Meatloaf…who on earth made the first one? Or better yet, who came up with the fine idea of grinding up some meat, adding fillers and a bit of this and that spices? I really don’t think it matters. Families across this country know that mom’s meatloaf will always bring back a fond memory of being at the table savoring the comfort of that simple dish with mashed potatoes.
Farm life in America had many of these fine stable dishes. If you are fortunate enough to have been raised on a farm you will know the difference between the farmed raised beef you store in that big chest freezer in the basement and the kind brought home from the local grocery.
The difference of course is the taste; the beef we grew up on was much leaner and had no additives, except for the liver and tongue that might have been thrown in the mixture. (This would only happen when mom decided she didn’t want the organ meats) And yes, she actually cooked up tongue. That is a whole other story…
Oh…and that freezer in the basement. It was big enough to store a whole beef and still had room for the corn we would freeze up every summer. It was one heck of a freezer. It was not a self defrosting freezer like most all freezers today. When it came late Winter-early Spring we would clean it out and put what was left up stairs in the back porch freezer. Unplug it for several days to let the ice melt off and physically climb inside with a bucket and rags to sop up the water. It was a real chore, one of which I was not particularly fond of. I was glad it was just a once a year job.
But like so many of us who reach a certain age we look back on these dreaded chores with a fond smile of knowing it was these tasks that shaped us into who we are today.