another one into the mouth...maybe THAT's what happened to your missing meatloaf.

Joanna said...

These look wonderful! I have a few 50's era cookbooks full of these great recipes like this! They all have names including words like "Tangy" and "Zesty."

I have some ground turkey to cook up, so I think I'll be doing mini turkey muffins, now!

Unknown said...

LOL...this is crackin me up! I can imagine you coming across your meatloaf in a few weeks as you dig through the tupperware cupboard (everything gets lost in there). and the goat dog? too funny! I'm thinking meat muffins might be a good nickname for hubby! btw....your meat muffins look very tasty!

Mardi Michels said...

OMG - you sure are having some weirdness this week! Love the "meat muffins"!!!

southern cookbook said...

This blog entry is so funny! Love the meat muffins.

Heather S-G said...

Too freakin' funny!! He totally does look like Miner 49er!!! Ah...thanks for the laugh so early in the morning...that and meatloaf :) And right...what was up with all that Accent? My aunt still makes an awesome Cheeseball w/ it, LOL!

Trissa said...

Dogapotomus - hehe... you're too funny. And that man! and goat!

Regardless, the recipe does look good!

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