The Happy Home Cook: Nora Daza's Meat Loaf De Luxe with Gravy

Many Filipino expats say that a Nora Daza cookbook is their culinary bible. The late culinary superstar made cooking glamorous on Philippine TV in the late '60s and introduced French cuisine in Manila and Filipino cuisine in Paris. 

[READ: "Remembering Nora Daza, 1929-2013"]

Her cookbook, notably Let's Cook With Nora already on its nth printing, remains a bestseller 46 years after it was first published. Bong, her eldest son, attests that each recipe in his mother's books was taste-tested by him and his siblings before it was included.

Here's one of them, randomly chosen because it's simple and easy to cook:

Ingredients:
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
Dash pepper
1 cup soft bread, about 4 slices cut in pieces
1/2 cup onion, minced
1/2 kilo ground pork
1/2 kilo ground beef
4-6 strips of bacon

[Note: 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs.]

Combine egg, milk, salt, pepper and bread. Add onions, ground pork and beef. Mix well. Line a loaf pan (8" x 5" x 3") with bacon across width of the pan. Pack meat mixture into the pan. Bake in moderate oven, 350°F for 90 minutes. Remove from oven. Invert meat loaf in a baking sheet, raise oven temperature to 450°F or broil. Return meat loaf to broiler for about 10 minutes to brown bacon. 

Makes 8 servings. Serve with catsup or gravy.

Gravy:
Drippings (about 1/2 cup)
2 tbsps. flour
1 cup hot water
1 bouillon cube
Salt

Procedure:
Put drippings in a saucepan. Add flour. Cook until flour is well blended in the drippings. Add water wherein the bouillon cube was dissolved. Cook until done. Taste and correct seasoning.

Meatloaf De Luxe (Photo by Raymond Virata)