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Meat Loaf

A baked loaf of ground round steak, pork, tomatoes, eggs, cracker crumbs, and peppers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, combine the ground round steak, ground pork, cooked tomatoes, eggs, cracker crumbs, chopped peppers, and salt.

  3. Form the mixture into a loaf and press it firmly into a paper-lined pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 30 minutes.

  2. Increase the temperature to 400°F (200°C) and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

  3. Pour off any excess liquid.

  4. Make gravy to serve around the loaf when turned out.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pork + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pork + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,387 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the meat and filling together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and keep the loaf tender and moist rather than dense.
Ground round steak
Provides the main meaty structure and rich beefy flavor of the loaf.
Ground pork
Adds fat that keeps the loaf juicy and softer in texture.
Cooked tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that give the loaf its savory, tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Press the mixture firmly into the pan. Firm packing removes air pockets so the loaf holds together when turned out and sliced. Loose packing can cause it to crumble and dry unevenly during baking.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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