The Curmudgeonly yet Amiable Foodster: Meat loaf masquerading as Chinese food

A brief statement of purpose

There are already about a billion food blogs, so what might be a justification of yet another one, and who am I to do it?

What I aim to do in this blog is more than simply provide recipes. While recipes of my own will, in fact, be posted, some of the blog will consist of a variety of comments about restaurants and their practices, food preparation tips, personal annoyances (such as loud restaurants and the epidemic of misspellings on menus), and whatever else pops into my head relating to what we put in our mouths (and swallow, I hasten to add). The whole thing is meant to be somewhat provocative. I hope, if nothing else, it won't be boring. I, of course, solicit reader participation.

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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Meat loaf masquerading as Chinese food

It occurred to me that, among the fifty billion versions of meat loaf I’ve made over the past four decades, I probably haven’t made one with Chinese flavorings. Mexican, Middle Eastern, German, etc. Never, loosely construed, Chinese. Here it is.

Dried mushrooms such as shiitakes, a small handful

Rice wine or dry sherry

Ground beef and ground pork, in a 2:1 ratio (or not)

Jalapenos, 3-4 seeded and deveined

Garlic, 3 cloves

Ginger, a slice

Egg, 1

Soy sauce, 3 Tbs

Black bean garlic sauce, 3 tbs

Onion, about 1 cup, minced

Bread slice, 1

Milk, 1/2 cup

Hoisin sauce

Cilantro, minced

Thick noodles

Hoisin sauce

Scallions

Sesame oil

Cover the mushrooms with the rice wine or dry sherry and allow to rehydrate for a couple of hours. Mince.

Soak the bread in the milk for ten minutes or so.

Place the meats and the next seven ingredients in a processor and mince. Squeeze some of the milk out of the bread and add the bread to the processor and mince again.

Transfer to a bowl and mix in the mushrooms. Now pack it all into a loaf pan, spread some hoisin sauce on top, and cook for around an hour at 350 degrees.

The noodles you see in the photo are dried Chinese noodles (actually Taiwanese, depending on your position regarding that dispute). They have a meaty taste which goes well with . . . meat. I added hoisin, scallions, and sesame oil after cooking and draining. Cilantro is spread about. If the meat loaf is a bit too dry for your liking, spread some more hoisin over it after plating.