What’s for dinner today? This week was cool, rainy, and cloudy with more rain for today. I was debating making a big pot of chili or maybe something I haven’t made in a while, meatloaf.

Starting in the early 1900’s cooking with natural gas was a new and exciting invention. Clean fuel, easy to maintain heat, and no more wood fires to manage. Large enamel stoves and ovens were becoming popular and so meals needed to evolve so they were suitable for this new way of cooking. Cooking became more precise and had more predictable outcomes.

I found the recipe in one of my books titled Blue Flame Favorites – A collection of favorite Oklahoma natural gas recipes. The cookbook was published in 2003 by the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company and includes a lot of recipes collected and published by the company for 70 years prior to 2003.  A few are very familiar to meals I remember growing up in the 1970s.

Meals around my house were pretty standard when I was growing up. Since my parents grew up during times of depression and uncertainty, meals were basic but hardy. Meatloaf was one of those meals since additions to the mixture such as bread or crackers could be added to “make a larger loaf”. It may have also been one of the early recipes I could make as a child or maybe I just remembered it because squishing it all together with my hands was fun.

As a child and even as an adult it is exciting to see the loaf come out of the oven with the crunchy bits around the edge. Ours was always made in a cast iron skillet. The skillet was so seasoned from years of use that moving the meat to a plate was so easy and it never stuck to the bottom of the skillet. I still have that skillet. I’m not sure how old it is, but it is at least more than 60 years old.

Not yet sure about something called a meatloaf? Experiment with the following recipe and make it a family favorite. One way to spice things up a bit is to add in 2 tablespoons of your favorite steak sauce! Either mix it into the meat mixture or add it to the ketchup sauce on top!

Is meatloaf still made by families these days? Or has this meal fell out of site since it sounds like something that may not be appetizing? Is this recipe too “old school”? I mean it is a loaf of meat! 🙂

On the next day take a slice of meatloaf, a little mayonnaise, butter, slice of cheese, grilled onions and sandwich bread. Make yourself a meatloaf patty melt! Thank me later!