hummingbird0898
Assistant Cook
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2011
- Messages
- 2
Just have a quick question. Can u make meatloaf without eggs? If so does anyone have a recipe I can have?
It depends. I typically use an egg because I have hens and lots of eggs to use up. I really like to add some oatmeal and divide the meat, put a layer of frozen spinach (thawed) with some feta or cottage cheese mixed in, topped with homemade salsa. The other thing I do is add powdered milk to the concoction. My paternal grandmother's meatloaf was awful...don't know how she made it, but it was gross. My mother's meatloaf wasn't much better. Whenever I visit my folks, my dad requests my meatloaf.
Ow - creamed corn and corn bread, yum!
I would use soft bread instead of crumbs if I was leaving out the egg. It will help bid it.
Which is the binder for meatloaf, the yolks or the whites or both? I usually don't add egg to my meatloaf, but would consider the whites of the egg as a binder.
If you think about what happens when eggs and dissolved proteins are allowed to dry, you can begin to see how they act as a binder. do you remember making glue out of milk and flour as a child? Or have you ever found a little milk that was spilled on a table, and let dry. The protiens in the milk are sticky and can be used to "glue" things together. Egg whites are the same. Milk and egg whites both serve to bind things together when they are cooked. The yolks emulsify the melted fat from the meat as it's cooking. If the yolks were the only part of the egg used, it would have the opposite effect, causing the ground beef to fall apart. The fat in ground beef is also a binder. You can see this when using very lean ground beef. It tends to fall apart when made into hamburgers and such.
The starches in breads, crackers, etc., also act as binders, again because of their sticky nature. To much of these products will render your meatloaf mushy.
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I don't see how the fat in the meat can act as a binder when it has all melted out and collected in the pan.
Both the white and the yolk contain proteins that serve as a binder when heated.