I’ll start off by fully admitting that I’m not sure how “Brazilian” this actually is. We call it Brazilian because my Brazilian great-aunt used to make it when she visited us while I was growing up. It does use my Brazilian Green Stuff wet rub as its only seasoning, though. So it’s Brazilian until someone tells me otherwise.
This is going to have a lot of steps, but it’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. There are very few ingredients, all things considered. It’s just getting them layered properly that’s the rub. If you don’t put it together properly, the cheese will leak out all over everything and it won’t be as good. And honestly, even if you do put it together properly, it’ll leak a little bit. You just want to keep that to a minimum, so you have a bit of gooey cheese in every slice. So make sure you read the steps and look at the pictures for this one.
Start off with a large bowl. You want it really big, because you’re going to be putting three pounds of meat in that bad boy. Dump in a pound of ground beef, a pound of ground pork, and a pound of ground veal. If you have moral objections to veal, you can do a pound and a half of the beef and pork. Then add a rounded tablespoon of Green Stuff, two eggs, and a half-cup of grated parmesan cheese. Mix that together with your hands until you can’t differentiate the meats anymore and all the egg is incorporated.
Here’s where things get interesting. Grab a loaf pan and put about half the meat in the bottom. Press it up the sides so you make a…meat tunnel? Meat chasm? Meat trench? I can’t come up with a description of this that doesn’t sound dirty.
You’ll want to be really careful to do this part right, as it’s the foundation of the entire dish, and any air holes or gaps you have here can lead to all your cheese running out. So see these air holes near the bottom of the loaf pan in the picture below? Those are the devil. Reach in there and seal those up before you get started. This is why I always make this in a clear glass loaf pan. Otherwise you’re kind of rolling the dice.
Get three slices of deli ham. You’ll want these to be fairly thick, because they’re the first line of defense against the cheese. Fold them in half and line the meat trench with your ham folds. Press them up the ends.
Next, put in the cheese. Four slices of provolone or mozzarella, torn in half. Layer them over the ham.
Finally, the key ingredient. Line up three hard-boiled eggs in there on top of the cheese. I have the world’s best hack for hard-boiled eggs, so I’ll let you know what I do. I have this awesome electric kettle that is perfect for boiling eggs. Pop your three eggs in there, fill the kettle with water, turn it on, and then as soon as the kettle switches off after reaching a boil, set a timer for 12 minutes. When the timer is done, pour out the hot water and fill the kettle with ice water to cool off the eggs. To peel them, crack them on the counter and then roll them on the counter with your palm. They’ll peel easily. Or, well, mostly easily. I still had one that wanted to be a pain. I made it sit in back.
Top it with the rest of the meat mixture. Again, be really careful to fill in all those seams and air holes, because that’s where your cheese will escape. And let’s be honest, it’ll still escape. We just want a minor scrape rather than a sucking chest wound. When you have a meatloaf, put it on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, because the meat juices have a tendency to overflow the pan. Bake it at 350 degrees for an hour and 20 minutes. Wait at least 30 minutes before slicing it if you’re using it for meal prep, because you’ll want the cheese to be less runny and the slices hold up better that way. Otherwise, hack into that bad boy right away. This makes ten servings, which makes it perfect for meal prep for two people for an entire work week. I serve mine with cauliflower mash. This one doesn’t freeze particularly well, because of the egg, but you can freeze and reheat in a pinch.
Brazilian Meatloaf
Equipment
- Loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground veal see notes above
- 1 rounded tbsp "Green Stuff" wet rub see link above
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 3 slices deli ham
- 4 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together the meats, parmesan, raw egg, and Green Stuff until the meats are uniform and the egg is incorporated.
- Put half of the meat into a loaf pan, pressing it up the sides to make a tunnel. Make sure to fill any seams or air bubbles. Line the tunnel with the ham, then the cheese, then the hard-boiled eggs. Top with the remaining meat, making sure to fill the air holes and seams as best as possible.
- Put the loaf pan on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for an hour and 20 minutes.
- Macros per serving: 381 calories, 1 gram net carbs, 31 grams protein, 27 grams fat.
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