Gar1eth

Uh oh- I meant "Making A Meat Loaf". Please get your minds out of the gutter -if they were that is. ?? So I've been saying I was going to do it forever. And I finally did. It's in the oven cooking now. Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested. I got it from my Mom. **** Ingredients: COOK 75 MINUTES @ 350 F 2 pounds ground beef 2 eggs beaten 2 cups soft bread crumbs 1/4th cup minced onion 1 Tablespoon Horseradish 2 tsp Salt 1/4th cup milk 1/4th cup ketchup 1/2 tsp dry mustard 2 to 4 slices bacon to top Directions: 1. Add eggs to meat and blend lightly. 2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. 3. Shape into oval. 4. Spread ketchup on top. 5. Put 2 to 4 bacon slices on top over ketchup. 6. Place in shallow pan. 7. Cook 75 minutes at 350 F Variation-- Cook in ring mold. Fill center with mashed potatoes when serving. **** Mom never made the mashed potatoes variation. And I don't think she ever put in horseradish. I had to make two substitutions when I was concocting this. 1. I couldn't find my dry mustard. I think I have some. But I was in too much of a hurry because I have to get to what I laughingly call my job. So looking up a substitute, I find that you can use 1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard for 1 tsp of dry. My Dijon was old-but still probably good. But to be safe I used some new Spicy Brown Mustard I had just bought. I went ahead and used a whole tablespoon instead of the 1/2 tablespoon the conversion called for. 2. I discovered my bread crumbs were actually rice. By mistake I had picked up gluten free crumbs. ? I don't know about y'all. But I hate the feel of mixing ground beef together. It gets under my fingernails-ugh. So I wore my "protect-me-from Covid-19" blue gloves while mixing the meat. I don't know why I never used gloves years ago which is the last time I made a meatloaf. Here's a picture of the loaf in the raw. I'm running late. So I'll share the finished product late this evening. But I have to tell you that the house is smelling incredible right now. Gman PS: The internal temperature of the loaf should be 160 degree Fahrenheit. That's 71.1 C for @mike carey and the rest of you outside the good old US of A. PPS: The original recipe called for adding something like 1/2 pound of ground pork to 1-1/2 pounds ground beef. But Mom never used pork. PPPS: I used dried minced onions from a bottle rather than cutting up some onions due to time constraints. I probably should have moistened them and allowed them to expand. But I didn't. I just measured out 1/4 of a cup of the dry minced onions and mixed it in. I don't think it will hurt anything. Affectionately to all my fellow cooks, I remain your .... Gman

A few things about this. 1. Sigh I wish I had rhythm. I thought great rhythm was supposed to be a perk of being gay. 2. I've never figured out what Travolta is saying before the 1st "You're the one that I want, ooh ooh ooh. " 3. For some reason these Twitter media posts won't play for me in the Message Center Box. I end up having to follow the link to Twitter to see them. Am I alone in this? Gman

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I thought the last guy listed was cute. I guess I'm too strait-laced. But why does a straight guy looking to meet women have to state that they are a top? I mean I would think that's the default. Now if the guy was wanting to be pegged by a dildo -that's what I think should be made note of. Gman

In case anyone is still interested in my bread saga, I toasted a few pieces this morning. They were pretty dang tasty!!! I'm going to make some more bread tomorrow. I'm thinking of adding some grated Parmesan to the dough. Gman

I was watching the first episode of NCIS. There was an actor well-known at the time for doing impersonations of George Bush. Here is Steve Bridges and "guest" at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4N93jLVPIA Gman

Just found this article. Hope it helps. http://mimisatticithaca.com/new-life-for-cast-iron-cornstick-pans/ Gman

I know corn sticks because they used to serve them at Furr's Cafeterias and maybe Luby's and Wyatt's too. They were never corn shaped. I would have been fine to find a corn stick pan that didn't look like corn. But I didn't see one. I haven't used mine yet -but I'm wondering whether these suggestions might help 1. Overly grease the molds-maybe solid shortening or lard is needed. 2. You could try molding foil or parchment into the molds. But I guess that would defeat the purpose of having the hot metal almost 'carmelize' the outside of the sticks. Plus there's always the worry with foil of ingestion of aluminum which is probably not good for you. (They used to give renal patients an aluminum antacid to bind phosphorus (which collects in patients in renal failure) until they figured out the patients were developing aluminum toxicity on it.). 3. Would a stiff scrub brush help? Also my Mom swears by soaking hard to clean pots and pans in hot water followed by scrubbing with kosher salt if needed. Of course it would have to be reseasoned after that. Gman

Thanks. The article I read said between 100 and 115. But maybe my yeast likes it more balmy as you suggest. Gman

very droll!!'? I did think about a Lodge Pot in deciding on whether or not to just use the no Knead bread recipe or get a bread maker. Again I went with the bread maker because -Lodge Pots can be on the expensive side for a poor working guy. And then I'm not sure I'd use it very often because they are really pretty heavy. I recently bought a cast iron corn stick pan which I haven't used yet. But it's surprisingly heavy for its size -or maybe not so surprisingly since it's iron. But I have a bit of arthritis in my hands and didn't want to deal with the weight of a pot. Combine that with the wonky oven door and the fact that the stove is a glass cooktop-I didn't want to take a chance on cracking the cooktop with a burning hot cast iron pot that I needed to set down quickly. Gman

I appreciate the advice. I was really surprised 1/4th of a tsp could possibly be that spicy. I was thinking of definitely decreasing the amount next time. The temperature was about 107 degrees Fahrenheit. I put around 2 teaspoons of sugar in the water. And no salt. Gman

Unfortunately I don't have any bread pans. ? I considered a bit on whether to buy a bread maker or a good roasting pan because there's a no knead bread recipe from the NYT that's very popular. But you need a covered roaster or a pot of some type which will stand up to about 500 degrees in the oven. These are surprisingly expensive. Plus you have to preheat the roaster before putting the dough in it. The oven I'm using-the spring on the door is broken. Sometimes it stays down. But sometimes it rises. It can be quite a juggling act in trying to one-handedly get a hot dish out of the oven while trying to keep the door open. I decided that messing around with a dish preheated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit (with or without an oven with a door problem) was just a great opportunity for me to burn myself . So I went with the bread maker. I hadn't heard of a pan to make softer crust. I thought it was the reverse-that they made a crispier crust. What I've heard about are clay pots. They're called Romertopfs (this brand at least) and are made in Germany. https://www.livestrong.com/article/433424-how-to-bake-bread-in-romertopf-clay-pots/ Gman

What patience, @jjkrkwood? Not to be argumentative-ok, maybe a little ?. But you mix the ingredients which takes like 10 minutes or less. Dump the mixture in the bread machine. Decide which program you are going to cook the bread on. Press the button. Then you have three to four hours free to solve World Peace. The timer on the bread machine dings. You carefully take out the pan, so you don't burn yourself. Let the bread cool for a few minutes. And then have a delicious fresh loaf to slather butter on. You mean like this? @jjkrkwood, just thinking about this in connection with bread-yuck, just ? ?. (I used to think this stuff was mainly for gay use and unknown to the populace at large. But I found this picture on the Walgreens website.) Gman

C'mon over and you can have a few slices. Gman

Verdict -not bad. I'm still not sure about the texture-whether it should have been fluffier. And it does leave a bit of a spicy/salty aftertaste. It had 1/4th tsp oregano, 1 TBSP of dried crushed rosemary, 1/4th tsp black pepper, 1-1/2 tsp of salt. It also has 3 tablespoons of olive oil. It didn't state EVOO or regular. So I used EVOO. Any experienced bread makers have any helpful hints about the spicy/peppery aftertaste that I'm still feeling on my tongue after 10 minutes or about the texture? Would Paul Hollywood (famous British baker) find this texture acceptable? Gman

I may have worried too soon. The bread just came out of the oven, er machine. It's probably been about 3 to 4 years since I used a bread machine. But I think this looks a lot like I remember. I'm still not quite sure about the yeast. I guess I'll find out for sure after I let it cool some and cut into it. Now the recipe did call for active dry yeast. I only had instant yeast. On investigating I came up with a website that said for instant yeast to use 75% of the dry active amount listed. Maybe I shouldn't have carried out the reduction. Gman

This is the continuation... 1. So I wash the blade and bread pan. 2. Mix the ingredients with a few minor modifications from a Rosemary Bread Recipe I found online last night. 3. The bread is even now in the machine, but I'm concerned about MY YEAST!!! I bought a bag of instant yeast thru Amazon. It's supposed to be a popular brand. And supposedly you don't need to proof instant yeast. But I wasn't sure the dough was really rising the way it was supposed to inside the machine. 2. So I read up on proofing. Basically for those of you not familiar -proofing is used to test the yeast to make sure it works. You add a few tsps of yeast to some warm water (100 to 115 degrees). Don't get the water too hot, or you'll kill the yeast. And add a few tsps of sugar as fuel for the yeast. Wait 20 minutes. If the yeast is good, it will produce carbon dioxide making foam in the water. Here are some pictures of good yeast. or My yeast was much more anemic looking. The only real foam was at the very top of the picture. So I don't know if my yeast is any good. ??? Guess I'll have to wait and see what the bread looks like. Gman

Well it came. And as you'd expect, there have been some snafus. 1. After unboxing I open the machine up. The bread pan and the paddle have a few scratches. I've read online how people don't think that's a great thing as the non-stick coating could then be coming off inside the bread. I'm a little worried about that On the other hand what non-stick coating doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, right? I could be the new "Teflon Don!!!" 2. But what really po's me off is that the kneading blade is stuck down tightly to the axle. I CAN'T GET IT OFF. And being that it's non-stick, except for the part that's flaked off of course, it's impossible to get a good grip on it. Plus due to the way the pan, axle, and blade are engineered, you can't really get under it. You also don't want to try prying it with a fork, assuming you could get under it, as you might scratch either more non-stick coating of the blade or bread pan. And using pliers might bend something you don't want bent. I was in a tizzy-let me tell YOU!!! 3. So I did what any right thinking single 50-mumble something year old gay male would do. I called my Mom. ???Just kidding. I googled it. ??? I found a a video with an ingenious idea. In case any of you ever have a similar problem. Here it is. As a hint, I'll tell you it involves Crisco and a sling. Oh wait -sorry that was the other video I was looking However lucky me-after working at the blade on and off for about 15 minutes, I was finally able to get the blade off. To be cont'd Gman

I hope it works right out of the box. I looked up a recipe for an Italian Rosemary Loaf which I hope to try. Wish me luck on the machine actually working, and if it does, on the recipe. Expect pictures and a description of the ? if things work out. Gman

I had to get my yeast off of Amazon. It's a one pound bag. I ordered it last week. It came today. A one pound bag cost me $13.95. Gman

I bought some organic unbleached all purpose flour about 3 weeks ago because it was literally the only bag of flour on the shelf at the time, and the first bag I had seen in weeks. Over the last week and a 1/2 or so I've seen a bit more flour on shelf, but I haven't been looking for bread flour specifically. If you can't find bread flour, is it possible for you to add gluten to your all purpose flour? Gman

I'm sure it's delicious but not really my type. I'm not sure I like goat cheese , and I need some tomato sauce. Gman

Different tastes then. While I'll admit they look better in real life, I think they still look quite good in the pictures. Gman

I'm not sure what comment this is referring to in this thread. But just bought one off eBay. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It was $34.98 Pretax with a $20.52 shipping charge. I also bought a $5.99 Square Trade Insurance Policy, and spent $10.99 on a manual as I couldn't find one online. I hope it's in good working order. But that's why I bought the Square Trade Policy. I've seen online that the non-stick coating on the blade can flake. I've seen some plastic blades offered for my model that don't have that problem. But I want to bake a rosemary bread loaf tomorrow. So I'll keep my fingers crossed. Gman