So, Meatloaf, Right?
Posted by Aaron on Jun 5, 2009 at 9:07 pm in Aaron, Make It So, ObsessedHISTORY IS BEING MADE! We have a new writer on hand here at Anger Burger: Internet, I present to you: AARON, General Harbinger of Greatness. Please welcome him as you have so lovingly welcomed me. I hope — as I am certain you will — that he has many more meals to share with us. Love, Sunday

Remember when you were a kid and before school you would hide the leftover meatloaf so that when you got home you could indulge in that joy of joys the Meatloaf Sandwich? Me too. The cold meatloaf sandwich is just about the best thing ever.
And yet. And yet I don’t think I’ve had homemade meatloaf since I moved out of my parents house. I have this vague memory of maybe making it once several years ago, but I’m not certain. So of course the more I thought about it the more I knew that I had to have it. But here’s the problem: My household is vegetarian. The Wife is and I am… under protest.
Late last year I had a physical and found out that my cholesterol was at a dangerously high level. I was under the impression that I was healthy and virile and hardy and vigorous. So be warned, the cold hand of death is on your shoulder. (I assume.)
Anyhoo, the vegetarian lifestyle for three months dropped my cholesterol by 30 points. So we’re sticking with it. But that means no meatloaf. I know there are vegetarian ground beef substitutes out there, but lets face it, they don’t taste like ground beef. They don’t even come close. Despair.
Until, that is, the British arrived on the scene with their amazing fungus meat. I speak of a product named Quorn, and I can honestly say without exaggeration that Quorn has changed my life. It’s a meat substitute that actually tastes and feels like meat. It’s fantastic and it has allowed me to make my dreams a reality. I can make meatloaf. And not just a passable meatloaf. Not even a good meatloaf, but a really fucking fantastic delicious meatloaf. We ate this with wilted spinach with garlic and sesame.
So I called my Ma and got her recipie. Which as it turns out was a slightly modified Joy of Cooking recipe. So here it is meatloaf adapted from my Ma, adapted from The Joy of Cooking.

The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to go in order. Just add the ingredients into a bowl and mix.

- 1 lb Quorn Grounds (you could sub actual ground beef here if you wanted. Be crazy)
- Fat1
- Cilantro, chopped
- ½ small onion, finely grated
- 1 small white potato, coarsely grated
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 T bread crumbs
- lemon juice, salt, pepper
- tomato sauce and ketchup
Mix everything except the tomato sauce and ketchup in a large enough bowl.
Grease your loaf pan (or whatever you’re baking in)
Dump the mix into said greased pan, and form into loaf.
Top with a mix of 2 parts tomato sauce and 1 part ketchup, being sure to coat the sides.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

EAT!
ENJOY!
SWOON!
1The only drawback to Quorn is that it cooks up kinda dry. So to use it in recipes you have to add some fat. I usually use olive oil, but in this case I used coconut oil because at room temperature coconut oil is a solid. I was thinking ahead to a cold meatloaf sandwich and I wanted to be sure it would stay together.2
2It did. And it was the best.
June 5th, 2009 | Aaron, Make It So, Obsessed
Worrrrd on the Quorn. I’m especially fond of the “chicken pieces,” which I chuck into anything that causes my boyf to demand to know where the protein is at. But I have never tried to mold the grounds into loaves (or patties). I will try this.
@Maven
I dig the chicken pieces, too. The first few time I cooked with Quorn, The Wife accused me of trying to trick her with real meat. I had to show her the package before she would eat.
I wouldn’t bother trying to form patties with the grounds, though. Unless you add some sort of binder like egg or sticky rice or something, the grounds just won’t stick together. Even my cold meatloaf sandwich was still pretty crumbly despite the solidified coconut oil.
I wonder what would happen if you ground it further, too, like blitzed it in a Cuisinart with egg and breadcrumbs.
There is a very, very tasty vegetarian meatloaf recipe in The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. In fact, that book is my torn-to-Hell, back-cover-missing, tomatoey-pot-lid-stain-on-page-176, go-to vegetarian cookbook, and I am, in fact, a vegetarian. It has yet to fail me, from burgers to shepherd’s pie to kasha vernishkas. Vegan with a Vengeance is also great.
I’ve also always used parsley, not cilantro. I’ll have to try it your way, because cilantro is fucking crack.
[...] about meatloaf. First of all, if you’re vegetarian, Anger Burger contributor Aaron makes a fierce Quorn meatloaf and spared the time to explain it to you. Secondly, I have the same rule for meatloaf as I do for [...]