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Looking for a vegetarian meatloaf recipe in the form of a bean loaf recipe?  I’ve got you covered with some bean loaf recipes from 1920.  However, Mrs. Peterson’s recipe features canned pork and beans, so that one doesn’t count as vegetarian, but she won a third prize for it.  Is butter vegetarian?  I might need to take back the vegetarian part because, do vegetarians eat eggs and cottage cheese?  I’m not sure, but we are moving right along.  Mrs. Story’s recipe is a simple one with beans, tomatoes, bread crumbs, egg, onion, etc.  It sounds very traditional.  Mrs. Woolner’s sounds the most interesting because her recipe contains peanut butter, mashed potatoes and cottage cheese.  Ms. Hyde’s recipe is beans, pimientos, bread crumbs, tomatoes, etc…another traditional sounding recipe.

Mrs. Peterson’s Bean Loaf Recipe

Third Prize

Put two cans pork and beans, with three tablespoons of catsup into a chopping bowl with one large onion and four leaves of celery (or one-half teaspoon of celery salt).  Chop medium fine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and add a cup and a quarter of bread crumbs; mix well and form into a loaf.  Grease well a pan the size of your loaf.  Put the loaf in a good oven and bake half an hour.  This can be used as a dish from luncheon or dinner.  A half cup of walnut meats may be added if desired.

Mrs. L. C. Peterson, Box 833, Tracy.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 1 Aug 1920

Mrs. Story’s Bean Loaf Recipe

Four cups of thoroughly drained cooked beans, one cup strained cooked tomatoes, one cup dry bread crumbs, one well-beaten egg, one minced onion, one cup chopped nuts, one teaspoon chopped parsley; salt and pepper to taste.  Press the beans through a sieve and mix with other ingredients.  Place in a well-greased roasting tin and let cook for ten minutes in moderately hot oven; then add one tablespoon butterine and cup of hot water and baste frequently during a half hour’s cooking.  The loaf should be well browned.

Mrs. T. A. Story, Berkeley – Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 11 Apr 1920

Mrs. Woolner’s Bean and Cheese Loaf Recipe

Two cups cooked lima or kidney beans, 2 cups cottage cheese, 2 cups mashed potatoes, 2 cups bread crumbs, 2 cups tomato pulp or canned tomato soup, 1 cup ground peanuts or peanut butter, 1 small onion cut fine, 1 bell pepper cut fine, 1 level teaspoon paprika or grandma’s peppers, 1 egg well beaten, 2 level tablespoons butter or oil, 3 level teaspoons salt, 1 small bottle stuffed olives.

Mash beans or run through chopper, add cheese, mashed potatoes, peanut butter, tomato pulp (in which onion and pepper have been cooked), egg, bread crumbs, salt and paprika.  Mix well, if it seems dry add a little tomato juice.  Pack firmly in a well greased loaf cake pan, dot the top with butter, bake thirty minutes in a quick oven.  Turn out on meat platter and serve with tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce For Bean Loaf:  Stew tomatoes, strain and put the juice down to boil with a little of the mixture; add salt and paprika; thicken to consistency of drawn butter with a little flour.

Mrs. I. J. Woolner, 22 Green street, Santa Cruz.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 28 Mar 1920

Ms. Hyde’s Bean Loaf Recipe

Mix two cups of cooked beans with three chopped pimientos, one cupful bread crumbs, one cupful tomatoes, one blade of garlic cut fine, one green onion, salt and pepper to taste, and cook all together a few minutes, stirring all the time.  Then add the juice of one-half lemon and a little of the rind; beat the yolks of two eggs and add to the mixture, and last fold in the stiffly beaten whites, put into a well-greased dish and bake one hour or until it is firm.  Serve with tomato sauce.

Ms. Loretta Hyde, 182 Divisadero street.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 28 Mar 1920