Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Charleston Cuisine: Muffy and Esau

So very homely. So very homey. So very much what Roseanne might have trundled of the oven for Dan.

That's Muffy's meat loaf deluxe from Charleston Cuisine by Louis Osteen. The recipe looked affordable and easy -- one of the few such recipes in the book --  and so it was. Except the instructions were a disaster. Osteen tells you to put the meat mixture (beef, pork, cottage cheese, onions, eggs, breadcrumbs, chili sauce) in an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. It didn't come close to fitting.  He also tells you to bake for one hour, but it took more like two. 

I made the necessary adjustments and it was fine. Nothing special. If you're looking for a truly amazing meat loaf try the Judd (as in Wynonna) family recipe from Ronni Lundy's Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes & Honest Fried Chicken. Or Paul Prudhomme's Cajun meat loaf, the recipe for which you can find right here. Can't decide which is better, but both are better than Muffy's.

On the side: Esau's winter greens (good) and mashed potatoes with sun dried tomatoes. Not enough sun-dried tomatoes to repulse my easily repulsed children, and therefore not enough to excite easily excited me. Not noticeably better or different than plain mashed potatoes.

I'd give the first meal from Louis Osteen's Charleston Cuisine a solid, uninspiring B-. 

Hoping for more from tonight's veal chops.


1 comment:

  1. This meat loaf needs a dressing of some sort, and not just ketchup.
    There's a school of thought that Sauce Bernaise should be served with every meal. I might be in that school.
    But not with Eggs Benedict. Hollandaise better in that case.

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