Beef and Pork Meatloaf

2 cups minced onions

2 Tbs. butter or oil

1 cup lightly pressed down crumbs

from homemade type white bread

2 lbs. ground beef chuck

1 lb. ground pork shoulder; OR fresh

sausage meat; OR ground raw turkey

plus 1 cup cooked rice

2 "large" eggs

½ cup beef bouillon

²/₃ cup grated cheddar cheese

1-2 cloves of garlic (puréed), optional

Seasonings: 2 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 2 tsp. each thyme

and paprika, 1 tsp. each allspice and oregano

3 imported bay leaves, for the top

Browning the Onions — Sauté the onions in the butter or oil 5 minutes or so, until tender and translucent; raise heat and sauté a few minutes longer, until lightly browned. Scrape into the mixing bowl.

The Mixture — Toss all the rest of the ingredients except for the bay leaves rather gently with the onions. Sauté a spoonful, and taste carefully — if you are to serve the meat loaf cold, exaggerate a bit on the seasoning. Either form into a loaf shape in a buttered jelly-roll pan or pack the meat into a buttered 8 cup loaf pan and bang on the table to deflate air bubbles. Top with the bay leaves.

Ahead-of-time Note — May be prepared in advance; cover and refrigerate or freeze. If you want to freeze a meat loaf, it is best frozen raw; defrost overnight or longer in the refrigerator before baking.

Bake — about 1½ hours at 350° F. Preheat the oven and set the meat loaf in the lower middle level.

It is done — when the juices run almost clear with a pale pink tinge, and the meat is lightly springy to the touch. A meat thermometer should read 155° F (do not remove the thermometer before serving time or the juices will burst out).

Serving — Let it cool for 30 minutes. Pour off fat and juices. Transfer the loaf to a board or platter. Serve hot with salsa or tomato sauce. Or let cool, then slice for sandwiches.

Variation — Omit fresh bread crumbs and substitute 1 cup quick oats and ¼ cup packaged bread crumbs.

Variation — Add up to ½ cup chopped green and/or red pepper and sauté with the onions.

Variation — Substitute ¼ cup parmesan cheese for cheddar cheese.

A Note on Fat — Like hamburgers, ground meat mixtures need a certain amount of fat or they are dry in the mouth. A great deal of the fat cooks out, but a good meat loaf or pâté is not diet food. Carl Sontheimer, American father of the food processor, has done some experiments using cooked brown rice to replace fat; rice, brown or white, does in fact make for a moister low-fat pâté. An example is the turkey & rice alternate to pork in the above recipe.