I grew up in Martinsville, where DuPont was one of the top places to work way back when. Several members of my family worked there, and when my grandmother passed, I got several of her cookbooks, including one produced by DuPont that featured recipes by employees.
I’d been on the lookout for a better meatloaf recipe for quite some time. My husband and I grew up as meat-and-potatoes kids, and never really broke the habit (we would eat at Cracker Barrel every night if we could). But the recipe I had for one of our favorites had become boring. So I broke out the DuPont cookbook. I know many women in Martinsville who can cook…there was bound to be a decent recipe for meatloaf somewhere in those pages.
Sure enough, I found a winner. Interestingly, the cookbook came out in the 80s, when microwaves surged in popularity, so the recipe calls for cooking the meatloaf in the microwave. I decided against it and went the traditional route of cooking it in the oven. And to add an extra kick, substituted chili sauce for the tomato sauce it called for.
Sidenote: If you are a fan of the movie “Wedding Crashers,” you’ll understand the headline. If not, just take it as a sign that I’m just really excited about meatloaf.
Meatloaf:
- 1 ½ lbs. ground beef
- 8 oz. chili sauce (or tomato sauce)
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 cup quick-cooking oats
- 3 Tbl. minced onion
- ½ tsp. minced garlic
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
Sauce:
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbl. brown sugar
- 1 Tbl. mustard
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except sauce and pat into a loaf pan. Bake for one hour.
For sauce, blend ingredients. Pour over meatloaf halfway through cooking time.
