It is no secret that four legged meats, especially beef and pork that were fattened in feedlots, comprise one of
highest sources of fats in American diet. If you want to keep some of your recipes, but lower fat by ten to fifty percent, you can substitute some soy foods for part. This is easiest to do with meals which can be made from ground beef.I have yet to find an artificial meat cutlet, molded from tofu and / or TSP/TVP = Textured Soy/Vegetable Protein, to taste very good. But I have learned to like tofu and tempeh for themselves. I have made "beef stew" with tempeh replacing all meat, and omelets with mashed tofu instead of cheese, and served without sausage or bacon. I also like angel hair pasta mixed with spices, soy sauce, and an equal mixture of ground beef and tofu.
The scientific test for success was that I have eaten my invented recipes more than once, and without any regrets.
So, what about meat loaf? It looks like a natural test case.
One should realize that fat in starting meat will be mostly trapped in final dish, so start with lean ground beef. Major groceries should have 5 to 10 percent fat ground beef. If not, ask for some to be made from their leanest cuts. If you extend meat by folding in crushed crackers or bread crumbs, realize that such will help trap fat.
Here is my experiment of a recent weekend.
First, start an oven heating to about 375 Fahrenheit, plus or minus 25 degrees. It will be ready when dish is.
I placed 12 ounces (a common standard package size) of extra firm tofu (least water content) in a round ceramic baking dish, then used a manual potato masher to reduce it to paste. I then added 3 cups of lean ground beef, and blended thoroughly, until color was uniform. Along way, I had tossed in some diced garlic, blended green herbs, two tablespoons of real soy sauce, and some fresh ground black pepper, but no salt. Other people might want to include some diced green or red pepper, some tomato sauce or fresh diced tomatoes, and similar.
