Beef Loaf
1 1/2-pounds round steak 2 eggs 1 1/2 cups bread-crums 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons salt Chop the steak. Mix it thoroughly with the unbeaten eggs, bread-crums, chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Place in a bread-pan and press firmly until it is molded to the shape of the pan. Run a sharp thin knife-blade around the loaf, turn it out into a roasting-pan, place in a moderate oven and bake for about two hours, basting every quarter of an hour with hot stock. Cut in thin slices, and serve cold with horseradish. A hard-cooked egg may be molded in the center of the loaf to show prettily when sliced.
A plain baked meat loaf meant to be eaten cold and sliced thin, closer to a picnic terrine than to the gravy-covered supper loaf. Two points need attention: how the beef is cut, and how long it actually needs in the oven.
- "Chop the steak"This means run the round through a meat grinder or chop it fine by hand, not cube it. About 1 1/2 lb of coarsely ground beef round is the direct substitute; ground chuck will be juicier but the loaf slices less cleanly when cold.
- Moderate ovenSet the oven to 350F. The recipe assumes a range whose temperature you judged by hand, so a thermometer in the meat matters more than the clock.
- Two hours is too longTwo hours is likely longer than needed -- a 1 1/2 lb loaf will generally reach 160F in the center in around an hour at 350F, though an unmolded loaf basted every quarter-hour, with the oven repeatedly opened, will take longer. Check with a thermometer rather than relying on the stated time.
- Bread-crumsMost likely dry, fine crumbs rather than soft fresh ones. If you use fresh crumbs, cut back to about 1 cup or the loaf may go pasty; dry crumbs will absorb the egg and meat juices and firm up as they cool.
- Basting stockKeep about a cup of beef stock hot on the stove and spoon it over every 15 minutes as directed. Basting cold stock drops the surface temperature and stalls the browning.
- Turning it outMolding in a loaf pan and then unmolding into a roasting pan gives a shape that browns on all sides. Chilling the packed pan for 20 minutes first makes the loaf hold together when it drops out.
- The egg in the centerLay a peeled hard-cooked egg lengthwise in the middle of the meat, end to end with the loaf, so each slice shows a round. Pack meat firmly all around it or the slices split at the egg.
- Yield and servingServes about six as a cold plate. Chill the cooked loaf thoroughly before slicing thin, and serve with grated horseradish or horseradish cream.
Cold sliced meat loaf of this kind was a staple of American household cookery in the 1910s and 1920s, when a Sunday roast's economical cousin was expected to reappear at Monday lunch, at a picnic, or on a supper table set without a cook. Round steak was the frugal choice: lean, cheap, and tough enough that grinding was the sensible way to use it. The hard-cooked egg buried in the center recalls the older tradition of galantines and molded veal loaves, where a pattern revealed by the knife was part of the dish's appeal.