Why we put breadcrumbs in meatloaf, meatballs, etc

[@aragusea]

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[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your content

[@nygreenguy]

Nice, an Adam video without the sound of cicadas and crickets!

[@Blackmark52]

Meatloaf is a word like meatball. No need to deconstruct it, add an s.

[@bennickerson9581]

wow, fiberglass free?

[@jasondeblou6226]

do you get a new bed every other month?

[@Westibule]

My mother used to make meatloaf without bread because she always cooked it from memory and never remembered there was supposed to be bread in it. As a kid, I dreaded meatloaf night until I began cooking and discovered the recipe required bread and since that point, I've loved meatloaf.

[@lakrids-pibe]

So what was it like? Soft, squishy and crumbly? Like in the experiment?

[@darkness74185]

@@lakrids-pibe it would be like eating 3 hamburger buns at once, awesome for the first 5 minutes and then you'd get completely paralyzed for the day

[@Ace_of_Empires]

Interesting. I would guess most prefer no bread and would only add it out of scarcity

[@Vivicci.x]

I love the way my mom did it ; beef , green bell peppers diced up jnto it , and rice with tomato sauce and seasonings etc

[@didisinclair3605]

my mum only put grated onion in her meatloaf.. not soft at all; like a rock. I thought that was what meatloaf was supposed to be, so when I started having sleep overs with friends, their soft meatloaf really grossed me out!!

[@larrysmith1966]

I really love how Adam always throws in the little cautions like "Hey, I like it this way because blah, you may like this variation." It's just so much more honest and less pretentious than other foodtubers who insist on their recipe being the "ULTIMATE RECIPE, THIS IS THE ONLY CORRECT WAY TO MAKE THIS FOOD!" Adam's approach is very practical, and a nice breath of fresh air among the onslaught of ~Xtreme~ content.

[@exmachinz]

Also he is considerate to non-american viewers, and not by just giving exact metric conversions of US customary units.

[@hunterlg13]

@@exmachinz I think he might just prefer metric to imperial system. I do as well and I'm American. Just much easier numbers to remember when converting.

[@hoej]

He mentioned it in his podcast - 'this is my new favourite' and 'today we make it this way' is just better than 'this way only'. Episode 64 if you're interested.

[@czforester]

This is exactly what drew me to his videos in the first place. I don't remember which recipe it was but that recurring bit he does where he says something like "Obviously these carrots need to be in a perfect julienne right?...NOOOOO! JUST CUT THE CARROTS WHO CARES?!?" Just the concept that your recipes aren't always going to be perfect and you don't have to be a student of the Cordon Bleu to make good food.

[@fred4800]

Adam is a real and genuine home cook. There are far too many pretentious food tubers who think there shit is the gospel.

[@frostblox668]

These videos actually teach you more about cooking than any cooking tutorial. I've watched a lot of educational videos regarding food on this channel, and with a more scientific approach to food. These videos literally make you a better cook, it teaches you what you can and can't do to food. Even the smallest tips can be crucial when it comes to taste and Adam explains it like no other.

[@lonestarr1490]

Exactly. And since Adam always provides proper explanations (sometimes down to the molecular level), you even improve your competence with foods the episode wasn't even particularly about. Like, since Adam taught me what an emulsion is, I'm suddenly able to make perfectly smooth mayonnaise from scratch.

[@spike_021]

plus Adam isn't really pushing a specific choice. Like he says at the end, figure out what works best for you. IMO he excels at just like doing the detailed experiments so you don't necessarily have to, but also provides the results in case you do want to try matching them.

[@baylinkdashyt]

And, if you're a dog...

[@johnbradwell3834]

Try Kenji Lopez-Alt. That dude brings a different style to the same sort of thing.

[@akirak1871]

That's what I liked about Good Eats - the tips that help you understand the chemical/physical processes that are happening when you throw ingredients together and heat them in some way (even if most Good Eats recipes were a bit too complicated and they were occasionally wrong). That's the difference between just memorizing a few dozen recipes and truly knowing how to cook.

[@TheExplorder]

One quarter of breadcrumbs per volume was way more that I was expecting.

[@Connie_cpu]

Definitely, though it also starts to seem about right once you realize it's only 15% by weight

[@sid2112]

Yeah it's about right for some 80% lean.

[@kylelee3576]

Adam’s now cancelled hero Mario Batali used to say that meatballs should be a good 30% breadcrumbs.

[@tonymouannes]

​@@kylelee357625 and 30 aren't that far apart.

[@islandfireballkill]

Westerners just have really high meat diets. A person in a poorer country doesn't have these diets where you eat food that's over 80% by weight meat. It's not even close, like maybe your final diet is like 10% meat.

[@Ybeetus]

Thank you, Adam! On behalf of everyone who can't afford to do an experiment like this for money reasons, we really appreciate this!

[@TheHuntermj]

He only used the ingredients for 1 meatloaf and seperated it into muffin sized pieces, It only cost the same as 1 family sized meatloaf to make all of those!

[@Ybeetus]

​@@TheHuntermjsome people simply can't afford to recreate a full scale test like this just to find their preferred texture of meatloaf friend.

[@fallengamer3000]

i think even if you can only afford food for one meal, you can still mix it up sometimes to find out if you can cook it better, and just eat it even if it isn't that good

[@afraidcone]

Ina Garten's veal, beef, pork, and veggie meatloaf with the garlic sauce and mashed potatoes is actually the single greatest comfort dinner ever and I will plug it for free until the day I die of eating too much of it.

[@afraidcone]

@@pothospathic and always a solid side of mashed potatoes! My go to birthday dinner too 😋 just yesterday I said nevermind I may want these Godzilla-sized tacos using Adam's oven version of the naan recipe, Bolani's mint garlic yogurt, leftover garlic and herb sauce chicken, and just raw chopped onion, cucumber, and tomatoes, some extra cilantro on top: to die for.

[@kiernansfault48]

Mark Bittman's from how to cook everything is that for me. Uses a similar mix of meat but doesn't use ketchup. Made me like meatloaf.

[@milesedgeworth132]

That's 3 types of meats. Sounds expensive.

[@everythingsalright1121]

Recipe?

[@crom29a]

Goggle "1770 House meatloaf" and I think you'll find what you're after. 👍 @@everythingsalright1121

[@rsfakqj10rsf-33]

“You figure out what your perfect meatloaf is” is such a powerful and inspiring line, I’m incredibly moved.

[@wobblysauce]

Every time you make the same meal, did you like it last time, if so do same, if not change it up

[@ItsMeArda]

Why I season my breadcrumbs not my meatloaf

[@jayluvvuu7615]

Underrated comment

[@marcberm]

I've been making meatloaf portions this way for years... Except I form them in muffin tins, turn out onto a baking sheet and freeze, then vacuum seal into one dinner portions. They keep extremely well frozen, especially if vac sealed, and bake off super quick from frozen due to the small size.

[@raraavis7782]

Jupp. Perfect for meal planning or storage. It's so satisfying, storing away all that food and knowing, you're covered in the protein department for a while 👍

[@marcberm]

@@raraavis7782 Totally! In the winter, we do a lot of "meatloaf monday" since it's the perfect thing after back-to-work. A quick veg and a starch and dinner is on the table in no time.

[@patiencenails6632]

Oooh, lovely idea! How long do they take to cook?

[@marcberm]

@@patiencenails6632 At 350 F / 177 C they take a total of about 20-25 minutes, but I take them out to brush with a ketchup based glaze about halfway thorugh (it sticks better halfway through than in the beginning). I like to line the sheet with foil then there's almost nothing to clean up either :D

[@JoeAuerbach]

This was basically a perfect experiment video. Really only one variable, super easy to digest, a little bit of back and forth analysis. Basically everything I wanted and it was relatively short. Flawless. Helen is in trouble.

[@thedman9052]

I got into baking my own bread recently and my first loaf went stale way more quickly than I expected, but I ground it into crumbs and made the best breading I've ever had. Way better than store bought or cracker crumbs, and now I get why people used to put breadcrumbs in everything.

[@lonestarr1490]

If you want Michelin star level breading (for a Wiener Schnitzel or whatever), use only the crust. Abhorrently wasteful, but that's what the chefs do.

[@TheRatchetnclank]

I like to make croutons for salad with stale bread too, just mix bits with olive oil, salt and pepper. Delicious.

[@lonestarr1490]

@@SimuLord Besides John Green, you mean.

[@jessesimonsson532]

​@@SimuLordtop it with coleslaw to really stretch the meal

[@kahorere]

Bread goes stale a lot slower if you add buttermilk to the dough, you can try that if you have too much breadcrumbs already

[@mattkuhn6634]

I once had a black lab, and so your dog's soulfoul and eagerly expectant viewing of your cooking of meat is a hit of nostalgia.

[@hurrdurrburr]

Hi Adam, we use this technique for small pan fried minced meat loafs. The milk soaking comes from whole bread pieces where you soak em and mash em up in the meat. So thats what we do here in southern germany. If you wanna give it a try, skip the veggies add salt, pepper, mustard, bread soaked in milk (so you can rip it) and add parsley and some eggs. Fry it in a pan and serve with some potatoes and 'creamy vegtebles'. Kohlrabi would be a hit if you can source it. This is something in between meat loaf and burger and you get this everywhere in germany if you look close ;-)

[@theheartoftexas]

What is the name of it in German please?

[@z4po325]

sounds like königsberger klopse oder buletten @@theheartoftexas

[@galier2]

@@theheartoftexas Frikadellen or Buletten.

[@galier2]

@@z4po325 Königsberger Klopse depend on the caper sauce. No sauce => no Königsberger Klopse.

[@galier2]

Indeed, you can even find Frikadellen in typical snacks. They are cooked in the gravy that is also used to make Curry-Wurst.

[@ChefSalad]

We always make meatloaf using diced onions, celery, and carrots, with eggs and condensed cream of mushroom soup as a binding agent, with the breadcrumbs being replaced with crushed saltine crackers. Add some garlic, oregano, turmeric, chili powder, cumin, and pepper, and it's amazing. We never use a glaze, however. Instead, we eat it with Heinz 57 sauce or beef gravy. The crushed saltines gives the meatloaf a really hearty texture and the mushroom soup adds a lot of flavor and a bit of moisture. It also lets you use more crackers than you'd think would be good. Makes the meatloaf go further. Since this is in a restaurant, we use 1/2 gallon saltines to 12 lbs ground beef (80/20) to 12 eggs to 1 #5 can of soup (equivalent to, I think, six home-size cans). It's wonderful stuff. This recipe will give you roughly 30 large portions, which is pretty good.

[@Brandon_Nelson92]

I'll be giving this recipe a try for sure. Thanks! Smaller portion: 1lb ground beef 1 egg 2/3 cup of saltines 1/2 can of soup

[@entr0pic_]

I can imagine that the mushroom soup gives that loaf a more deep savoury/umami flavor?

[@ChefSalad]

@@entr0pic_ oh yeah. The mushroom soup is great for flavor.

[@TDPEquinox]

Good doggo deserves more screen time :)

[@Noam-Bahar]

Agree

[@beniaminorocchi]

And a slice of meatloaf

[@JudyCZ]

The question of how much breadcrumbs is the ideal amount is actually really interesting. And I love me a video of someone doing all the annoying experiments, showing me tje difference and telling me the right answer. Keem them coming!

[@Przemo-c]

I wouldn't say it's the answer. It's a preference. Just like stated in the video. Personally I use more bread but I'd say that 15% is a good starting point for finding what's right for you.

[@macsnafu]

Finally, a simple ratio for how much filler to add to meatloaf! I used to cook meatloaf a lot, but was never really sure how much to add. I did notice that it got very bready after a certain point, but I never bothered to measure, so I was just guessing based on the uncooked texture of the mix.

[@uncaringbear]

Thank you! I've been pondering this exact question in my head for ages: just how much bread crumbs to put into the meat! I loved how systematic Adam was with his methodology. There's no better way to get a definitive answer to what I consider to be an age-old question!

[@sleepyzeph]

a note for any vegetarians/vegans watching, breadcrumbs are super useful in meatless dishes too. often you want to add extra fat when making meatless meat dishes, so the breadcrumbs are still gonna be great at soaking that up. same thing for the ability to keep its shape, very useful for vegan burgers and such.

[@chukyuniqul]

Hey imma be the meater representative to say that nothing's wrong with tryin vegan stuff even as a non-vegan. We only got one life, why limit ourselves? Sure it might not be as good, but it might be, too.

[@TechTchno]

​@@chukyuniqul I really like vegan food! I am not vegan by any means but some of it is great

[@henriquepacheco7473]

@@TechTchno Yeah, turns out you can make great food with just plant stuff... French fries come to mind, most of them are vegan. The only place vegan stuff tends to miss imo is when they try too hard to use a substitute for an animal product rather than just going for a normal dish, like vegan "cheeses" or soy steaks. Then again, I've heard some of the newer meat and cheese substitutes actually are good, so who knows.

[@GeckoHiker]

I often use cooked oatmeal or brown rice in my vegan bean burgers. Flaxseed meal and aquafaba is the binder. The bean burgers also include chopped cooked vegetables, like carrot, beet, and corn.

[@tdb517]

@@henriquepacheco7473 I'm a huge meat eater but Tofu is just the GOAT. It replaces meat so well, is so delicious and can be cooked in so many different ways.

[@charcoalPanda]

Yesterday I was cooking Italian wedding soup and I`ve added a few bread crumbs because of a recipe. Initially, I wanted to skip that step, but now I know why I shouldn't. Thanks, Adam. You are the hero we need.

[@willdwyer6782]

If you're more into surf then turf, use oatmeal instead of panko if you're working with canned fish. One of the first recipes my mom learned after she got her first microwave in the late 1970s was salmon loaf, cooked in a microwavable bundt pan and served with peas in white sauce.

[@karu6111]

You have no idea how helpful this was for us. My mom and I cook something called “embutido” a similar dish to meatloaf but steamed. It always used to go too crumbly for our liking, and I’ve experimented with ways to make it less so, adding starches, less water, less oil, pre-coocked vegies, so on. So many batches with less than ideal result. We tried to add breadcrumbs to it as to your conclusion and it’s the best texture we’ve had yet. It was still too crumbly but adding breadcrumb singlehandedly had the most dramatic on texture, I took note to increase the ratio. So thanks for this.

[@rogerhinman5427]

My parents were Depression Children so I grew up eating a lot of recipes created during the Great Depression. Bread crumbs was in just about every meal that used either ground beef or a tuna/salmon loaf.

[@ringlhach]

Pupper is being very patient for their opinion to be asked!

[@hirozhen7475]

One trick I use for meatloaf is instead of canisters of breadcrumbs I use a box of generic stuffing mix. It's cheaper than canisters of breadcrumbs and adds a lot of flavor. I just throw in one box per 2lbs meat. If you like the texture that the canned crumbs give just pulse the stuffing mix in a food processor.

[@lordsergal8783]

I do this, too, but I rehydrate mine with milk. Also, I tend to spread it flat on a baking sheet and broil it. Makes great meatloaf sandwiches.

[@kiyasuihito]

I like it when this guy talks to his own experience. This is the best video I've seen by him in a while. Also informative. 👌

[@kylehazachode]

Powdered cheeses in meatballs are the best. Powered cream, cheese, cheddar, and butter are my favorite to mix in. I've never done meatballs or meatloaf with a volume of breadcrumbs. I just took the total weight off the meat's package sticker and added 18% breadcrumbs by weight, then add a unknown amount of veggies.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Mtballs ain’t mtballs w/o Parm cheese Unless they’re Swedish mtballs lol

[@wgrandbois]

I love that you committed to the Postmasters / Surgeons General style plural.

[@neverknowsjess]

My mom puts oatmeal in her meatloaf :) It was my first solid "real" food as a baby too. I always say your favorite meatloaf recipe is the one your mom made growing up.

[@shadowprince4482]

I use oatmeal too. I also mix ketchup directly into the meatloaf. Doing so keeps it from having a gritty feel. Also gives it a nice crust on the outside.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Oats are ok on mtball But crackers or dry bread crumbs are better

[@MathieuH96]

Really love this format, a 10mns video explaining a experiment with a clear answer is really enjoyable !

[@m.h.6470]

In Germany, meat balls ("Frikadellen", "Fleischpflanzerl", "Buletten", "Fleischklopse", ... they have like 10+ names depending on the region), are traditionally made with rolls/buns soaked in water, then squeezed out and ripped apart. Nowadays many people just use breadcrumbs though.

[@infamoussphere7228]

There's a very good pork, chilli and lemon meatball recipe I make that has bread soaked in milk. The recipe is by David Herbert and I would link to it but unfortunately it's in a newspaper behind a paywall :(

[@tobim5574]

They’re not just called different names, they ARE different. Frikadellen is danish, and vasty different from a meatball. Theres fat percentile diffrences, flvourings and meat combination differences.

[@m.h.6470]

@@tobim5574 Frikadellen is also the name of meat balls in northern Germany. Don't just assume, because the name is the same, that it automatically is the same thing. It is a different country after all.

[@dabl387]

One thing I always live from his videos are the transitions from whatever he’s talking about to the sponsor they either work well or are the funniest transitions on KZbin

[@brianlawson3757]

I very rarely make meatloaf, meatballs, or fish cakes largely because I seem to always get inconsistent results. I think I've been adding too much breadcrumb and possibly egg as well. Thanks for running this food science experiment for us, Adam. Maybe my next loaf won't be such a disaster! 😅

[@Przemo-c]

I agree with you on soaking. That's how I was taught by my grandmother. Stale bread soaked in water then squeezed and mixed with meat. No braking up hard bread no need for grinding/smashing in cloth with meat hammer.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Put bread in blender Voila bread crumbs

[@vickiephelps5169]

I always use oatmeal. It blends in better without a weird texture. 😊

[@fabiankaisen5977]

Thank you - I have always eyeballed the breadcrumbs (with inconsistent results of course…) but will now start on the journey of finding the ratio that works for me!

[@markadams7046]

Loved the quickly panning to his dog as pulled the meat loaves out of the oven.

[@roryrussell2127]

0:22 is the most Italian Adam has sounded in like 7 years

[@fiveminutezen]

Thank you, Adam… I wanted to try your breadcrumb ratio, and I couldn't remember what you said you were using. I love that you put that as the first thing in the video so I didn't have to go through the whole video again just to find that information. Interesting that you don't put your recipes in the description anymore like your old meatloaf recipe. Thanks for continuing to make great Content!

[@keithkannenberg7414]

I find it really interesting how different recipes for meatloaf can be. The way I make meatloaf, which is based on what my parents made, doesn't include vegetables at all. It doesn't have a glaze but uses tomato sauce in the loaf to get some of the same flavors. And these days I add a lot of parmesan because you can't go wrong with that. I did check though and I use about 14% by weight crumbs (1 cup fine crumbs to 1.5 lbs ground beef), so right around Adam's sweet spot. The time I tried upping the crumbs by 50% it did seem dry to me.

[@allisterhale8229]

The only thing you are missing is some ground pork.

[@dugolas]

My family's recipe had no vegetables either. Just meat, eggs, bread crumbs, and tomato glaze.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

I do 1/2c per lb

[@agamerandstuff]

I love the way Adam makes his videos. I personally whole heartedly think meat loaf should be around 40%-50% bread crumb by weight. But Adam put forth his findings in a mostly scientific test and expressed why he finds 15% to be the best ratio but never clames that this ratio is the best way according to science. I haven't ever left a Adam vid feeling like I was talked down to or that my opinion changed or not was insulted or made fun of.

[@kirksarcade1836]

My wifes family is of Scottish descent and uses a family recipe that calls for oats instead of bread crumbs. Cooked in a well seasoned cast iron of course with a fairly similar glaze. Keep up the great work bud

[@joelsmith3473]

From the Midwest, not Scottish, and grew up with oats

[@DoubleL11862]

In Lebanese cuisine, there's a similar food called Kibbeh which is ground beef and onion mixed with bulger wheat. When mixed properly, it will make a nice meatball that you can bake, fry, or eat raw if you trust your butcher.

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

Variants of holubki/golubtsi/gołąbki can have raw rice mixed in with the minced/ground meat. My thought is that as the rice cooks it will absorb the juices released by the cooking meat. This is similar to your breadcrumbs absorbing meat juices in meatloaf, rissoles, meatballs, and so on.

[@andersnils]

I was planning to make spicy carrot soup from the last vid tonight and had already bought ground meat with the intention of improvising a gochujang meatloaf to go with it (based off the hellofresh 'meatloaf a la mom' which kinda got me into making meatloaf and is a solid starting point) so this video is both great experimenting as well as perfect timing for me 😎

[@christaverduren690]

Stove top stuffing, lipton onion soup mix, some Worcestershire sauce, some italian dressing, meatloaf mix (beef, pork, veal) one egg, 1/2 cup ketchup (more for the glaze), up to a cup of water. For Plain old meatloaf. I also make a chicken parm meatloaf, Mexican, Philly cheesesteak, thanksgiving meatloaf, cheeseburger meatloaf, asian (with either chicken, or pork, or beef). Sauerbraten meatloaf. I'm trying to remember some of the other variations I've made. OH, buffalo chicken, BBQ beef and BBQ beef. I've done a few variations with just ground pork so it was a bit like biscuits and sawmill gravy

[@Memotag]

Based on the findings in this experiment, I hypothesize that adding at least a little bit of breadcrumbs to burger patties would be a good thing because it would retain more fat and juice, be more tender, and brown better (due to not squeezing out so much water during cooking).

[@rulu1828]

Probably a bit safer on the charcoal grill with less chance of a fat fire too.

[@Bromric]

Dogs are such helpful cooking assistants!

[@barbarab9375]

The fa.ily dog makes mistakes and bad experiments disappear. My dogs are always a little plump.

[@barbarab9375]

*family dog*

[@Trahloc]

I'm on a strict keto diet due to be diabetic trying to control my blood sugar but this was still very entertaining Adam. You do good work even when it's useless to me.

[@alabemos]

Me too, so I use pork rind "panko" that I make myself from crushed pork rinds, or buy them ready made at Walmart right near the regular panko.

[@YeshuaKingMessiah]

Use almond flour But not the super sifted stuff More like almond meal It works great

[@Trahloc]

@@YeshuaKingMessiah Still impacts my blood sugar more than I want. I consider keto to be my cheat meal. Carnivore is just easier to keep my CGM happy. 90 days of lion diet did absolutely amazing change to my health but I can' t live that hardcore.

[@Nikki0417]

That dog's puppy eyes are melting my soul.

[@harvvee7267]

your soul is weak

[@CookinWithSquirrl]

I would think that "meatsloaf" would indicate a meatloaf with more than one constituent meat type in it where "meatloaves" indicate you have multiple loaves of meat. Or is this one of those tricky things where you say a thing that starts conversations to improve engagement on the video? Either way, thanks for doing this legwork for us!

[@Shaun.Stephens]

I agree - and I think the latter. The more people correcting him the more the algorithm likes it as it's 'engagement'. I like 50:50 minced beef and minced pork in my meatsloaf (not that I call it that).

[@timseguine2]

I think it was a joke about people always correcting him no matter what he says.

[@TheFloatingSheep]

In Romania we add milk-soaked fresh white bread into our meatballs. I assume at some point in the past it would've been stale bread, but when I was growing up everyone around was making them with fresh bread.

[@emeraldcityelicitor2281]

One thing no one mentions about meatloaf is technique. I worked at a grocery deli that turned out hundreds of small meatloaves a week, and even though the recipe was the same as mine, the deli one was still better! It drove me nuts until I managed to watch the cook make them, the secret? They abused the hell out of the mixture! They would slam the raw meatloaf into the bowl or against the table repeatedly before placing it into the tins. This forceful treatment was creating a denser tighter bond between meat and filling and left less gaps for flavor and fat to run out

[@lakrids-pibe]

Yes, kneading the meat mixture makes a big difference in how much liquid it can absorb.

[@Shujaat-Khan]

Great video as always. I really love your scientific approach of cooking 😊

[@thecheck968]

My mom makes individual meatloaves using cupcake sheets, but each one is topped with cheddar cheese and barbeque sauce. My mom isn't the best cook I know, but she is the best cook for meatloaf I know

[@thomes7314]

Meatsloaf*

[@jakollee]

@@thomes7314 Nope, meatloaves is correct. Check on-line dictionaries.

[@amyschmelzer6445]

I put the cheese in the mixture and form it into mini loaves. I never make a full size meatloaf anymore. The browned exterior is where it’s at.

[@FabricioRodriguezM]

I just experimented with folding chicken stock in jello into my freezer, ground, turkey nuggets. I folded a semi-solid jell into the turkey, bread crumb and spice mix. I used only a small amount of bread crumb, mostly to absorb the liquid and texture. For preparation, I just pan fried them straight from the freezer on medium heat. They got a nice browning. The nuggets were delicious and amazingly moist. My son rejected them, though. I think because I put in more spices than he likes. Try the gelatine for juicey meatballs/nuggets.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your content adam! Do a video on Colombian food please 🙏🙏🙏🇨🇴🇨🇴🇨🇴

[@mikeworth4960]

I've done some similar experiments to this while making sausages. The other hugely important variable is salt content. More salt bonds the meat into a firmer texture.

[@mrwho995]

Is the "meats loaf" joke a reference to the silly and pedantic plural of Attorney General being Attorneys General? Or is that the mother of all reaches.

[@Paciolimusic]

The fact that we favour a filled-out and heavily seasoned (though it ends up just tasting like pepper) sausage in the UK is probably why bangers and mash works so well. In the Netherlands, they have a similar dish, but their smoked sausages don't work as well drowning in gravy. I guess meatballs with gravy (e.g. Swedish meatballs) is basically the same: the bread inside helps soak up the sauce.

[@bencfriedland]

adam this science experiment isn't fully complete because you didn't try 100% breadcrumb meatloaf. please try that and report back

[@markdowse3572]

ANOTHER excellent video, Adam! 👍🤗 You have now made me STARVING! 😋 I could easily eat about 4 of your individual 'meats loaf'! 🥰 But learning the one quarter ratio is a really good hack to have in the kitchen. Thanks, mate! M 🦘🏏😎

[@kylep8116]

Meatloaf. 50% meat, 50% loaf.

[@DouglasCarnall]

Traditionally haggis is made with the sheep's stomach (la panse). This is hard to get hold of in many places. Cow intestine (ox bung, FR baudruche de vache) fully stuffed will weigh in at 4-5kg

[@mordekaihorowitz]

My personal favorite French-inspired meatloaf recipe: ground beef, breadcrumbs, ground toasted walnuts, egg, minced carrot, sauteed onions deglazed with a bit of dry red wine, sage, salt, pepper. Bake covered in a water bath for a smooth rectangular loaf. The egg(s) and walnuts are optional. Also, the beef should contain a nice amount of fat, if that isn't obvious.

[@monkeygraborange]

I’m visualizing that as more pate than meatloaf.

[@mordekaihorowitz]

@@monkeygraborange Yeah I was kind of going for a terrine-pate when I came up with the recipe, but it holds its shape very well like a loaf

[@Lizard_geek]

the best meatloaf ive made actually didnt have breadcrumbs in it but it did have sauteed diced onion/bell pepper mixed with creamcheese. Definitely recommend.

[@kralevic3297]

Instead of breadcrumbs, my dad uses "soy meat" in his meatloaf - basically a soy-based meat substitute. And it is INSANE how good it comes out. The "soy meat" absorbs all the juices and fats from the ground meat (and bacon) and we end up with a very soft, crumbly, but very juicy meatloaf (and I love that texture), but after refrigerating for a day, it firms up and makes clean, solid slices you can either reheat, crisp up in a pan, or just eat cold with some mustard and pickles. Anytime I eat anyone else's meatloaf, I am dissapointed simply because my dad's is so insanely good and nothing else can compare.

[@CavemanSynthesizer]

My mom used to put outs in meatloaf - not always - just when we didn't have stale bread. I loved it. It was a very different experience.

[@ethanschenk1666]

Commodity ground beef is probably wetter due to lack of hanging. In the days of yore, I imagine the meat had time to hang and thus lose some of its moisture. That could be where the tradition of soaking the bread comes from. Our modern beef pushes out more liquid than beef in centuries before. My family still adds a splash of milk along with eggs, probably due to this tradition. Meatloaf is amazing!

[@krankarvolund7771]

It depend where you beef came from. If you were a peasant and you killed your own beef, yeah that meat would have hanged in your house for a long time, and you'd use that to make those kinds of dish, while the freshly killed beef was used to make a better meal like a roast for a feast. But in town, where you don't have an entire cow to kill (at best, a pork, and some chickens and even them were forbidden in some cities), you'd go to the butcher who was required to freshly kill beasts, because even then they knew that the meat you killed last week was not fresh ^^ Really, there was no consistency in the past, something that may sound alien to us in our industrialized world XD

[@singincowboy]

I love the gratuitous puppy shots, looks like a real good dog!

[@L3tharge]

The fluffiness is why we Germans practically always soak the breadcrumbs - but we usually use stale breadrolls which we soak in water or milk (sometimes even seasoned). Just throw the whole soaked breadroll in your meat mixture, and the process of mixing by hand breaks the breadroll up enough, which also gives a very nice heterogenic texture to the 'Frikadelle' :) Nice video as usual!

[@thatissomeBS]

That kind of proves the point he made about why they may have soaked them in the past. Personally, I think I prefer a looser, more crumbly meatloaf, so I'd probably go less than what he does with dry breadcrumbs.

[@ShivamSharma-zd8lw]

I think Adam takes great pride in having the greatest cookinng show of all-time

[@MajSolo]

I seldome make meat balls and we swedes supposed to know how to make them ....but we dont, our grand mothers do. The goal is to make more meatballs using same amount of meat. Onions are tough on the stomach not cooked properly lots of stuff can go into a meat ball that is kinder on the stomach.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Oh boy! I love onions. I couldn't make meatballs without them. It just wouldn't taste right.

[@MajSolo]

@@lakrids-pibe I see ... onion taste is great but must be cooked through and through to turn sweet. Met a guy in a program that worked at "Opera Källaren" in stockholm so hard so many hours he turned addict. Anyways ... if you watched Gordons Hells Kitchen it is not easy. The damn onion has to be there and still coocked to turn sweet .... so they reduced onion and poured in onion powder. He said if you are in extreme stress you can cut corner like that.

[@MajSolo]

onions in heaven .... but we have not reached heaven yet ... we are on the ground among the ordinary people, and we know what we want, but undercooked onions .....makes you mad. ( not only does it make you mad it upset your stomach with these acid undercooked onions ) ( Indians and asians would never make any mistakes with onions ... they pour them in quite early and wait till they get transparent. )

[@Cheyne_TetraMFG]

This is the earliest I’ve ever been to an Adam Ragusea video. Hi Adam!

[@chettlar212]

I don't understand why he says "meats loaf." It would be meat loaves. The point is you always pluralize the noun not the adjective. So you say eggs Benedict not egg benedicts. Because benedict is the adjective. In this case, meat is the adjective. Its telling us what kind if loaf it is. So you would say meat loaves.

[@Eric1SanDiego1]

Didn't realize a mattress could be sumptuous! I love Adam's segues, they're fun.

[@harvvee7267]

mattress is a noun, sumptuous is an adjective. therefore a mattress can be sumptuous. just like a mattress can be red (adjective) or big (adjective) or bouncy (adjective) or sticky (adjective)

[@scoutingforgames]

Why did the breadcrumb go to the bakery? Because it wanted to become a "roll" model!

[@harvvee7267]

breadcrumbs leave bakeries

[@SerpentDrago]

This is a Solid Video , great to see you really back at the old style again !

[@georgeleffler]

Meats loaf doesn't sound right. There are many loaves, but one meat. Seems like it ough to be meat loaves.

[@chettlar212]

Yes he's incorrect I have no idea why he corrects himself. The only reason for that kind of thing he's doing is if the adjective comes second. The adjective never gets pluralized even if it comes last, which itself is rare but happens occasionally. Like eggs benedict. Benedict is the adjective. Eggs is the noun. You only pluralize the noun. So yes you would say meat loaves. It feels like a couple podcasts ago he suddenly became aware of this correction and didn't like, look up why it exists and now he's using it incorrectly.

[@TheMimiSard]

The times I have made meatloaf in more recent times, I lean on the less breadcrumb side, with the core meat being minced beef, and sausage (the supermarket sells rolls of uncooked sausage), and I add a little extra flavouring and seasoning, and maybe an egg. I do put breadcrumbs, but more as a base layer under the meat, and on top as a textured topping. In the distant past, I used to put more filler in, including quite a bit of vegetable, and rolled oats. The result was quite... bulky, and gas-inducing.

[@majorfallacy5926]

I feel like this recipe is kind of an allegory for the spirit of American cuisine in general - take a simple European dish that can be prepared in whatever way with whatever you got on hand, make it twice as fancy as grandma did, and then flavour it with a truckload of garlic powder and walmart spice mix to give it that familiar fast food note

[@TheIrishAlchemist205]

It's a good recipe to start with if you don't know one. But then you can modify it any way you want. Adam even says as much several times, "this is what ***I*** like." Don't read too much into it.

[@Cooe.]

I can smell the self fart huffing European elitism bullshit from here... 🤷

[@Felaura]

"EQUAL PARTS KETCHUP AND WORCESTERSHIRE!???" ....is what my friend heard from across the house, haha. I actually shouted at the screen 😂 I may have to make up 2T of that to taste/cook. I've never heard of anything calling for over a cup of W-sauce, I'm stunned! My glaze is usually something like 1.5c ketchup, 1/4c W-sauce, 1T brown sugar, 1T mustard, 1/2 t Liquid Smoke (love love LOVE your liquid smoke episode💖, it's changed the way I cook! I was kinda afraid before, old habits die hard, thank you!!) and it's tangy and strong-flavored as hell! I usually mix a little into the meat mixture, and top with the rest, sooo good! Also, an aside for anyone reading, I use Impossible brand 'meat' for meatloaf these days and I 100% can't tell the difference🐂. Amazing flavor and texture. My friend says he can tell, but agrees that it's amazingly delicious, has zero complaints. --And we both have disliked fake 'meat's in the past. the new generation of 'meats' are just frickin' amazing, esp. the impossiburg, as we call it. Anyway, thanks for making my friend laugh, and me think!

[@joshuapatrick682]

Did you get the Amish farmer’s permission to bring technology onto their land? That’s a pretty big deal in their society especially the ones that refuse to even have a photograph taken or let themselves get videotaped.

[@kaitlyn__L]

It was validating you brought up haggis, I’ve said haggis is basically meatloaf (just made with oats and often more organ meat) for years. Some people have said “no! It’s a sausage!” but meatloaf and sausage are not that different. Here in Scotland we have “square sausage” which is basically just slices of meatloaf.

[@finn87632]

Haggis is good for really making meat go further as it uses the "pluck" or "lobe", heart liver and lungs (lobe is just lungs). It's a great way of making cheap parts of the animal taste good.

[@user-on6uf6om7s]

We always used to add grated carrots, celery, onion, and peas into meatloaf, all the extra moisture probably serves the same purpose as wetting the bread crumbs but it also just adds a nice lightness that makes it feels less like a slab of compressed ground meat. Never been satisfied with restaurant meatloaf as none of them seem to do this.

[@Beryllahawk]

Your timing is uncanny sir! My brother JUST made meatloaf a few days ago, hehe - He and I discussed and researched two or three different recipes. Our mother makes meatloaf using rolled oats. It is...cheap, and filling, and not really all that appealing in mouth feel. Though her seasoning was fine. And we both remembered the old Hamburger Helper meatloaf (why'd they phase THAT one out), especially the glaze for it which we both loved. Something that you can remember after more than 20 years is DEFINITELY good enough to try re-creating, right! We ended up using ketchup and molasses and a bit of turbinado sugar; might try Worcestershire and a bit of molasses next time. Lessons learned - but THIS is still going to be incredibly useful, because once more you have presented this with your usual scientific rigor and I love that so very much. You present things in a way that makes good practical sense, has historical AND scientific supporting evidence, and you point out so many little side bits. Thank you so much, Adam!

[@negljbreakergaming]

I really appreciate these scientific method videos, it's good to know why we do these things and if there's any truth to it

[@DOMONTHEINTERNET]

My grandma never used bread crumbs. She used crushed up saltines. It was delicious. These days I do a combo of bread crumbs, crushed saltines, and oats. Really stretching out my meat loaf. 🤣🤣🤣 my husband loves it.

[@pyzikscott]

Very close to my hand me down meatloaf recipe. I put in ketchup, panko and sauteed finely diced onion. Delish.

[@joshuaworden274]

It's fun to see folks sharing their familial variations on the dish in these comments. Mysteriously, the recipe I grew up on calls for oats instead of bread (only 1/4 cup per pound of meat), only onions as the vegetable, and no glaze of any kind. I always wondered what the red stuff was on "meats-loaf" I saw on TV as a kid.

[@kostyacan]

In the USSR, my family was poor and would use 50% bread. I typically use 33% because it reminds me of my childhood.

[@AlexE5250]

This looked like a Kenji Lopez “The Food Lab” style experiment. Very interesting to see the gradual change as the proportion of bread increased.

[@martinnyberg9295]

Swede 🇸🇪 here. Our most famous modern cook book writer (Anna Bergenström) tells me to butter-fry the onions and soak the breadcrumbs in beef stock for meatballs, so I think that should be nice for matloaf too, right? 🤔😊 Love the doggy. ❤😊

[@Seltyk]

Math note! If you put x tbsp of breadcrumbs into 16 tbsp of meatloaf, the percentage of breadcrumb is x/(x+16). So, a quarter breadcrumb would actually be exactly 5 tbsp and 1 tsp. 8 tbsp of breadcrumb is entirely *one-third* breadcrumb by volume!

[@Krissco2]

Looks great Adam. I appreciate the way you designed the experiment! I've never weighed or measured but typically just mix to a consistency that doesn't leave my "meat paste" too tacky, guessing that's somewhere around 1/4 to 1/3rd bread crumbs.

[@id10t98]

This vid was a double whammy! I love chocolate flavored Moon Pie's (your shirt) and for dinner I was making meatloaf today!

[@RogaineForEwoks]

I use chip crumbs as well as toasted bread, whatever bag is down to the broken up pieces at the bottom. I also prefer my glaze to be ketchup and chili powder, did a test taste like Adam does many many years ago to see what glaze I like best.

[@gerdforster883]

Meatballs (Buletten) with 50% or more bread were the norm in post-war Berlin, where they were nicknamed "Schrippe mit Sonnenbrand", "Schrippe (a kind of bread roll) with sunburn".