Recipe: The World’s Last Meatloaf

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Every Thursday on the Good Food Blog we share a recipe from our archives.

Robert St. John has drawn on his experience as a southern chef to write Deep South Staples: or How to Survive in a Southern Kitchen without a Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup.   He first shared this recipe for The World’s Last Meatloaf on June 10, 2006.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

The World’s Last Meatloaf
Makes 8-10 servings
  • 2 lbs Ground beef
  • 1 Tablespoon bacon grease (or canola oil)
  • 1 cup onion, minced
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 cup celery, minced
  • 3/4 cup bell pepper, minced
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1/8 tsp thyme, dry
  • 1/4 tsp oregano, dry
  • 1 cup breadcrumbs, coarse
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp steak seasoning
Tomato Glaze
  •  1 tsp   Bacon grease (or canola oil)
  • 1 tsp   Garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbl   Onion, minced
  • ¼ cup Brown sugar
  • 2 Tbl   Yellow mustard
  • 1 Tbl   Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup  Ketchup
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Heat the bacon grease in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute vegetables with salt and dry herbs until tender. Allow to cool.
  3. Combine milk, eggs, Worcestershire and ketchup and mix well. Place ground beef, cooled vegetables and egg mixture into a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, squish the meatloaf until you have mixed everything together and all is well incorporated. Fold in the bread crumbs last.
  4. Shape the meat mixture into the form of a loaf on a baking sheet. Using your hand, make an indentation down the center of the loaf (This is where the glaze goes). Bake 50 minutes.
  5. While meatloaf is cooking make the glaze by heating bacon grease over low heat.  Cook onions and garlic 2-3 minutes.  Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Remove meatloaf from the oven and spoon glaze down the center of the meatloaf and spread over the sides. Return meatloaf to oven, lower heat to 300 degrees and bake 30 minutes more. Allow meatloaf to rest 15 minutes before serving.