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Meat Loaf (Beef or Lamb)

Tips: - The book notes that meat loaf is essentially a roast, and gravy can be made in the pan drippings after baking. - The book notes that some of the ground meat may be leftover cooked meat instead of raw. - The amount of meat stock needed depends on how moist the bread crumbs are; use just enough to bind the mixture without making it too wet. You'll need: Mixing bowl, Loaf pan or baking pan, Pastry brush (for the bacon drippings). Adapted for home kitchens by Halite from the U.S. War Department's Army Recipes (TM 10-412, 1946): scaled down from 100 servings, 1946 ingredients swapped for ones sold today, and the method rewritten. The recipe as printed is the Original version in this recipe's history.

6 servingsBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 844g (1 ¾ lb) Meat, ground, the book's alternative: bone-in (carcass) meat
  • 82g (½ cup) Onions, finely chopped
  • 82g (3 oz) Celery, finely chopped
  • 3g (1 clove) Garlic, finely chopped
  • 163g (5 ¾ oz) Bread crumbs, soft
  • 10g (1 ¾ tsp) Salt
  • 0.85g (¼ tsp) Pepper
  • 150g (3) Eggs, slightly beaten
  • 142ml (9 ½ tbsp) Meat stock
  • Bacon drippings, as needed; or butter or vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. 1

    Combine the meat, onions, celery, and garlic.

  2. 2

    Add the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, the slightly beaten eggs, and the meat stock; mix well, but avoid overmixing.

  3. 3

    Mold the mixture into a loaf shape, about 4 inches wide and 3 inches high, and place it in a baking pan. Brush the top with the bacon drippings.

  4. 4

    Bake, uncovered and without added water, at a constant temperature in a moderate oven (325°F) until cooked through and done to your liking; avoid overcooking.

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Meat Loaf (Beef Or Lamb)

100 servingsBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 45 pounds Meat, carcass or
  • 31 pounds Meat, ground*
  • 3 pounds (3 No. 56 dippers) Onions, finely chopped
  • 3 pounds (3 No. 56 dippers) Celery, finely chopped
  • 1 to 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
  • 6 pounds Bread crumbs, soft
  • 6 ounces (¼ mess kit cup) Salt
  • ½ ounce (2 mess kit spoons) Pepper
  • 48 eggs (2½ No. 56 dippers) Eggs, slightly beaten
  • 2 to 3 quarts (2 to 3 No. 56 dippers) Meat stock'
  • As needed Bacon fat

Instructions

  1. 1

    Cut meat into small pieces; grind.

  2. 2

    Combine meat, onions, celery, and garlic.

  3. 3

    Add bread crumbs, salt and pepper, slightly beaten egg and stock; mix well but avoid overmixing.

  4. 4

    Mold into loaves about 4 inches wide by 3 inches high and as long as baking pans are wide. Place in baking pans. Brush tops of loaves with bacon fat.

  5. 5

    Bake, uncovered and without water, at constant temperature^ in moderate oven (325^ F.) hours or until desired degree is reached. Avoid overcooking. Note, Meat loaf is a roast Gravy may be made in pans in which meat was cooked.

Typed from the page scan above. If the two disagree, go with the scan.

What we changed

  • Cut from the book’s 100 servings to 6 servings.
  • Swapped “Bacon fat” for “Bacon drippings” (or butter or vegetable oil).
  • Scaled 10 amounts and rounded each to a kitchen measure, like ½ cup.
  • Fixed 1 fraction the scan of the 1946 page misread.
  • Tidied 2 ingredient names.
  • AI rewrote the method for a home kitchen. Tap As printed at the top to compare.

Taken from the log we keep of every edit to this recipe. We left out the line-by-line unit conversions.

Where this recipe comes from

It’s from Army Recipes (TM 10-412), the cookbook the U.S. War Department printed in 1946 for Army mess halls. As a U.S. government work, it’s in the public domain.

See the scanned book →

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