Comfort food known as meat loaf has as many recipes for it as there are opinions on what type of meat is the best ingredient. Some would argue that the filler makes the difference. Some would even say that there are meat loaf connoisseurs in the same way that there are wine connoisseurs. There are restaurants or diners that are locally if not regionally known for their meat loaf.

Jesse Brewer recalls trying to explain why his family's meat loaf recipe was so much better than the cafeteria version. His girlfriend Jill had a family secret recipe that she refused to share with him. She thought the spices made the biggest difference in flavor. He thought it was the type of filler and proportion of filler that made the difference. The servers at the cafeteria told them that the cooks would not share any information on the ingredients of their version, which was just fine with Jesse and Jill.

Jill told Jesse that her grandmother used toasted bread crumbs and herb butter as filling for the meat loaf. The bread was home baked by her grandmother and that is what made the meat loaf a comfort food in her family. She told him of various cooking experiments that Jill had tried, using commercially available bread crumbs, crackers, and oat meal. Although they changed the texture and consistency of the meat loaf, the flavor was only affected by the spices, she said. Jesse thought that the texture and density made all the difference.

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