I have to admit that this recipe perplexes me. I mean, why in the world would you add hot dogs to a meatloaf? The only thing I can think, well, I can think of a couple of reasons. One, adding hot dogs, in theory, would - cheaply - stretch out the hamburger supply. But, second, well, flavor. I was pleasantly surprised at the smoky taste of hot dog that permeated this whole meatloaf.
🐄 Stretching Out Meat
One thing that Amish cooks - and my grandmother - taught me over the years is that there are aways to stretch out supplies of hamburger and one of those ways to blend it with other more plentiful cuts. For instance, many Amish (at least ones that hunt) have ample supplies of venison, so they might blend venison with hamburger. SIGH, a non-hunter like me? Apparently, we grab the hot dogs But you can also used ground turkey or ground pork to blend in with hamburger to stretch it out. A lot of Amish cooks add oats to hamburger. The oats give the burger something to "hold on" to to give it shape, but also adds bulk which means less beef. The same "trick" can be used with cracker crumbs or bread crumbs, both would add bulk to the beef and stretch it out.
📋 Step-By-Step Hot Dog Meatloaf
First of all, as far as hot dogs...I just couldn't. I could not entice myself to buy pure pork franks, the classic American hot dog. Now, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy pure hot dogs. But this recipe calls for five hot dogs. Five hot dogs is more than I'd eat in a 10-year period probably. So turkey dogs just seemed like a slightly better choice for me. I'm going to be the only one eating this meatloaf, unless I take some to my parents. I know my girls wouldn't touch it.
Okay, this recipe had something perplexing in the instructions: grind the dogs. Well, how do you do that? I don't have a meat grinder, but I guess if you do, that is the way to go. I didn't think simply slicing the hot dogs and mixing in would be what the recipe's author was aiming for. I also thought little chunks of dogs could create a choking hazard. So I did the next best thing: I sliced the dogs, put them on a plate, used the bottom of a glass Mason jar and just got to work mashing them.
So this is what the dogs looked like after I mashed them up. But it's actually pretty difficult to do in the sense that the "casing" make them kind of tough to mash, the casing acts as a protective covering.
From my experience with the Amish, I am guessing that when the recipe called for crackers, she meant saltines, but I didn't have any saltines. I did have Ritz crackers, so I used a whole sleeve of them, and I think it was fine. I think the addition of crackers is less for taste than for bulk.
When you mix the loaf up, you are going to put some of the sauce in the loaf and pour the rest over. I can tell you that this sauce is sweet. Well, okay, I did not have vinegar. I stupidly added a tablespoon of olive oil instead which had no impact. The vinegar with temper the sweetness a bit, so I'd actually say vinegar is an important component of the sauce, otherwise it might be too sweet for a lot of you (it was almost too sweet for me).
As you can see, the meatloaf sliced really well and there are little chunks of mashed dog in it. But what is distinctive about this super easy recipe is, the smoky flavor of the dogs throughout the whole meatloaf meal. And then the sweet sauce throughout. So, yes, this meatloaf has a really unique and delicious flavor. I would definitely make and eat it again.
👩🍳 More Amish Meatloaf Recipes
Amish Mom's Meatloaf
Amish Biscuit Meatloaf
Amish Hot Dog Meatloaf
Rebecca Stoll's Pot Roast Meatloaf
🖨️ Full Recipe
Amish Hot Dog Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 pound hamburger
- ½ pound ground hot dogs
- 1 cup cracker crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- half of glaze mixture
Glaze
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
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