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Roman Meatloaf



Recipe by Felice Debbage

I made this dish for Mugmort Melees back in March 2010 as part of my first feast, entitled "I Can't Believe It's Period!" As it turns out, meatloaf dates back to the Roman Empire, although the original recipe calls for cooked animal brains. I used ground beef instead, since even the most adventurous people in our Society tend to avoid organ meat. My meat-eating friends tell me this recipe is good, although obviously I've never eaten it myself. I do think the vegan versionis pretty delicious, though.


Ingredients

2 lbs. of ground beef
5 eggs
3 tsp. dried parsley (or 3 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. dried oregano (or 1 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. black pepper
Enough broth to moisten the mixture
2 cups beef broth
8 oz. mushrooms
1/2 tsp. dried parsley (or 1 1/2 tsp. fresh)
3 tsp. dried oregano (or 3 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. black pepper
2 lbs. Lightlife Foods Gimme Lean Beef
(No eggs required. Gimme Lean is sticky!)
3 tsp. dried parsley (or 3 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. dried oregano (or 1 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. black pepper
Enough broth to moisten the mixture
2 cups Vegetable broth
8 oz. mushrooms
1/2 tsp. dried parsley (or 1 1/2 tsp. fresh)
3 tsp. dried oregano (or 3 Tbsp. fresh)
1 tsp. black pepper



Method

Meatloaf




Source [Apicius: a Roman cookbook circa 400 AD, J. Vehling, (trans.))]: Put in the mortar pepper, lovage, and origany, moisten with broth and rub; add cooked brains and mix diligently so that there be no lumps. Incorporate five eggs and continue mixing well to have a good forcemeat which you may thin with broth. Spread this out in a metal pan, cook, and when cooked [cold] unmould it onto a clean table. Cut into handy size. [Now prepare a sauce.] Put in the mortar pepper, lovage, and origany, crush, mix with broth, put into a sauce pan, boil, thicken, and strain. Heat the pieces of brain pudding in this sauce thoroughly, dish them up, sprinkled with pepper, in a mushroom dish.


Published: 2010-11-04