How do I make this awesome looking meatloaf?

July 28, 2009 11:54 PM

I was just idly googling for "meatloaf leek" trying to find a recipe to make for dinner, when I found this stock photo. FANCY! Unfortunately I can't find a recipe for it at all. How would you go about making something like that?

It looks like a fairly normal meatloaf, topped with bacon. I'm guessing (based on the title) that's a carrot stuck in a leek buried in the middle. Can any of you find an actual recipe for it? Or, failing that, have any ideas or spot any potential pitfalls?

What do you think it'll do to the cooking time, to have something stuck in the middle like that?

posted by web-goddess to food & drink (6 comments total)

I think you've got it right: it's a carrot wrapped inside a leek stuck in the centre of the meatloaf. I haven't seen this, but I've seen people do the same thing with hard boiled eggs. If you slice the leek lengthwise and steam it and the carrot(s) so they're partly cooked, then stuff them in the meatloaf, I think the usual 50-60 minutes in the oven to cook the meat should finish cooking them, too.
posted by x46 at 12:10 AM on July 29

You'd need to only use a couple of layers of the leek, kind of hollow it out, but x46 has it. Only pitfall would be failing to at least partially cook the leek and carrot first.

(I have a fantastic meatloaf recipe using the hardboiled egg trick. Mefi Mail me if you'd like it).
posted by arha at 12:52 AM on July 29

Thirding x46's answer. This is a fairly common trick used when making any kind of terrine.
posted by arcticbluejay at 2:17 AM on July 29

I'm probably being facetiously obvious here, but I've seen people do silly things like throw the middle of the leek out once it's removed, which is a terrible waste. Chop it up to your preference, fry it in a little butter perhaps, and then throw it in the meatloaf 'dough' itself.
posted by Brother Dysk at 3:08 AM on July 29

For the cooking time, it'll probably shorten it as long as you take the precaution of steaming or parboiling the vegetables for a very short period of time first. When cooking meatloaf it's best to go by temperature and not time because the amount and nature of any grains you add will affect it.

There are two ways to form the loaf: either make a single loaf out of the meat mixture, poke a horizontal hole in it with a finger, carefully enlarge the hole until the vegetables will fit, and tuck them in; or roll out the meat into a thin layer on some plastic wrap and roll it around the vegetables like you would a tortilla, then remove the wrap and tuck in the edges.

Some cookbooks suggest that you divide the meat into two portions, shape one into a base, put the vegetables on top, then mold the second piece around the vegetables. Whenever I've done that the two chunks of meat don't adhere to each other.
posted by watsondog at 6:05 AM on July 29

Oh my God, it's like somebody baked the Eye of Sauron into a pile of ground beef.
posted by collectallfour at 7:04 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]