For most Canadians, the word meatloaf, not the rock band, brings to mind the dreaded stinky dish made from hamburger meat. And not always the lean ground round either. I used to feed the very thing to my my poor kids and they hated it. Why did I do that? Consciously from the beginning I wanted them to experience Canadian culture and didn’t want to saddle them with Hungarian values. I suspect that the meatloaf so many of us learned to hate originated from the British Isles. Canadian cuisine of course is not Anglo Saxon as the seventies and eighties cookbooks would have you believe. Once I realized this I embraced the food culture I came from. It seems every country has it own version of a loaf shaped ground meat dish. Italians’ made the meatloaf a bit more palatable, but Hungarians have the best version of meatloaf anywhere and of course they make it from pork and not beef. The Hungarian version is true comfort food; serve it hot with mashed potatoes or thinly sliced cold.
HUNGARIAN MEATLOAF
700 g lean ground pork
1 onion, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, grated
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp caraway seeds, finely ground
1 Tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp marjoram 2 Tbsp Hungarian paprika
2 eggs
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
GLAZE [optional]
1/2 cup catsup
1/8 cup brown sugar
• Place 2 Tbsp olive oil in a non stick pan.
• Add the onions and sauté until translucent.
• Place the ground pork in a large bowl.
• Add the sautéed onions and the grated garlic.
• Add the salt, pepper, ground caraway seeds, marjoram, parsley and Hungarian paprika.
• Add the eggs and the breadcrumbs.
• With clean hands combine the meat mixture.
• Place the meat mixture on a board or a plate and form it into a loaf.
• Spray an ovenproof dish with cooking spray. This is important.*
• Bake the meatloaf at 350F for an hour.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the ketchup with the brown sugar.
• Spoon it on top of the meatloaf and bake for another half an hour.
* You have to add copious amounts of grease to the dish not to have your meatloaf fall apart with the bottom half sticking to the pan when you try to slice it or to remove it to a serving plate. Some people grease the dish and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top. But this just makes a soggy mess out of the bottom half of the meatloaf. Use cooking spray instead and you can slice it or move it within 5-10 minutes.
