Bill Blass’s Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

You can, but the resulting meatloaf will be dry and unmemorable. If your substitution is on health grounds, consider using ground bison instead. The veal is only there for its collagen content, which keeps the meatloaf moist, but it can be completely replaced by adding 1/4 tsp gelatin per pound of meat.

Cook's Illustrated tip:
Wrap a cooling rack in foil. Punch holes for fat to drain. Place in rimmed sheet. Put free-form loaf on top.
Fat drains into rimmed sheet.

I've made this meatloaf for years and love it. However, I've found that a 3lb meatloaf takes longer than an hour to cook though, so I shape it into two free-form loaves and bake in a pan. Also I've never had much luck getting the bacon strips to a decent crispness without all the grease. So I cook them just enough to render some fat and then add on top for the last 15 minutes or so. My other favorite is Maple-Glazed Meatloaf also available on the NY Times Cooking site. Yumm.

The recipe for Heinz Chili Sauce has changed since BB's time. Suggest Bennett's as a substitute if you can find it.

Very good BUT a couple of things to note:1) NEEDS SALT! At least a 1to 1 1/2 tsp.2) Don’t use sirloin. Even with the fat in the pork it’s too dry!3) William Sonoma makes a great meatloaf pan. It’s their “gold”series and it has a perforated insert in the pan that you lift out and leave the fat/liquid behind. It’s about 10x5 and is the perfect size for this recipe. Otherwise this recipe will overfill an 8x4 pan.4) It takes longer than an hour to cook. Use a meat thermometer.

I haven't made this recipe yet, but I plan to. One thing I noticed in the comments is that a lot of people complain about the grease. Here's a tip: when I make meatloaf, I take a raw carrot and slice it down the middle to make two long pieces. Lay those in the bottom of your loaf pan then put the meat mixture on top. As it bakes, the carrots allow the grease to drip off the loaf to the bottom of the pan, rendering the meatloaf relatively grease free, but still moist.

Following the closure of Mortimer's, Bill's meatloaf recipe (which was served there and later at Swifty's) was published in a small privately published commemorative booklet which I believe nails many of the recipes spot-on. It differs from the NYT recipe in two respects: the loaf is hand-molded, and not cooked in a pan, and the cooking time is 75 minutes, not one hour.

Hasn't anyone just followed the recipe? It really is quite good. Don't try and change it.

Years ago Ann Landers wrote her Mother’s meatloaf recipe and I use it all the time!. Simple...2 lbs ground chuck, 1 envelope onion soup mix, 3/4 cup ketchup, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup water. Mix all together (I use my handsJ. Pat in a loaf pan and top with 2 strips of bacon. Serve with addition ketchup if you like. That, a baked potato and salad are an easy school night dinner. The leftovers make great sandwiches.

This is the best meatloaf recipe ever. I used Sriracha ketchup for the topping and a loaf pan. With the loaf pan method, create a small channel in one corner of the meat where grease will collect. Use a baster to suck out the grease at half way point and again just after pulling from the over.

I have found that Peter Luger sauce is a very good replacement for Heinz chili sauce. I think Mr Blass would not frown upon this.

I would never use a loaf pan. All it does is trap all of the grease.

McCall's magazine published a set of recipe cards in the 1970's. I still have that recipe card for McCall's "roast meatloaf"and it is so very similar to Bill Blass' meatloaf that it is hard to tell them apart! Both are exceptionally good meatloaf recipes! I put this one on our "family dinner" table and it was like the return of an old friend......

I use ground turkey instead of veal, and spicey sausage for the pork.

This was super tasty. I substituted ricotta for sour cream because that's what I had in the fridge & it was great. And of course I didn't have chili sauce, so I used ketchup and a hot sauce....

Made as written, with the exception of Heinz chili sauce (made my own), this came out quite good. The loaf overfills an 8x4 pan, so use a foil-lined rimmed sheet pan underneath to catch the grease overflow. Also, 1 hour cook time is unrealistic. It took closer to 2 hours in my oven at 350 to get the center to 160. Would make again.

Turns out great in a loaf pan, just pour off fat after removed from the oven - no biggie. 2 pounds of meat yields a perfect loaf for a standard loaf pan.

Best meatloaf recipe I know of. I often double the pork and omit the veal

Used 1lb beef, 1lb bison, 1lb porkFresh thyme and oregano (approx one Tablespoon each).

Meatloaf is done at 160 degrees

I made this meatloaf last week, after running all over town seeking the specified pan size. finding Heinz chili sauce, and rarest of all, ground veal. The price of the veal was close to filet mignon! I followed the recipe exactly - VERY disappointing and bland. Cooked 75 min because the loaf was too big for an hour. Attempts to slice produced big lumps which were falling apart. Recapping my time, effort, and expense leads me to DELETE Bill Blass from my recipe box.

This recipe is really good! The sour cream adds a nice tang to it. I don't eat veal so left that out and doubled the pork. Also used a perforated bottom meatloaf pan where a lot of the fat drips away. Did not affect the tenderness of the meatloaf at all.

i added more onions and used the cast iron pan (from sauteing the celery and onions to cook the meat loaf. Cooked it at 375 and It took a bit more than an hour to cook.

I prefer chili sauce on top

Delicious meatloaf! We have a family of three so I split into two loaf pans so I could save one loaf in the freezer. As recommended by others I put the loaves on carrots so they weren't cooking in the fat. Didnt have Chile sauce so I made my own using ketchup, garlic powder, brown sugar, and honey. FABULOUS!

Split it; baked one in a loaf shape on a cookie sheet and one in the loaf pan as directed. Bill knows best; the loaf pan produced best results. Used 1 lb each beef, veal and pork. Delicious and adding to the rotation.

Trader Joe's sells a Sriracha and Roasted Garlic BBQ sauce that is a great replacement for the Heinz chili sauce :)

Use caution: the loaf pan catches nothing but over flowing grease. the bottom of my oven is caked in burnt grease now. Thumbs wayyyyyy down

Please don't use veal.Try substituting lamb.

This is a great meat loaf. We increases the herbs an divided it in two for baking. We did not have veal so used 2 lbs of pork.