Meatloaf Seasoning

Wintertime is here in The Southern Hemisphere, and nothing beats hearty comfort, stodgy food.  

Meatloaf is one dish that is always on high rotation in our home during the winter and colder months of the year.  

I love meatloaf and I have many recipes and variations of how to make it.  In some meatloaves I add breadcrumbs, in others I add rolled oats (yes, rolled oats).  In one of my recipes, I wrap bacon around the meatloaf.  All my meatloaf recipes are packed with hidden vegetables.  My son is at an age where if he sees any visible vegetables its over red rover! 

With each and every meatloaf recipe I make I always add Zoitsa Homely Produce’s Meatloaf Seasoningblend into it. My opinion is that as great as meatloaf is its awfully bland if there are no seasonings in it.  Our Meatloaf Seasoning was created literally whilst I was making meatloaf one day.  I added some of this and then some of that and a little bit of this and then some of that and then I waited patiently for my meatloaf to cook so I could taste the flavour.  WOW! Just WOW! Our meatloaf was just delectable.

Our Meatloaf Seasoning contains Zoitsa Homely Produce’s Italian Seasoning, kosher salt, garlic and onion powders, a touch of black pepper, mild paprika and the KAPOW? – Grounded yellow mustard seeds.

All of this had me thinking though…. where did all of this begin?  Where did the meatloaf come from and how and why.  So off I went researching the origins, the where’s. The why’s and the how’s.

I honestly thought that meatloaf was a German invention but to my surprise it delves deeper than that.  There are so many theories out there and I guess it might be very hard to actually pinpoint, but here’s what I found out.  There were some competing histories.  One theory was that the humble meatloaf emerged in Medieval Europe way, way back in the 5^th Century, but that version consisted of finely diced meat scraps combined with fruits, nuts, and seasonings. 

I can say that my research led me to find out that meatloaf is a traditional German, Scandinavian and Belgian dish.  The Americans first introduction to the humble meatloaf was when German immigrants made “scrapple”, which was an amalgamation of ground pork and cornmeal.

I kept delving deeper into Meatloaf and found out that a lot of countries have their version of it.  From Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Chile, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, The United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Puerto Rico, Vietnam.  The list of countries go on and on and on.

Its obvious that meatloaf has been and is enjoyed all over the world and we all love it.

The consistent thing I am reading was that meatloaf was always based on “scraps” of whatever food was lying around. Or what was leftover food. (Love it! No waste!).  Meatloaf was made to stretch out protein and to use whatever leftover vegetables.  Something that I guess in this current economic time a lot of us are having to do. 

So, from our kitchen to yours, we hope you enjoy our Meatloaf Seasoning.

Guten Appetit!/Mahlzeit/Bon Appetit