Winter- here we go again. Darkness at 3:30, cold toes, even in the house. All those cute lounge around the house shorts and tank tops- now flannel, wool socks and hoodies. Bye, bye summer sexy.
On the other hand, it's comfort food season.
In honor of this season, I give you meatloaf. We're calling this umami meatloaf. Now, a brief science-foodie lesson from Wikipedia: There are five basic categories humans can taste, sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Scientists debated whether umami was indeed a basic taste ever since Kikunae Ikeda proposed its existence in 1908. Finally in 1985, at the first Umami International Symposium in Hawaii, the term umami was officially recognized as the scientific term to describe the taste of glutamates and nucleotides. Now it is widely accepted as the fifth basic taste. Foods rich in umami include tomatoes, mushrooms, cured meats, fish sauce and MSG. Generally umami is used as a flavor enhancer. Thus the widely used MSG in Chinese food. Contrary to now-popular belief, MSG isn't an unnatural chemical from our modern world, doesn't mean you have to love it, but it's not poison. I digress.
We are calling this meatloaf "umami" due to the number of umami ingredients used. Unlike any other meatloaf I've ever had, we used 1/2 bulk hot Italian sausage and 1/2 ground beef as the base. Black beans, tomatoes and mushrooms were cooked together with spices and stirred into the meat. Of course we used our two favorite cured meats, coppa and bacon fat. Finally, it's glazed with a combination of Heinz 57, red wine vinegar, cayenne and chipotle and brown sugar. The loaf was "free form", meaning unencumbered by a pan, and baked to crispy, umami goodness. The dish was was rich, moist and unbelievably flavorful.
Ingredients
1/2 lb bulk hot Italian sausage
1/2 lb ground beef- 80% lean.
1/8 pound hot coppa, minced fine.
1/3 c minced onion
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c diced grape tomatoes
1/3 c minced crimini mushrooms
1/4 c black beans (cooked in cumin sauce- Kuners)
1 tbsp bacon fat
1/4 c cilantro, finely chopped
1 tbsp Worchestershire
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1.5 c Panko flake
1 egg
1 tbsp of Heinz 57 steak sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp of dried chipotle chile
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp brown sugar
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350*. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with release.In a large bowl, mix the sausage, ground beef and coppa together.
In a frying pan over low heat, saute the onion, garlic, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, black beans with the bacon fat until soft and no extra liquid remaining. Let cool for a moment and then add to the meat mixture.Mix the cilantro, Worchestershire, fish sauce, black pepper, cayenne into the meat mixture. Next mix in 1 egg. Once all the ingredients are well incorporated, knead in the panko flakes. Form a loaf, and place on the baking sheet.
Combine Heinz 57, red wine vinegar, chipotle chile, cayenne, brown sugar together. Brush or spoon the mixture over the loaf, making sure the sides are coated as well.
Bake at 350* for one hour, or until the internal
temperature is 160*. Let sit for 10 minutes or more. Serve.
