OK, tell me it looks like a trumpet after it was used to bash someone in the head--I can take it.
The Grammy posed a few head-scratchers:
1. How the heck do you make gold? (I have a no food coloring rule.)
Answer: You don't. Yellow is close, and cheese is yummy. And the Grammys are friggin' cheesy.
2. How do I make the hollowed out part of the phonograph?
Answer: I admit I'm stupidly proud of this soda can-mold idea.
See the lovely rim I formed from the meat? Sadly, that did not hold up in the baking process. But, good meatloaf lesson learned! Doncha know I'm making all this up as I go along. 3. How do I preserve decent meat sculpting once I pour the cheese sauce on?
Answer: I don't have a good answer, because I wasn't successful here. I had more difficulty controlling the cheese than I expected. Sounds like a good lesson for a culinary institute. "Today's lesson is: Controlling Your Cheese."
I played around with using more breadcrumbs than usual. I wanted dry meat for sculpting and I thought the shape would hold better. I was so excited when my meat easily rolled, like dough! The downside was, I ended up with cracks after it baked. I had to "glue" parts back together with cheese.
Food:
For the cheese sauce I made a simple roux and added milk, cream, cheese and salt. I chose a cheese sauce over melting shredded cheese directly on to the meat because I hoped to capture the glimmer of gold. That didn't quite work--maybe if the sauce had been thinner, but then I'd run the risk of it running everywhere.
For the base, I recycled last week's idea of making a paste out of black beans. It's a great "tool" for meatloaf art and I'm sure it will reappear in many of these creations.
If you've read this far, congratulations. Your reward is getting to see what a real Grammy award looks like.
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