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Cat's Eggfest Meatloaf - from the early days of the Forum

Theophan
Theophan Posts: 2,656
in EggHead Forum
I've been wanting to try this for a long time, finally did: a recipe from long ago on the EggHead Forum (before it became this forum), from "Cat," who was one of the most highly respected cooks on this forum years ago.

It's really unusual, especially in having a lot of andouille sausage in it, and in having a special sauce that's supposed to go with it.  Without the sauce, it was delicious, very unusual, and I can see why it was a hit in Eggfests, but it's so different because of the andouille that it tastes really different than a "normal" meatloaf to me, and I'm not sure I'd choose it for my "usual" recipe.  With the sauce, though, WOW, what a combination!  Really, really good!  I made a mistake and put in twice the parsley it called for, but it just made it prettier and didn't hurt the flavor a bit.

One oddity, though, that I'd like to ask any old-timers who might know Cat, and/or have her original recipe:  This is the only meatloaf recipe I've ever seen with no breadcrumbs or anything like that at all, and it did make it a bit heavier than most, chewed more like a burger than a meatloaf.  It held together great, was delicious, but I'm wondering if the lack of breadcrumbs was intentional by Cat, or was a mistake copying down the recipe at some point along the way.  Anybody know?  I got this recipe from "The Big Green Egg Recipe Book of the BGE on-Line Forum," compiled by Bill Wise, March 11, 2007.  Doesn't "the BGE on-Line Forum" sound quaintly antique, today?  :)

Cat's Eggfest Meat Loaf

1 lb ground chuck 
½ lb ground pork 
½ lb ground veal 
10 oz Andouille sausage (3 Aidell's), coarsely chopped
1½ Cup diced yellow onion 
3 large garlic cloves, minced 
½ Cup diced red pepper 
2 Tbs olive oil (or bacon grease) 
3 Tbs sour cream
¼ Cup Worcestershire sauce 
¼ Cup Dijon mustard 
1 Cup shredded mild cheese (Colby cheddar & Monterey jack)
3 large egg yolks 
1/2 Cup minced fresh parsley 
½ tsp ground chipotle 
½ tsp ground cumin 
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste 


Jimsberry Sauce/Glaze: 
1 medium yellow onion, diced 
3 large garlic cloves, minced 
1/4 cup melted fat (bacon grease, or rendered beef or pork fat) 
1 cup ketchup 
1/4 cup Worcestershire 
1/4 cup cider vinegar 
3 Tbs mustard (I use Country Dijon) 

Directions:

Preparation Directions: 
Saute onion & garlic in olive oil until lightly browned; add red pepper & saute until soft. Season with salt & pepper. Cool. 
Mix cooked vegetables with other ingredients. Pack into a 9x5x3" loaf pan lined with foil or plastic wrap. Chill for several hours. 

Cooking Directions: 
Turn loaf out onto a shallow pan. 
Heat Egg to 200 dome. Add a few chunks smoking wood (I like red oak) if desired. Put meat loaf on the fire & gradually increase dome temp to 300 over 20 minutes or so. 
Cook until the loaf’s internal temperature is 150. This takes an hour to an hour and a half. 
Let rest for 20 minutes before slicing. 
Serve with Jimsberry Sauce


Sauce Directions:
1 Saute onion and garlic in a little bacon grease until soft & browned. 
2 Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire, vinegar & mustard. 
3 Simmer for 1 hour to 45 minutes. 
4 Stir in remaining melted fat and simmer another 15 minutes. 











I had leftover ground pork and veal, and a tiny bit of chuck, so I mixed them all together, made burgers, hit 'em with DP Crossroads rub, ate them with a little Blues Hog.  They were yummy!  :)


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Comments

  • GregW
    GregW Posts: 2,678
    A really good looking cook. I have no knowledge of the original recipe, however I don't think adding breadcrumbs could do any harm, and in fact, would probably improve it.

    A great looking meal. 
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    " I'd like to ask any old-timers who might know Cat"

    Yes, I'm an old timer over there and have no problem saying so! The last time I recall Cat posted anything she was working her tail off cooking for rescue teams and survivors after 9-11. I'm NOT insinuating that she died, but I don't recall any posts thereafter. Hopefully some one else will come along and correct me.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • calracefan
    calracefan Posts: 670
    Have never used bread crumbs in meatloaf and has always turned out awesome. Ground Beef an egg and a little milk has always held together fine.
    Ova B.
    Fulton MO
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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Cat?  I'm a new- timer but have never encountered Cat in the last 4 years.  Doesn't mean it's not a nice recipe.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    edited May 2017
    bgebrent said:
    Cat?  I'm a new- timer but have never encountered Cat in the last 4 years.  Doesn't mean it's not a nice recipe.
    As I said above I don't recall she ever posted after 9/11 and that was way before this corporate forum even came in to existence! "4 years" ago is like yesterday to some of us eggers.
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    RRP said:
    bgebrent said:
    Cat?  I'm a new- timer but have never encountered Cat in the last 4 years.  Doesn't mean it's not a nice recipe.
    As I said above I don't recall she ever posted after 9/11 and that was way before this corporate forum even came in to existence! "4 years" ago is like yesterday to some of us eggers.
    Thanks for that Ron.  Sorry for the echo.  Glad 4 years ago isn't my yesterday.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    bgebrent said:
      Glad 4 years ago isn't my yesterday.
    Not sure just how to take that spin, but I'll wish you a long life anyway so that 4 years seems like yesterday anyway! Pat and I will be celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary this summer and while we can't turn back the clock we feel we have no regrets about all these years passed. 
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    RRP said:
    bgebrent said:
      Glad 4 years ago isn't my yesterday.
    Not sure just how to take that spin, but I'll wish you a long life anyway so that 4 years seems like yesterday anyway! Pat and I will be celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary this summer and while we can't turn back the clock we feel we have no regrets about all these years passed. 
    Ron, take it in the colloquial way that we interact and with thick skin.  Can only revere and send best wishes to you and yours for such an amazing anniversary.  Congrats and peace.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,656
    RRP said:
    ... Pat and I will be celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary this summer and while we can't turn back the clock we feel we have no regrets about all these years passed. 
    HOLY MOLY -- 51 YEARS!  That's amazing, and wonderful!  CONGRATULATIONS!
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,572
    here is an earlier write up, looks right.  i cook her cat ribs every once in a while, very unique if you like juniper

    http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&Itemid=68&func=detail&id=215

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,656
    fishlessman said:
    ... i cook her cat ribs every once in a while, very unique if you like juniper...
    Not sure I can picture juniper in ribs.  Might be good.  Care to share the recipe?
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    fishlessman said:
    here is an earlier write up, looks right.  i cook her cat ribs every once in a while, very unique if you like juniper

    http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&Itemid=68&func=detail&id=215

    Funny story about that juniper berry rib recipe. When it was the rage I ordered the berries and the smallest quantity was one pound. Well...guess what a pound of them is...A BIG HONKIN BAG...I mean a lifetime supply! The recipe just called for just a few berries as they are so dominating in taste. And they must be an acquired taste as I hated the taste - threw out the ribs and gave the remaining berries to a neighbor lady who was a German war bride as juniper is often used in German dishes. She still has some of that bag to this very day!
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,656
    RRP said:
    ... The last time I recall Cat posted anything she was working her tail off cooking for rescue teams and survivors after 9-11...

    UPDATE on Cat (A.K.A Cathy Loup) -- I did a little internet research:

    First, she apparently created this recipe when she was on the Atkins Diet, and deliberately created a recipe that did not rely on bread as a binder. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/10/cathys-big-fat-meatloaf.html

    Second, more importantly, she definitely did NOT disappear on 9/11!  :)  There’s a post from her from 2006 and another one from 2006 here: 

    Plus I found a blog of a friend of hers in NYC with photos of her from 2008: 

    Last, she apparently is a pretty well-known and important figure in the restaurant scene in NYC, Director of Special Projects at the Myriad Restaurant Group since 2001 working with famous chefs and famous restaurants. 

    Probably too busy to be posting about the BGE, and I'm not sure it'd be easy (maybe even legal, for all I know) to grill if she lives in Manhattan...

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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    edited May 2017
    Thank you. Guess I missed or forgot her 2006 posts. Her mention of names from back then gave me a rush of memories from eggers no longer posting!
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,572
    edited May 2017
    Theophan said:
    fishlessman said:
    ... i cook her cat ribs every once in a while, very unique if you like juniper...
    Not sure I can picture juniper in ribs.  Might be good.  Care to share the recipe?
    here is the recipe submitted by cat, no sauce on these ribs

    http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&Itemid=71&func=detail&id=118

    @rrp,  you can acquire the taste drinking tangueray gin and tonics with lime =) juniper is the flavor of that particular gin

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,656
    fishlessman said:
    here is the recipe submitted by cat, no sauce on these ribs

    http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&Itemid=71&func=detail&id=118

    @rrp,  you can acquire the taste drinking tangueray gin and tonics with lime =) juniper is the flavor of that particular gin
    Well, first of all, that recipe looks really odd but interesting, and I'll definitely try it one of these days.  I like spares better than baby backs, might try it on spares instead, but I'll definitely try it.  Thanks!

    Second, I LOVE Tanqueray!  I don't understand why it isn't more popular.  It is heavier than most on the juniper, and I guess that's not the "style," these days, but I drink Tanqueray much more than other gins.  I also love Plymouth, but it's WAY expensive, and for many things I really do prefer Tanqueray, anyway.

    I felt a little bit like a traitor or something, though, when I read an article, In Search of the Ultimate Martini, where 27 top bartenders across the nation submitted their recipe for the best martini, and there was a taste-test of all of them.  I've tried many other gins, and I like a few others.  Plymouth makes a great martini.  Bombay Sapphire is a nice change, but it's too flowery or something for me to want very often.  Old Raj is odd in being slightly yellow because it has a little saffron in it, of all things, but it also makes a nice Martini.  I wasn't crazy about Hendrick's, or most of the other gins I've tried.  I always keep coming back to Tanqueray.  But when I read that article, they made it sound like Dale DeGroff's recipe was the best Martini in the world, so I had to try it.  And it uses Beefeater.   :(  BUT... it turns out that what makes it so very different is a really, really unusual vermouth, one I'd never heard of, and that is very hard to get, Martini Reserva Speciale Ambrato.  COMPLETELY different than the usual Martini & Rossi dry vermouth.  And I have to say, that combination of Beefeater and that very unusual vermouth DOES make the best Martini I've ever tasted!  Amazing.

    I still prefer Tanqueray for most things, notably including Gin & Tonic, and, given how rare that vermouth is, I'll probably enjoy many more Tanqueray Martinis in the future.

    Thanks again for the link to the rib recipe!
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