A Meatloaf Request

Last time I made Grandma's meatloaf, about a year ago, Lawson confessed to me that he did not like meatloaf. I had to eat the whole thing myself over the next week. It was not too much of a burden. But I was surprised: usually Lawson will eat everything, just like me.

Well, the recent family visit to Arizona and the meat-free week must have done it, because last week he said he was ready to try Grandma's meatloaf. So I made some. Here's the recipe.

Here it is pre-oven, with strips of bacon on top.

When Lawson saw it cooling after I took it out of the oven, he said "When do you put the tomato stuff on top?" But this is a tomato-free meatloaf recipe. So he had to douse each piece of meatloaf in ketchup in order to recapture his childhood meatloaf memories. He ate four slices.

I ate more reasonable amounts of meatloaf, with no ketchup (despite having my own ketchup-drenched meatloaf memories from childhood), and with a tomato-arugula salad with mint, lemon, and olive oil.

But now we're going to have to hunt down the best tomato sauce-glazed meatloaf. This fortuitously timed Ask Metafilter thread should help.

Grandma's Meatloaf (aka James Beard's Country Pate)

Here is Grandma's recipe for her delicious meatloaf, which she adapted from a James Beard recipe. She served this to us while Russell was home. The menu also included potatoes scalloped with tomatoes, onions, and garlic; cucumber and radish salad with a vinegary dressing; homemade bread; and lemon pudding. It was wonderful.

Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork or bulk pork sausage

1 egg

1 slice bread

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt, pepper, thyme, basil, and sage (use less of these seasonings if you use sausage that is already seasoned)

Bacon (optional)

Grind the onion and bread together in food processor until very fine. Mix all ingredients together and work thoroughly with hands so that the resulting loaf will be compact and easy to slice.

Form into an oval loaf. If meat is lean, and if you have bacon, lay strips of bacon on top and secure with toothpicks. Place on a rack in a shallow baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let rest for 20 minutes or more. I like this best when it is just barely warm; then it's also easier to slice.