Monday, January 9, 2012

Creamy Mushroom Meatloaf – An Experiment in Letting Your Meat Loaf

If you’ve ever said goodbye to someone, and on the way out added a hearty, “Hey, don’t let your meat loaf!” then I just gave you a virtual high-five. In this context however, we’re taking about letting your meat “loaf” for a long time in a low oven, sitting in a rich, creamy shiitake mushroom gravy.

The main point of this exercise was to determine the benefits of cooking a meatloaf and sauce at the same time, in the same pan, but I was also planning on giving you a very nice “three meatloaf” recipe (using beef, pork and veal). Unfortunately, I wasn’t totally thrilled with the results, so you’ll have to wait until I perfect the final formula.

This "Three Meatloaf" recipe was good,
but not Food Wishes good, yet. Stay tuned!
Regardless, this technique will work with just about any meatloaf recipe out there. I really liked how the roasting meatloaf fortified the sauce with its flavorful drippings. The meatloaf was very moist, and seemed to have picked up some nuances from the sauce as well. One negative is you do have to skim a lot of fat off the top, but that seems a small price to pay for a quality one-dish meal.

You can adjust the texture of your gravy by adding more broth if it seems to be drying out during the cooking time, or, like I did, boil the sauce for a few minutes at the end to thicken it up a bit. Anyway, the next time you’re in the mood for meat in loaf form, and a creamy mushroom gravy, I hope you give this tasty technique a try. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups cold beef broth
1/2 cup cream
1 ready for the oven meatloaf (2-3 pounds)

28 comments:

Sandra from Montreal said...

Mmmmm....mushrooms! I think I may have reformed my previously-mushroom-hating husband with your recent (excellent) roast beef cooked in mushroom sauce, so I think we'll be trying this soon. Looks wonderful!

Morgan said...

That is surely the best looking meatloaf I've ever laid eyes on! This is a recipe I'll definitely have to try.

Matt D said...

What meatloaf recipe would u recomend for this....Im probly using the Trader Joe one, tho i doubt i will find the double roasted salsa and the meat you used. I'll figure it out cuz this looks good and i love mushrooms. Might throw sum shrooms in the meatloaf too, who knows. As usual your the man. I love a great meatloaf and this gravy will be key.

Chef John said...

that one, or the all-american one will work!

Steve J said...

Thanks Chef John for another awesome recipe. I can't wait to try out this method. I have made both your "All-American" and "Trader Joe" meatloaf recipes and enjoyed them both, but I think I will await your revised "Three Meatloaf" recipe before giving this a spin. Looks Amazing!

Rusty Shackleford said...

so... isn't that pretty much a giant, loaf-shaped meatball then?

K. F. Peters said...

I think this would work better using big meatballs instead of a meatloaf.

It would cook faster and have the sauce more infused in the meat.

Pantalone said...

I like the braised meatball idea ...

Anonymous said...

Learn to make meatballs dude.

Anonymous said...

lol! vegatables isnt a side dish? fail!

Amy Jo said...

Is there really no meat in this meatloaf?

HatGirl said...

I like this recipe. I will try it the next time I make my Turkey meat loaf. (We have stopped eating read meat, so the loaf is now turkey.) Also, I'd like to make a suggestion. If you add a shredded potato or two to your loaf recipe, the potato will soak up the juices of the loaf. This not only makes it cheaper per portion, but will also help prevent creating so much of all the extra "stuff" you were talking about in your sauce. When I first started making my own meat loaf (and I was still eating red meat) it kept coming out with all this extra "stuff" and excess grease. I started adding shredded potato, and my loafy problems were no more. I did find it need a bit more egg to keep together. Now, I also shred other veggies into my loaf like carrots, or whatever I have on hand. I especially like the carrots for added color and bit of sweetness.

William said...

Looks good. Just one question from a brit who has only experianced american culture though the TV...What is meat loaf exactly?
I have heard about it I know it is some form of meaty thing in a loaf form but what is it?
Over here in the UK we roast are meat.
Back to the recipy looks good might have to try that but i will probally have it on or with some beef or some sausages and mash.

Anonymous said...

Just had this tonight, and it was great. Subbed a half cup of white wine for some of the stock, and threw in some onion, but it complimented the meat and potatoes incredibly well.

I'll have to save this sauce for other recipes, I'm always looking for a new gravy.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef, I just finished watching all of your meatloaf videos - you have like 4 or 5, you really like meatloaf! Me too.

Since you also like experimenting, have you tried substituting bread crumbs with dried (instant) potato flakes? I haven't ever tried it, but I have a box here and was considering doing that. If you have time to comment back, I'm curious what you would think?

Chef John said...

Never tried, but not sure if that would work.

New Mom said...

Okay Chef John you have inspired me to try another idea....I am not sure it will work, prob not. How about roast your meatloaf on cooling rack on top of a pan to reserve the juice for the sauce? Hmmm, guess I will try it on my own and see if it works for me...Really likes the mushroom sauce!

Ed the house chef said...

Hey Chef, this was great! My meatloaf was beef and pork and was fantastic cooked in the sauce. Thanks again for making an "out to eat night when it's my turn to cook guy" into a cook that makes real food.

George said...

Hello Chef John I like following your recipes to the letter, everything I've cooked from your site has been awesome. I'm afraid I can't find shiitake mushrooms anywhere I hope regular mushrooms will do

Ed the house chef said...

George, it's tough for me to find shiitake mushrooms in Italy also. I ended up using regular white mushrooms and it still turned out awesome. Can't wait to make it with the good ones :)

Chef John said...

yes! regular are fine! enjoy!

Mays kitchen said...

Thank you so much for sharing I just ate this meatloaf and it was spectacular ! No more meatloaf with ketchup :)

Anonymous said...

Mildred said...

Your creamy mushroom gravy looks amazing! :) Incidentally the three-type-of-meat meatloaf recipe sounds like a Swedish meatballs recipe. You may want to experiment with this recipe, make it into balls or loaf, I am sure it will go very well with the gravy! ;)

1 1/2 pound chuck
1/2 pound veal
1/2 pound pork
2 cups breadcrumbs
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk or cream
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp allspice
2 pinches nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardomom (optional)

Hope you give it a try! :D

Unknown said...

I had a craving for meatloaf and found this technique video. It was really, really good. I cheated just a bit and brushed the top with a browning sauce before it went in the oven. Then once brown, spooned that delicious mushroom sauce over the top several times during cooking. Thanks Chef John, great tip and technique.

Mariko said...

The idea of cooking meatloaf in the shiitake sauce was appealing, and proved to be extremely delicious!! I altered a few things and used ground turkey, olive oil (instead of butter) to saute the mushrooms, and cooked rice (instead of flour) to mix into the meat. The result was FANTASTIC. No shiitake happening here. Thank you, Chef John!

Natalie said...

Loved this technique! I used plain old button mushrooms, carrots and no cream (didn't have any on hand), but it worked wonderfully! Thanks for the tip.

McShine said...

Weird...my gravy came out tasting EXACTLY like cream of mushroom soup. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just wasn't expecting it :)

Sy said...

Made it but using your turkey meatball recipe for the meatloaf. Hubby like it and so did we.