Meat loaf battle
Olivia Andrews’ book Slow Cooked contains one hundred dishes that can be prepared in two ways: with a slow cooker (a Crock-Pot, for example) or without. Each dish comes with two recipes. FavorFlav tested the recipe for meat loaf made in the Crock-Pot and (traditional) oven.
Meat loaf
Meat loaf is a dish made with (different types of) ground meat and has little to do with actual bread. Only the shape is similar. You eat the meat —which is cut into slices—both hot and cold.
Re-invention
You can vary meat loaf endlessly. Germans hide boiled eggs in it, while the Romans make the loaf with a load of herbs, pine nuts and bread soaked in wine. The recipe in Slow Cooked is different again, as it contains coarsely grated courgette and the breadcrumbs are replaced with oats.
This is what goes in
Oats? Absolutely: besides the usual suspects such as ground meat and eggs, the loaf also contains oats, Parmesan, grated carrot and courgette, garlic and basil. You make a tomato sauce to go with it using passata, mustard, maple syrup and Worcestershire sauce, plus a simple purée of sweet potatoes and spinach.
Oven or Crock-Pot?
You make both loaves in the same way, but the end result differs considerably. The oven-baked meat loaf is flavourful and tender, and the high temperature creates a crispy layer. Score! That layer doesn’t appear when you make the loaf in the slow cooker, because the meat is cooked at a very low temperature. This loaf is flavourful, but just a little too mushy and lacks body, causing it to fall apart easily.
Slow Cooked
Olivia Andrews
€ 22,50
Good Cook Publishing House
Text: Nora van den Heuvel
Image: Shutterstock
