Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf

It isn't very often you take a bite of meatloaf and say WOW! Even more rare for your husband to take a bite and say WOW! This is a WOW! meatloaf. This meatloaf is just that good.

The only reason I even made this meatloaf was because I don't have the recipe for my Mom's meatloaf. She and my Dad were out of the country, (aboard the Queen Mary 2, on their way across the Atlantic on their way to Dubai!) so I couldn't call and get it from her. I will eventually, because that is a good meatloaf too. It was cold and gray, and we were craving some comfort food. So, I looked to my cookbooks. Yes, I prefer to page through a book versus looking online. Ray thinks I am crazy for that! I knew PW would not steer me wrong.

I adapted the recipe a bit. The original recipe called for 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped, fresh parsley and I am just not so sure of that in meatloaf. I also didn't feel comfortable substituting dried. I had everything else, which is another nice thing about this meatloaf. The meatloaf came together very easily.

I am not sure if I mentioned before that earlier this fall we purchased 1/4 of an organic, grass-fed cow. The meat is very lean. It is the beef I use in all of our cooking. So, even though I lined the bottom of broiler pan, I didn't need to because we didn't have a lot of grease. You probably would with anything else- well, maybe not ground sirloin. I would do it anyway just in case. I also used center-cut bacon, which is less fattier than regular bacon.

The tomato gravy is so good! It really makes the meatloaf, so don't skip it!

The cooking time in the cookbook was WAY off for my oven. I know my oven is heating to temperature, so I think PW has a super-powered oven. We ended up eating the meatloaf from the ends, then cooking it quite a bit longer. I adjusted the cook time in the recipe below.

The one thing I would do differently next time, is cook the meatloaf for 15-20 minutes without the tomato gravy on, to get the bacon crisped up a bit. The texture was a little off to me.

Meatloaf
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 cup milk
6 bread slices
2 pound ground beef
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon Lawry's season salt
Fresh ground black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
8 -12 thin bacon slices


Tomato Gravy:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
6 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Hot Sauce, to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


Pour the milk over the bread and let it soak in for several minutes.


Then, combine the ground beef, milk soaked bread, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the beaten eggs.


With clean hands, mix the ingredients until combined.


Form into a loaf on a broiler pan.


Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking underneath.


To make the tomato gravy, pour the ketchup in a small mixing bowl, and add the brown sugar, dry mustard, and Tabasco. Stir until combined.


Pour one third of the tomato gravy over the meatloaf. Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another third of the gravy over top. Bake another 45 minutes.


Serve the remaining tomato gravy as a dipping sauce.