Startled cooking thoughts ;)

I think I’ve figured out what makes a really great meatloaf, as opposed to just a good one: mixing meats. All the meatloaf recipes I’ve really enjoyed do this, such as turkey breast and turkey sausage, or beef and pork, or chicken and turkey. I’m not sure why it makes such a difference, but it does seem to have a better flavor. Scary thought: I’ve actually cooked enough meatloaves now that I’m starting to be able to wing it when necessary! Who knew cooking could get so easy? :)

Also: another successful crockpot recipe, woot! I served it with a nice big salad, since there’s no greens included in the recipe. Also, since I was out of hamburger buns, I used English muffins instead, which worked well. Here’s the original recipe:

Shredded Beef Sandwiches

2 pounds beef brisket
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups beef broth or beef stock
2 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped red onion

Combine all of this into a crock pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn it on low and walk away for eight hours. Add a quarter of a cup of water for every additional two hours you intend to cook it. Serve this on buns — magnificent!

As usual, I used the Lipton’s dried onion soup in lieu of both the chopped red onion and the salt & pepper. Worked very nicely! I couldn’t resist adding one extra clove of garlic too; I really love garlic.

One other thing I must keep in mind is to cook the brisket longer than necessary. Apparently brisket usually arrives with a layer of fat (which I will not eat — something about the texture makes me want to gag), and is a little tough. I cooked it for 5 hours on High, but I think next time I’ll either try cooking it on Low for 8 as recommended… or adding another hour to High, so it’s a little less chewy. Regardless, the flavor was excellent, and it wasn’t horribly tough — it shredded easily but was just a little bit chewier than I was hoping for.