Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap? All my friends think it's some shitty food or "mystery meat"...

Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap? All my friends think it's some shitty food or "mystery meat". What other foods get hate that you don't get?

My mom taught me to look down on meatloaf as a child. I've only recently realized how good it can be

Siriacha bacon 'go 'za. Most people think it's just a meme.

Well made meatloaf with a bit of tomato paste is GOAT.

Let plebs be plebs.

From what I gathered from other threads in Veeky Forums it seems that it was served in a pot of high schools as cheap food, using left over meats and such to make it, also serving it cold or days old. Americans can't be trusted with even the most basic meals really.

That's because meatloaf is quintessential meme food that boomers learned to make from their parents but didn't learn to prepare properly. It can be good, just like anything else but most people have only had it bad.

I never ate too much meatloaf when I grew up, mainly because my father wasn't the biggest fan of ground beef, but once I started cooking for mysekf, it was one of my favorite things to make. I like making it with crushed BBQ chips instead of crackers and with chopped bell peppers and mushrooms in it.

Because of its ease to cook and inexpensive cost many institutions--school, work, etc--made it a staple for their menus. Thing is, they did a terrible job of cooking it. Growing up and getting meatloaf in school was always a bad day; dry, funky taste, completely unappetizing. This is the same stigma experienced through multiple generations who have never experienced what a well created homemade meatloaf come to expect and where it's bad rap comes from.

It's really great stuff if it's made right, but not many people have experienced it what 'right' is when it comes to meatloaf.

Euro here.
I tried ranch dressing recently.
I liked it.
Why do so many people talk shit on it? It's at worst entirely inoffensive though veers on being pretty tasty. Why the hate?

>eats meatloaf
>calls others pleb

Because it's using ground meat to simulate the roast you can't afford. Not that ground meat isn't delicious. Burgers are delicious. Meatballs are delicious. Kebabs made from ground meat are delicious. But take away the burger's sear, the meatball's sauce and the kebab's spice and what do you have? Baked ground meat, without even a sauce to go with it. Time to break out the ketchup or a can of gravy. No thanks.

>doesn't know how to cook well with basic ingredients
>calls others pleb

This seems like a plausible answer to me.

I've personally always loved it, but then again, I never had the experience of having it from a school cafeteria; nor am I American.

how did you gather that from that post? or are you just projecting because you got your feelings hurt?

I personally don't like ranch, but I think a lot of people shit talk it because a few people really love it. I have a friend who likes ranch with everything, pizza, chicken, fries, burgers, etc. It's not the worst it's just overused by a lot of people.

I had it with various vegetables. It was worst with tomatoes, best with either Persian cucumber or Pascal celery.
I liked it.
Today, I also tried it on fried chicken. I was less enthusiastic about it, but it wasn't 'bad,' per se. Just think it goes better with veg than with meat. I would never eat it as a salad dressing, though. I think it would be too rich, but it was great as a dip.

Oh man, THIS I do not fucking get. Why in god's name would someone want to slather the same thing all over everything they eat? Isn't the point of eating different foods to get different tastes? You ain't getting much from your potatoes or your pizza if you dip it in twelve layers worth of ranch. Might as well just make a diet of pure ranch if that's what you're gonna do, because its not like you're experiencing any other taste.

Its not like its a bad taste, either, its just a really strong one.

my dad didnt like meatloaf so we never got it at home but my friend danny his mom made mexican meatloaf and it was the best meatloaf i have ever had evaar.

Because here in the States it went from being a salad dressing (legit) to a dip for veggies (also legit) to a table condiment (wtf?) to a fucking pizza topping!

It's like ketchup. It isn't fundamentally bad, but putting it on everything is emblematic of a very specific kind of American bad taste. That's where the hate comes from.

The only way you can see meatloaf as a purely pleb food is if you can't make a good one for shit.

it is a pleb food though. pleb does not mean it's not tasty, it means it's food for poor people. you will never find meatloaf at any upscale restaurant.

I've never seen meatloaf at any restaurant, upscale or otherwise

when i think of ranch i picture some fat disgusting blob just downing it by the bottle. you could probably stick a needle in that fat blob's veins and get pure ranch dressing out of them.

my mom made the best meatloaf ever. then one time she got the crazy idea to use taco seasoning in it. why i'll never know, just something different i guess. she told us that morning we were having meatloaf, so i was looking forward to it all day. it looked normal, but it was awful. i think we all looked at her like she had a mexican take a shit in our meatloaf, because she never did that again.

Too much of the time, meat loaf is nothing more than an attempt to make something easy by someone who can't cook. The results are often little more than soggy mixtures of once edible food.

If you ever find a girlfriend who cooks a great meat loaf, marry her.

This.
I like a little here and there but fuck putting that shit on everything.

I've seen at places before, usually home style cooking places. Meatloaf is for poor people tho, it's great and my mom makes a fantastic one but it's pleb tier dude

Pleb does not necessarily imply poor and poor does not necessarily imply pleb.

Poor = monetarily bankrupt
Pleb = intellectually bankrupt

Here's the $25,000 question: Breadcrumbs, oats, or rice as a binder?

My mom always used breadcrumbs when I was growing up, but I've become a fan of oats since I started experimenting with different recipes on my own.

I have a friend with a legitimate gluten allergy and not one of those fad-following sorts of people. I made a meatloaf for her once with cornstarch in place of breadcrumbs, kinda like when making emulsified sausages or Asian-style meatballs. Know what? I actually prefer it that way now.

Go zephyrs

> legitimate gluten allergy
inb4 edgelords screaming about how "gluten free" labels traumatise them severely

When I went to America, a family there made some meatloaf for me. I expected it to be fucking awful and I was pleasantly surprised.

Anyone know any recipes? Wouldn't mind having it again, and it's not even known in my country

basic meatloaf... convert to metric on your own

2 lbs ground beef - 80/20 at fattiest, 90/10 makes a really nice loaf
1 cup bread crumbs/crushed crackers/etc
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt - may not need if you use a salty cracker
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup tomato sauce

mix that shit up. form into loaf, bake at 400 degrees F for an hour. pour off drippings grease drippings. baste top of loaf with a mixture of 1/3 cup tomato sauce, 1 tsp brown mustard & 1tbsp worcestershire sauce. put bake in oven for 15-20 minutes to get top nicely glazed.

Know what? The 'gluten free' label actually traumatises that friend! She never knows where to eat anymore because every restaurant has a gluten free dish or two on the menu nowadays. But that sounds like it'd be perfect for her, right?
Nope.png
See, just because the food isn't prepared with gluten-containing ingredients in its ingredients list doesn't mean it's gluten free. It's prepared on the same surfaces as the normal food meaning that there's always gluten cross contamination.
Instead, she's taken to eating exclusively at home or the homes of people who understand her condition.
If any of those fuckers who wanna keep gluten free eat at any restaurant anywhere that's not specifically a gluten free restaurant, they're liars and fad-followers.
Gluten allergy is like any other allergy and cross contamination is real.

What country? Mine and all the neighbouring countries all make some version of meatloaf. In mine, the name translates literally as "really big meatball" while in the next country over, the name translates as "meat bread" and the one after that as "mince roast."
We often stuff ours with boiled eggs, which I don't much care for.

Has anyone tried smoked meatloaf? Shit's delicious

It's basically pate. Just make that and put some mirepoix in it.

You're supposed to season and add fillers like bread and onion to meat loaf. It's very different from (a non British ) burger.

We are allowed to make up meanings for any word we want now? Sweet!


Anarchy!
Anarchy!

I liken it to why people grow up not liking brussels sprouts, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, even things like chicken or roast.

Their school or their parents were probably just terrible at cooking it. They grew up eating dry, overcooked, bland food or in the case of vegetables, boiled to death and bland.

They end up having a bad association and not the simple, comfy feel that a properly done homestyle meatloaf evokes.

Honest to Christ this is the first recipe I've ever seen while browsing Veeky Forums, and I've been here for a while!

Bravo user, Bravo.

He's way past his prime and the quality of his performances started declining at least a decade ago. Recently he even collapsed on stage. I think it's time for him to call it a day and retire already.

i like mine made with rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs.

do americans just eat this by itself?

I thought it was fictional food until recently.

It's served in ways typical of other ground meat dishes in the world. Kebab, meatballs, etc. You'll see it as a plate with vegetables, sauces, and starchy sides (almost always potatoes) or in sandwiches.

Plus bitch tits.

Sandwiches with the leftovers is the only reason I even make it.

Meatloaf sandwiches are pretty top tier if you've got a good loaf to begin with. Do you do hot or cold?

It depends on how fatty the meatloaf is.
Lean meatloaf cold.
Fatty meatloaf hot.

Manoyiase on either.

>Manoyiase
What did you just say about me you little bitch

>i ate school lunch and am now mad that i have never had good meatloaf

>pleb = poorly cooked
plebeian education, everybody. crawl back to the shithole slum you came from.

It got me in to cooking as well. I had a recipe book called One Dish Meals. One of them was a recipe for meatloaf where you threw everything in to it, like broccoli, corn, rice, etc.

ted's montana grill has a kickass bison meatloaf

i wouldnt call em upscale but they aren't cheap

Same EuroAnon from yesterday here.
I tried ranch again yesterday evening as a dip for fried chicken from KFC. I didn't like this ranch at all. I was told that it's because it was buttermilk ranch and, despite buttermilk ranch being marketed as superior to 'normal' ranch in adverts, it sucks in comparison. Dunno how true it is, but that buttermilk ranch shit was fucking awful. I dipped my tendies in barbecue sauce.
Then made a salad because KFC sides are godawful.

best meat loaf is cold meat loaf sandwich on any style bread with lettuce (optional) and plain salad mustard

wish I had a cold meat loaf sandwich right now!

Pic related
I'm under no illusion that it's terrible for you, but my god that shits delicious

I'm just saying that unlike a burger, meatballs or even a kebab it's a tough sell to someone who didn't grow up with it. Those other dishes have a wow factor you just can't get with meatloaf. It's like cottage pie - no matter how well prepared and delicious it always seems working class. If you've got a bunch of ground beef and your options of what to make from it include more exotic or even upscale dishes there's little incentive to choose meatloaf unless you're nostalgic for it. There's no way to put it on a restaurant menu without coming across as folksy (cough, Cracker Barrel).

Meatloaf done right is plenty good, but given the other options out there I would never make it nor seek it out. Then again I didn't grow up with it, so I'm not nostalgic for it.

Buttermilk ranch is kind of like America's answer to German yogurt salad dressing. But salad dressing is so easy to make I would never buy it in a bottle in the first place. But bottled dressing has become so ubiquitous here that it doesn't even dawn on most Americans they could make their own in just a couple minutes. They just buy the stuff, it sits in their fridge and when they feel like playing with condiments it becomes just another condiment to play with.

>not making hot pressed sandwiches with cold meatloaf

...

The only "wow" factor with kebab is the removal thereof

these

What even is this? Artichoke hearts?