Goomba38 wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>> Can anyone discuss 'binding' as in adding flour to a potato mixture
>> or a meatloaf?
>> What's actually happening? how do you know you've added enough flour
>> or matzo meal? - Mike
>
> I've never *heard* of a meatloaf recipe that included raw flour. It
> sounds like a seriously bad idea.

I agree! Never heard of that in meatloaf, either. I do lightly dust potato
pancakes (the ones made from cold leftover mashed potatoes) with flour.
Guess it helps hold them together by soaking up some excess moisture.
<shrug> It's the way Grandma Brown and my mom did it, so I do, too.

> I always assumed breadcrumbs, oats and other such additives worked by
> swelling and absorbing liquids (fat from meat, liquid from vegetable
> and other liquid additions) which is how they work to bind the loaf
> together. I may be wrong....?

That's the principle. I use oats (the quick cooking rolled kind) in
meatloaf.

Jill