My Quest for the World's Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

I love meatloaf. A tender and savory slice of meatloaf napped in brown gravy beside a pile of buttery mashed potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. For years Christine has made the meatloaf recipe that is on the back of the Lipton Mushroom Onion Soup Mix box. I have to say that it is a pretty good recipes and great in a pinch. It is the one that i have been making for years. Lately though, I have wanted to put my own signature on our meatloaf so I have begun to experiment with different additions and subtractions in the quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf. My first attempt about a month ago was a disaster. I don't usually have out and out failures in my cooking but this one was. I used way to much bread and other wet ingredients so the meatloaf came out mushy. I also used to much Worcestershire sauce and the flavor was over powering. My next attempt which I served last night was much better. In fact my middle son with his highly developed pallet gave it a 9. On further thought he lowered the rating to 8.5. So it was a good meatloaf, but had room for improvement. My quest for the world's tastiest meatloaf will be an continuing series and I will report on my ongoing quest in future posts.

Worlds Tastiest Meatloaf v. 1

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 stalks of celery finely chopped
2 T. butter
1 stale roll or 3 slices of stale bread
enough milk to soak the bread
1/3 c. ketchup
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/3 c. milk
1 egg
1.5 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground pepper

Glaze

1/3 c ketchup
2 T. spicy brown mustard
1 T. brown sugar

Break up bread and soak in milk until soft. Squeeze out the milk and add enough milk to have 1/3 of a cup. Saute onions and celery in butter until soft. Add this to the rest of the ingredients, except the glaze ingredients and mix together well until blended and all ingredients are evenly distributed. Put into roasting pan and form into a loaf. Mix glaze ingredients together and spread this on top of the meatloaf. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Add about 3/4 c of water to pan about half way through cooking. Increase heat to 400 and bake another 15 minutes to get the glaze to be nice and crusty. Remove meatloaf from pan. Add additional water to pan and scrape up any brown bits. Add a flour and water slurry to make a gravy. Serve with meatloaf.

Enjoy!