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Reduced Fat Meat Loaf
By
Donald A. Miller, Ph.D.
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It is no secret that four
legged meats, especially beef and pork that were fattened
in feedlots, comprise one of the highest sources of fats
in the American diet. If you want to keep some of your
recipes, but lower the fat by ten to fifty percent, you
can substitute some soy foods for part. This is easiest to
do with meals which can be made from ground beef.
I have yet to find an artificial meat cutlet, molded from
tofu and / or TSP/TVP = Textured Soy/Vegetable Protein, to
taste very good. But, I have learned to like tofu and
tempeh for themselves. I have made "beef stew"
with tempeh replacing all the meat, and omelets with
mashed tofu instead of cheese, and served without sausage
or bacon. I also like angel hair pasta mixed with spices,
soy sauce, and an equal mixture of ground beef and tofu.
The scientific test for success was that I have eaten my
invented recipes more than once, and without any regrets.
So, what about meat loaf? It looks like a natural test
case.
One should realize that fat in the starting meat will be
mostly trapped in the final dish, so start with lean
ground beef. Major groceries should have 5 to 10 percent
fat ground beef. If not, ask for some to be made from
their leanest cuts. If you extend the meat by folding in
crushed crackers or bread crumbs, realize that such will
help trap fat.
Here is my experiment of a recent weekend.
First, start an oven heating to about 375 Fahrenheit, plus
or minus 25 degrees. It will be ready when the dish is.
I placed 12 ounces (a common standard package size) of
extra firm tofu (least water content) in a round ceramic
baking dish, then used a manual potato masher to reduce it
to paste. I then added 3 cups of lean ground beef, and
blended thoroughly, until the color was uniform. Along the
way, I had tossed in some diced garlic, blended green
herbs, two tablespoons of real soy sauce, and some fresh
ground black pepper, but no salt. Other people might want
to include some diced green or red pepper, some tomato
sauce or fresh diced tomatoes, and similar.
By the way, I use Mori-Nu brand of tofu, because it comes
in aseptic packages which require no refrigeration.
I sliced two medium potatoes length wise into quarters,
then sliced fairly thinly. I also diced up a double
handful of pre peeled baby carrots. After shaping the meat
into a round loaf which did not touch the sides of the
dish, I placed potato around the sides, then the carrots
over every thing.
I topped the dish with its clear glass cover, then placed
in the oven for an hour. This made the potato and carrot
slices tender but not mushy. The resulting juices made a
great gravy. After serving, I added a small amount of
"lite salt", which is a 50 - 50 blend of
potassium and sodium chloride.
Tasty!
Readers can vary the proportion of tofu. My meat loaf had
a very nice consistency, neither rock hard nor crumbly
soft. I would like to know if readers still got good
results using more tofu.
After the left overs had spent a night in the
refrigerator, I saw no globs of congealed fat, which
confirmed that the meat was lean. Of course, the fat
absorbed back into the loaf was not visible. I reduced the
saturated fats in the meal, but I did not eliminate them.
Baking the potatoes with the meat, rather than making
mashed potatoes, meant no temptation to add butter or
margarine.
** Diet with FACTS, not MYTHS. **
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