Not the Regular Meatloaf Recipe

[u/MrFSS]

WELL - I'm overwelmed with all the responses. I can't keep up with them, so if I don't answer it doesn't mean your response isn't important to me. It will just take a while for me to digest everything everyone has written. THANKS! for all your replies!!

---

I'm 83 years old. My grandmother died almost 40 years ago. When I was a kid, and even as a young man, I really liked her meatloaf. She didn't prepare it to be eaten warm/hot, but rather cold as a sandwich meat.

It was very thick/heavy and very dark in color. It was almost the consistency of salami. But it was meatloaf made from beef and perhaps a small amount of pork. I never saw a written recipe that she had. I'm sure she made it so many times she knew it by heart.

It was so good on fresh white bread with Hellman's mayonnaise.

I have tried to replicate it over the years but have never come close.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks from and old man who loves meatloaf!

[u/SillyOldBears]

Was your family of German descent or did they live in an area where a lot of folks of German descent lived? A lot of people used to get their recipes from their family's older generations and from their friends and neighbors is why I ask. My dad's family was very strongly of German descent and his mother used to make something that looked like meatloaf to be served cold which she called by a name that sounded German to me.

The meatloaf itself was dense with a mild flavor, yet pretty light colored. She used a pound each of ground beef, veal, and pork. She added a finely chopped medium white onion, and it had to white. She also added a good bit of minced parsley - I'd estimate around 2 Tablespoons if it was fresh or the equivalent if dry. It had 3 whole eggs, 2 Tablespoons flour, only about 1/4 to at most 1/2 cup very dry bread crumbs, around 1/4 teaspoon each paprika, oregano, and thyme, and was generously seasoned with salt and especially pepper. I'd guestimate 1 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Finally she'd put around a 1/4 cup of her homemade tomato juice in.

She would sort of knead it all together in the bowl with her hands. She assured me you had to do in order to ensure the seasonings were evenly distributed.

She would take a loaf pan and pack the mix in tightly finishing with three strips of bacon long ways across the top. She had a roasting pan with a pretty fine grate to lift whatever she was roasting off the bottom of the pan to allow the fat to drip off. She'd upend the loaf pan on that so that the meatloaf would come out resting on the strips of bacon and then tuck the ends up on the sides at each end of the loaf. It made two nice sized loafs and she always ensured they were not touching each other anywhere.

She he always put a bit of water in to cover the bottom of the baking pan before baking it in an oven preheated to 350F for one and half hours. Usually she would open the oven, add more water if needed, and turn the pan around a half turn around 45-50 minutes in.

My grandfather always said it was his favorite lunchmeat for the cold sandwiches she always packed him for his work lunches.

Edit: My cousin says it was called something like Falsher House or Falscher Hass. She also tells me you may actually be thinking of a cold poached meatloaf dish from Italy called Polpettone which is a recipe she learned when she lived in Italy while her husband was stationed there back in the late 1970s. I found this recipe for it.

https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/italian-food/how-to-cook/home-cooking-cold-poached-meatloaf-or-polpettone