Why we put breadcrumbs in meatloaf, meatballs, etc

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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.

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.

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

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.

Why I season my breadcrumbs not my meatloaf

My mother used to put all kinds of crazy things in our meatloaf. Crushed up corn flakes, crushed up potato chips, cooked rice, instant mashed potato flakes. She was an experimenter!

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

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.

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

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.

Good doggo deserves more screen time :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ;-)

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.

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!