oktoberfest pork meatloaf

Even though Oktoberfest has ended, the word “Oktoberfest” has the word “Oktober” in it and at the time I’m writing this, it’s October. Creative liberties.

I thought finding ground pork would be hard to be find at my local supermarket and I even had a backup plan in case the store didn’t have ground pork: ground veal. Veal is traditionally used in a veal cutlet, which is actually an Austrian dish, not German. But I found the ground pork.

My actual inspiration for this meatloaf was a burger the Hard Rock Cafe sold in honor of Oktoberfest. Both the burger and my meatloaf were very similar in the following aspects:

It was a pork schnitzel burger and traditionally pork schnitzel is coated in breadcrumbs(I think). I used pork and breadcrumbs in this meatloaf.

Both the burger and my meatloaf used sauerkraut and beer cheese sauce.

But the burger and the meatloaf diverge with regard to 2 ingredients:

The burger used whole grain mustard but I wasn’t willing to pay $4 for a bottle of mustard I was only going to use once. Besides, I had a bottle of plan mustard at home.

The burger used arugula but I wasn’t willing to pay $4 for a bag of arugula I was only going to use once, so I used the spinach I had at home.

This meatloaf is the epitome of un-kosher decadence in that it’s obviously a pork meatloaf(pork is not kosher) and it combines meat and cheese in the same dish. I set my Jewish heritage aside for this recipe. Besides, what can’t be any better than a meatloaf stuffed with fries!?

You will need:

For the cooking vessels:

A loaf pan
Nonstick cooking spray

For the glaze:

1 cup of beer
1 tbsp. of mustard

For the actual meatloaf:

1/2 tbsp. of onion powder
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup of spinach leaves
2-3 tbsp. of sauerkraut
1/4 cup of actual bacon bits
1/2 cup of beer cheese sauce
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 cup of crushed pretzels
2-3 tbsp. of breadcrumbs
1 pound of ground pork
7 pumpkin beer-battered fries

1. Wash your hands! :)
2. Put the first 11 meatloaf ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Combine the ingredients together so that all the ingredients are distributed evenly among the meatloaf mixture.
4. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray
5. Put half of the meatloaf mixture inside the loaf pan to form the bottom layer of the meatloaf.
6. Top the bottom layer with the fries.
7. Cover the fries with the rest of the meatloaf mixture.
8. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 70-75 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meatloaf is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. 60 minutes after first putting the meatloaf in the oven, take it out.
10. Mix the glaze ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour the glaze on top of the meatloaf and return the meatloaf to the oven to finish cooking for another 10-15 minutes.
11. Bon appetit!