?? birthday dinner say what ??

[dytyna]

so, it's my friends birthday tomorrow, and i thought i'd make him a nice meal. i told him anything. anything.
and what does he ask me for?

meatloaf.

.....

that's right. meatloaf. Now, the guys never had it before. he's jamaican and has grown up in the city. his mother cooks all sorts of wonderful jerk chickens, cajun/southern-american/caribbean feasts

Comments

[antikythera]

'Special' is whatever you're not used to. Some people may think of meatloaf as trashy suburban food, but it's really a very simple and wholesome way to prepare inexpensive meat.

I think my mom used to make meatloaf with beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, onions, and herbs, and then she'd baste the top of it with barbecue sauce.

[king_duncan]

My mom used to put hard-boiled eggs inside her meatloaf. Pretty neat. She also used to cover it in bacon.

[gfrancie]

You could take some really good bacon and lay that on top of the meatloaf.
I like to put in ground cumin into my meatloaf.

[hostilemakeover]

This one's always worked for me. Good standard meatloaf, with a ton of flavor.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_10215,00.html?rsrc=search
I've also domed it, with cheese and veggies in the middle, if that makes sense? Layer of meat, veggies (fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions, etc) and mozzarella, then cover with more meat?

It tastes better than it sounds, I swear.

[echelon]

I make meatloaf with beef, egg, crushed seasoned croutons, shredded onion and bell pepper, herbs, yellow mustard, and soy sauce or A1 sauce. Then I divide the mixture in half, pat one half of it into a "meatloaf base" and put some cheese on there - whatever kind I happen to have. The other half of the meat goes over the cheese and I squish the seam together to keep the cheese inside.
Then I cook it in the Crockpot for a few hours, which keeps everything nice and moist.

I don't know if you'd consider cheese as "jazzing it up" but it sure is popular come dinnertime at our house. :)