Meat Hand

I made something gruesome and delicious.

No, really, it was good.

This is meatloaf.

Meatloaf with cheese on top.

And some ketchup.

The nails are made of onion.

The wrist bones are onion too.

Where are you going?

This is how I made it:

Since August I’ve had a post it note over my desk that simply said “meat hand”. I mulled over how to make it for a while. I realized that the old formed inside a plastic glove thing wouldn’t work since the fingers would cook so much faster than the rest of the hand. It wasn’t until I saw this hand gelatin mold that I had my plan:

I shot several angles to show how it has a base built in, meaning I could probably use it to mold meatloaf.

I made the basic meatloaf recipe from How to Cook Everything using a food processor to chop the onions and carrot to a very fine mince so I could fill in the details of the mold without trouble. One meatloaf recipe using 2 pounds of meat will make two hands.

I sprayed the inside of the mold with cooking oil spray and it came out fairly easily. I put it on top of a rack to allow the fat to run off as it cooked.

I did a few versions, learning as I went along.

Version #1

The first one was straight meatloaf. I surrounded it with mashed potatoes and kale (or brain matter and swamp greens if you have kids, or just act like kids). It looked ok, sort of creepy:

Version #2

The next time I tried adding fingernails made of onion, which were just like press on nails:

To make the fingernails I sliced a thin round off of a single layer of an onion, then used kitchen scissors to trim it into a nail shape keeping the lines in the onion running the length of the nail. I kept the thinnest end of the onion slice at the tip of the nail. (Shown here using a red onion as it’s easier to see details.)

I also covered it with ketchup before cooking:

It turned out gross:

This time to better define the fingers I piped mashed potatoes around the hand to define the shape. I just used a ziploc bag with a small corner snipped off to do the detail inbetween fingers, then I snipped off a larger corner to pipe around the hand. I smoothed down the mashed potatoes with a silicone spatula. The results where pretty creepy.

Version #3

The ketchup covered hand made me pretty happy but… I had this idea. My mom used to throw a slice of cheese on top of her meatloaf before cooking it and the cheese always turned out browned and crispy. I wondered how that would work with my relatively delicate hand. I also had the idea to use the smaller inner layers of the onion to create a cartoon-y wrist bone sticking out.

I made two versions. The first used white onion and was simply covered in cheese. The second used red onion and was covered with ketchup and then cheese. I used slices of provolone cheese because I knew it wouldn’t slide off completely as it melted. (Maggi suggested it, thanks Maggi!) This time I used the version of meatloaf with spinach, again from How to Cook Everything. Here are some pre-cooked pictures:

I peeled an onion until I got to the smaller inner layers and simply pressed it into the wrist:

I trimmed the cheese to fit around the fingernails:

If I were to do it again I would have put less cheese around the fingers, or rather, I would have put narrower pieces. The cheese pooled inbetween the fingers and made it more difficult to diguise later on.

This cheese thing, it worked a bit too well. We couldn’t bring ourselves to actually eat either of them (though, we had been eating a lot of meatloaf lately). Here is a picture showing them side by side. They were cooked at the same time and the one with the ketchup beneath the cheese (white fingernails) browned a bit more. You can also see that piping the detail more carefully can make a difference:

The wrist bone of the white onion was pushed out a bit as the meatloaf cooked:

The smaller onion piece of the red onion write bone wasn’t as impressive:

The red onion fingernails were creepier, but the white onion fingernails might get the point across more quickly:

Here is a cute pumpkin pancake chaser:

Just in case you need it.

· comments [517] · 10-27-2009 · categories:food · halloween ·

517 responses so far ↓

1 Happy Halloween! // Oct 30, 2009 at 8:59 am

[…] Meat Hand […]
2 Meat Hand [via Not Martha] « Firesaw // Oct 30, 2009 at 9:27 am

[…] 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment via […]
3 Serendipity is Sweet // Oct 30, 2009 at 10:26 am

That is totally awesome!
4 Cassandra // Oct 30, 2009 at 10:34 am

This is amazing. I want to try it tonight but I cannot find any stores with hand shaped jello molds in the Seattle area!
5 megan // Oct 30, 2009 at 10:56 am

Cassandra – The one shown here was bought at Display&Costume in Northgate.
6 Kelly // Oct 30, 2009 at 11:20 am

Can I tell you how much I love that you’ve been looking at the words “meat hand” for months? Amazing.
7 Tammys Turf » Blog Archive » MEAT HAND // Oct 30, 2009 at 12:11 pm

[…] have to check out this website notmartha.com. They made the coolest Meatloaf for Halloween. I think I am gonna make this tomorrow. I just […]
8 Indrek // Oct 30, 2009 at 12:18 pm

Now that’s an original idea
9 Foodista Blog - Spooky, Gross, Tasty Friday Fun Links // Oct 30, 2009 at 1:30 pm

[…] Not Martha bravely bakes up a gruesome, bone chilling, yet tasty meatloaf Meat Hand […]
10 Nancy // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm

Ha, that is absolutely brilliant! I love the attention to detail.
11 Mubashar Abrar // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:41 pm

This is very scary
12 mrslimestone // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:44 pm

AWESOME!!
13 KEN // Oct 30, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Awowwel, I want me hand back, and come overrr hand, fetch it sue oooo oon Awowwel.
14 Montanna // Oct 30, 2009 at 3:12 pm

LOVE the hands! That’s so creative and a fun idea! And I’m borrowing the pancake idea, it’s my son’s first Halloween this year!

Warm Wishes!
15 Halloween Frights and Funnies: Party Open Thread « The Confluence // Oct 30, 2009 at 3:55 pm

[…] a main dish for that special spooky soiree? There’s nothing better than a chunk of Meat Hand. MMMMmmmm. […]
16 JUDY // Oct 30, 2009 at 4:22 pm

sOMEONE HAS TOO MUCH SPAIR TIME ON THEIR HANDS. love it
17 Sue // Oct 30, 2009 at 4:47 pm

Yuk – at first, but then a clever dish for Halloween. Liked the dessert as well.
18 nicole rogers // Oct 30, 2009 at 4:50 pm

Seriously, that is the most disgusting and fabulous thing I have seen in a long time! So freaking cool!
19 ItalianTapas // Oct 30, 2009 at 7:41 pm

This looks awesome. My kids would love this.
NICE WORK!
20 Laurie // Oct 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
21 Happy Halloweeny! « Chez Shoes // Oct 30, 2009 at 9:16 pm

[…] and maybe some meatloaf, since I’ve been craving some ever since I read Not Martha’s meat hand post. […]
22 Rachel // Oct 30, 2009 at 9:24 pm

I tried my uh.. hand at it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunemanic/sets/72157622699405962/
23 The Pragmatic Perfectionist » Blog Archive » friday night feeding 10.30.09 // Oct 30, 2009 at 9:55 pm

[…] at Not Martha, you can learn how to make a meat hand. Vom […]
24 Your open thread and let me give you a hand for Halloween supper « // Oct 31, 2009 at 1:58 am

[…] potatoes. And here’s your recipe, brought to you by a clever cook who is cleverly named Not Martha. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Halloween Open ThreadHalloween Hangover Open […]
25 Viernes Gadgets 242 : Blogografia // Oct 31, 2009 at 2:20 am

[…] quieres sorprender a tus amigos en la próxima cena de Halloween, lo mejor es que les prepares esta mano al horno usando la receta de Not Martha. Sólo necesitarás comprar un molde de gelatina con forma de mano y […]
26 Kurz und fündig: Halloween-Links « Die inoffizielle Autobiographie von Ewald Lienen // Oct 31, 2009 at 4:13 am

[…] Abgehackte Hand mit Kartoffelpüree […]
27 Coffee Card Winner « Carpoolqueen’s Blog // Oct 31, 2009 at 6:26 am

[…] P.S. In case you haven’t decided what to cook for Halloween dinner tonight, check out this idea. […]
28 SavoryReviews.com » Blog Archive » Happy Halloween // Oct 31, 2009 at 6:40 am

[…] Meat Hand from not Martha – Meatloaf is a great medium when sculpting body parts. This meat hand looks pretty real with the onion inspired finger nails. […]
29 Roman Brauns Trinergy-NLP-Blog » Blog Archive » Halloween – Sinnvoll Erschrecken // Oct 31, 2009 at 7:53 am

[…] Rezept zu obigem Gericht kann man hier nachschlagen(Hand-Rezept). Toll daran finde ich, dass es so ehrlich ist: Es ist eben ein […]
30 Christie @ Fig&Cherry // Oct 31, 2009 at 8:09 am

Very very clever! My goodness you had to eat a lot of meatloaf in the lead up though! :)
31 Cherrie // Oct 31, 2009 at 8:13 am

I have to “hand” it to you for creativity and persistence! That is soooo gross…no way I could eat it! But very cool at the same time. Great imagination. I hate Halloween! AHHHHHH! Some kids would love it…some would need therapy! ;-)
32 Anna // Oct 31, 2009 at 8:24 am

“Thing” from the Adams family will be so jealous! Marvelous, can’t wait to HAND it out to family and Friends.
33 Jennifer Beaudet // Oct 31, 2009 at 8:48 am

I don’t think I could eat that! It’s too scary!
34 Mags // Oct 31, 2009 at 9:25 am

that is just awesome!! So patient & extremely talented of you, Excellent Job!
35 Make A Meat Hand For Halloween | Pig Jockey // Oct 31, 2009 at 9:47 am

[…] This delicious meat hand would make a nice little treat for you and your friends this Halloween. Not Martha shows us how to make it. […]
36 Calroofer // Oct 31, 2009 at 10:11 am

I LOVE IT!!!
So Creative!!!

Now I’m Hungry!!!

“MEAT HAND”
What A Great Name For A Punk Band! LOL!

10 Stars!
37 Happy Halloween MEAL // Oct 31, 2009 at 10:58 am

[…] Mahlzeit […]
38 Pete S // Oct 31, 2009 at 11:24 am

Thank you for the idea. I made my own. It was cannibalicious.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberinsekt/4060908379/
39 bobo // Oct 31, 2009 at 11:47 am

thats nasty but a cool look is thisa some insight into your pysicee
40 janet // Oct 31, 2009 at 1:15 pm

this is great!!!!
41 Jennifer McIntyre @atthebluebarn // Oct 31, 2009 at 1:42 pm

Once again – you have outdone yourself!! Keep up the good work!!
42 Ana Patrice // Oct 31, 2009 at 2:04 pm

You are soooo creeepily creative! I haven’t visited your site for the longest of time and here I am at 5am in the morning greeted by your gruesome, wacky genius…It kinda freaked me out then I realized..hey, this is meatloaf on top of mashed potatoes! hahaha…
43 Gloria // Oct 31, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Who is this lady with so much time on her hands (no pun intended)? I wouldn’t be able to eat it and I love meatloaf!
44 Gail Levy-Pasqualotto // Oct 31, 2009 at 2:31 pm

Thank you so much for sharing this amazingly gruesome meatloaf. I love it. Hugs, Gail
45 Kathryn // Oct 31, 2009 at 4:16 pm

I just pulled mine out of the oven…
using brussel sprouts around the mashed potatoes because they look so disgusting anyway. Thanks for the great pictures…
no need for the hand mold at all, though…just form them with your own hands!
46 Halloween Specialities. But not from the Lazy Cook. « Green Goddess Love // Oct 31, 2009 at 6:03 pm

[…] even a Hamburger Meat Hand nestled in a bed of mashed […]
47 Sherry // Oct 31, 2009 at 7:45 pm

This is amazing……..these are the ideas I look for…….very creative. Can’t wait to try it……thanks.
48 Alisa // Oct 31, 2009 at 10:14 pm

I saw this on Foodista, that is just so creepy!
49 Firman // Nov 1, 2009 at 1:47 am

God that looks repulsive but I’m curious! I will try cooking it.
50 ninebullets.net » HAPPY HALLOWEEN (STRAWFOOT GIVEAWAY) // Nov 1, 2009 at 11:00 am

[…] is a picture of the meathand I made yesterday for my wife’s Halloween party. I was supposed to post that picture and this […]

Meat Hand

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