I had some leftover veal, about a pound of ground veal. So as an experiment I tried out veal meatloaf and played around with making bread crumbs from scratch, I was out of actual bread crumbs from the store, so it was time to do it from scratch. Plus I had some refried beans hanging around too that could be used up.

Bread Crumbs

For the bread crumbs, I happened to have 2 slices of Heidelburg bread and a  fist sized end stub of Italian bread,  plus 2 pieces of flat bread. I put them in the oven on warm, 170 Deg F. for 2 hours on a cookie sheet, flipping them halfway through. I’m sure any bread crumbs would work fine in this recipe. But in a pinch, they are easy to make.

Next I ran the dried and cooled off bread cubes through the food processor on grind. It produced approximately a cup and a half of bread crumbs.

Other Ingredients

• 1 pound ground veal
• Half of a Chipolte pepper chopped finely ( The kind you get in Adobe sauce )
• 1 cup refried beans
• 2 tbsp Ketchup
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 small onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 chives
• 1 tbsp Old Bay
• 1 tbsp Paprika
• Several tsp Worcestershire ( to taste )

The Rest of the Process

Next I ran a celery stalk, small onion, 3 cloves of garlic and 2 chives through the food processor.

Then I put a decent wad of refried beans in a bowl, probably a cup. Into this I mixed, about a tbsp of paprika, about the same amount of Old Bay, a few tsp of Worcestershire sauce and a half of a Chipolte pepper chopped finely. It was the kind that comes in the Adobe sauce, about 1 tsp of the Adobe sauce went into the mix as well. Into this goes about 2 tbsp Ketchup. Add one egg and stirs until it forms good slurry.

I mixed all of the bread crumbs into the meat, mixing well adding small amounts of bread crumbs at a time to fully incorporate.

Next I mixed in the refried bean and spice slurry.

I greased the loaf pan with bacon fat and then filled it with the meat mixture, topped it with sesame seeds and covered with foil.

Cook

It goes into a preheated 375 Deg F. Oven. Reduce to 325 after 15 minutes, rotate the loaf pan periodically and cook for about 1.5 hours. There should be plenty of bubbling and boiling action around the sides.

Next I pulled off the foil from the top and broiled the top for a few minutes, enhancing the crust.

Allow to rest and cool, for at least 20 minutes. Otherwise it will crumble.

Final Thoughts

I would like to incorporate some ground pork into this meat loaf as I think it would give an added dimension. Other than that it was very moist and probably the best meat loaf, I can remember having.