meatloaf that I will not make again
Well, I'm two for two in the recipe FAIL department in the last 24 hours.
I made this meatloaf tonight, adjusting all the measurements to about half since I only had half the meat required. I assumed it would be good since, hey, it's Alton Brown - my hero!
It was edible; I won't mind eating the leftovers, but my husband did not like it. I have a theory.
Check out the ingredients. Cumin in the ketchup topping? Three kinds of pepper spices in the breadcrumbs? (And I even went easy on the cayenne and added no hot sauce to the topping). As my husband said, the dish was completely overpowered by the spices.
And most of us down here on earth don't want spicy meatloaf that tastes like thyme. I'm sure people at Food Network do, because they're foodies and they enjoy adventuresome eating. But it's MEATLOAF. People aren't interested in adventure when they make meatloaf. Chances are good there are potatoes involved, and it's a very basic, middle class, comfort food experience. Messing with the comfort food is not recommended, especially when Husband is expecting his meat and potatoes to taste like regular ol' meat and potatoes.
SO, if you make this recipe, cut out all the fancy crap and just add salt and pepper. And be careful with adding garlic when you use garlic croutons in the mix. I love garlic, but for the first time in my life, I felt a dish had (gasp) too much garlic. I can't even believe I just wrote that.
I made this meatloaf tonight, adjusting all the measurements to about half since I only had half the meat required. I assumed it would be good since, hey, it's Alton Brown - my hero!
It was edible; I won't mind eating the leftovers, but my husband did not like it. I have a theory.
Check out the ingredients. Cumin in the ketchup topping? Three kinds of pepper spices in the breadcrumbs? (And I even went easy on the cayenne and added no hot sauce to the topping). As my husband said, the dish was completely overpowered by the spices.
And most of us down here on earth don't want spicy meatloaf that tastes like thyme. I'm sure people at Food Network do, because they're foodies and they enjoy adventuresome eating. But it's MEATLOAF. People aren't interested in adventure when they make meatloaf. Chances are good there are potatoes involved, and it's a very basic, middle class, comfort food experience. Messing with the comfort food is not recommended, especially when Husband is expecting his meat and potatoes to taste like regular ol' meat and potatoes.
SO, if you make this recipe, cut out all the fancy crap and just add salt and pepper. And be careful with adding garlic when you use garlic croutons in the mix. I love garlic, but for the first time in my life, I felt a dish had (gasp) too much garlic. I can't even believe I just wrote that.