Bill Blass dressed First Ladies and half of Park Avenue, and yet in his own memoir he went and said his meatloaf was maybe his greatest legacy, which is a pretty wild thing for a fashion guy to put in writing. Sounds like a joke, right? Then you look at what goes in it, and it kind of makes sense.
So what is it, exactly? Three meats, sirloin and pork and veal. Celery and onion that get cooked down in butter before they ever touch the meat. Sour cream (yes really), fresh crumbs, a fistful of parsley, a little thyme and marjoram. Then instead of the usual ketchup you glug a whole bottle of chili sauce on top. It goes in at 350°F for an hour-ish and comes out soft and juicy and deeply savory, kinda like the meatloaf you wish your school cafeteria made.
Where This Meatloaf Comes From
Bill Blass (1922 to 2002) was a huge deal in American fashion from the ’70s on, think sharp sporty clothes that still looked expensive, and the man loved having people over in New York. Ask people who went and they’ll mention the meatloaf before they mention anything about his apartment, which tells you how it went over.
The recipe has been floating around for decades, copied from clipping to clipping. The oldest printed one we could track down ran in The Christian Science Monitor in December 1992, credited to The Tiffany Gourmet Cookbook, and it’s the same lineup you still see on Food.com today, plus all those newspaper Q&A columns where readers kept mailing in asking for it after he passed in 2002. Our card below is basically that version, we just put real numbers on the herbs and salt since the old one says “to taste” and leaves you guessing.
What Makes It Different From a Regular Meatloaf
Your average meatloaf is beef, egg, crumbs, ketchup and you’re out the door. Blass’s version messes with almost all of that, and honestly each swap earns its spot.
| Typical meatloaf | Bill Blass meatloaf | |
|---|---|---|
| Meat | Ground beef only | Sirloin + pork + veal |
| Moisture | Milk | Sour cream + vegetables cooked in butter |
| Vegetables | Raw onion | Onion and celery, softened first |
| Topping | Ketchup or a ketchup-brown sugar glaze | A whole bottle of chili sauce (bacon optional) |
| Herbs | Maybe dried parsley | Half a cup of fresh parsley, thyme, marjoram |
Sirloin by itself is pretty lean and dries out easy, so the pork is there for fat and the veal for that soft, fine, almost pâté-ish texture. Sour cream’s the sneaky one, you won’t pick it out but day-two slices are still moist because of it. Cooking the celery and onion in butter first matters more than you’d think too; a reviewer on Food.com said the veg basically vanish into the meat once you do that, and yep, that’s what happens, no crunchy raw onion bits.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- 2 lb (900 g) ground sirloin. Got chuck instead? Use it, a little extra fat won’t hurt anybody here.
- 1/2 lb (225 g) each ground pork and ground veal. Veal’s hard to find in a lot of stores, but look for the “meatloaf mix” packs (beef, pork, veal together) and grab a pound.
- 1 cup each chopped celery and onion, plus 4 tablespoons (57 g) butter to soften them in.
- 1 1/2 cups (75 g) fresh breadcrumbs, which is two or three slices of plain white bread whizzed in the food processor (panko’s okay in a pinch).
- 1/3 cup (80 g) sour cream, 1 large egg and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire, the egg and Worcestershire whisked up together.
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley and 1/2 teaspoon each dried thyme and marjoram (no marjoram in the cupboard, use about half that of oregano).
- 1 bottle (12 oz / 340 g) chili sauce, the Heinz-style one sitting next to the ketchup, not sweet chili or sriracha or anything Asian.
- 3 slices bacon if you want, they aren’t in the 1992 clipping but a lot of folks lay them on top anyway.
Bill Blass Meatloaf Recipe
Bill Blass Meatloaf (Three-Meat, Chili Sauce Topping)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground sirloin 900 g, or ground chuck
- 1/2 pound ground pork 225 g
- 1/2 pound ground veal 225 g, or use 1 lb meatloaf mix for the pork and veal
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 57 g
- 1 cup celery finely chopped, about 2 stalks
- 1 cup onion finely chopped, about 1 medium
- 1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs 75 g, from 2 to 3 slices white bread
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1/3 cup sour cream 80 g
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 15 ml
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 bottle chili sauce 12 oz / 340 g, such as Heinz (tomato-based, not Asian chili sauce)
- 3 slices bacon optional
Equipment
- 1 Loaf pan (9×5 inches or similar)
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Small bowl for beating eggs
- 1 Measuring cups and spoons
- 1 Wooden spoon or spatula
- 1 Meat thermometer (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, or lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set it on a sheet pan to catch drips.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook, stirring now and then, for 6 to 8 minutes until soft but not browned. Take off the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Beat the egg with the Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl, combine the sirloin, pork, veal, cooled vegetables (with the butter), breadcrumbs, parsley, sour cream, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture and mix gently with your hands just until evenly combined. Don’t overmix.
- Shape into a loaf about 9 x 5 inches on the lined sheet, or press it lightly into the loaf pan. Spread the chili sauce over the top and lay the bacon slices across it, if using.
- Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the center reaches 160°F (71°C) on an instant-read thermometer. Start checking at 50 minutes. If the topping darkens too fast, tent loosely with foil.
- Rest for 10 minutes, pour off any fat, then slice and serve.
Nutrition
Notes
Private Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!A Few Things That Help
Cool the veg first. Easy step to skip, don’t. Tip hot buttery onions into raw meat and egg and the fat goes greasy and the egg starts cooking in spots. Five minutes off the burner fixes it.
Hands, not a spoon, and quit early. Once you can’t see white streaks of sour cream anymore you’re done. Keep kneading past that and you get a weirdly bouncy loaf, sort of like a giant hot dog.
Use the right pan, or no pan. Three pounds of meat fills an 8×4 to the brim, so either go 9×5 or just shape it by hand on a foil-lined sheet pan, which we kind of prefer since you get crust on the sides and the grease drains away instead of the loaf sitting in it. Loaf pan people, put it on a sheet pan anyway, that chili sauce will bubble over and burn on your oven floor otherwise.
Go by temperature, not the clock. Start poking it with a thermometer around 50 minutes in. You want 160°F (71°C) in the middle, that’s the number for ground beef, pork and veal per the USDA FSIS. Most 3-pound loaves land somewhere between an hour and an hour fifteen.
Rest it. Ten minutes. It’s torture because the kitchen smells incredible, but cut in too soon and you get a puddle on the board and crumbly slices.
If It Goes Wrong
| Problem | Why it happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Falls apart when sliced | Cut too soon, or not enough breadcrumbs | Rest 10 minutes. Next time add 1/4 cup more crumbs. |
| Dense and rubbery | Overmixed or packed into the pan | Mix gently and press it into shape lightly. |
| Sitting in a pool of fat | Fat has nowhere to go in a loaf pan | Bake free-form, or pour the fat off before slicing. |
| Topping burned | Chili sauce has sugar in it | Tent loosely with foil for the last 15 to 20 minutes. |
| Bland | The old recipe just says “salt to taste” | Use 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Fry a spoonful of the mix to taste it first. |
What to Serve With It
Mashed potatoes, obviously, something’s gotta soak up all that chili sauce, and our mashed potatoes with gravy are perfect for the job. Want a green thing? A Durkee green bean casserole turns it into a real Sunday dinner. Whoever posted it on Food.com does baked potatoes, red pepper jelly and corn pudding on the side, and we’re not gonna argue with that.
In a cozy, retro-dinner mood? The Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing and our old fashioned vegetable beef soup fit right in, and for another old recipe with a backstory there’s the Guernsey potato peel pie.
Make Ahead, Leftovers and Freezing
Want to get ahead? Mix and shape it the night before, wrap it, fridge it. Sauce goes on right before baking, and since it’s fridge-cold give it roughly 10 more minutes.
Leftover slices last 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Real talk, the next-day cold meatloaf sandwich on white bread with mayo and more chili sauce might be the best part. Freezing? Wrap each slice on its own, they’re good for about 3 months, and reheat covered at 325°F until hot in the middle.
FAQ
What is in Bill Blass’s meatloaf?
Sirloin, pork and veal, plus butter-cooked celery and onion, fresh breadcrumbs, sour cream, egg and Worcestershire, parsley, thyme, marjoram, salt, pepper, and a bottle of chili sauce poured over the top.
Can I use only ground beef?
Yes, use 3 lb of 80/20 ground chuck. Skip lean sirloin if it’s beef only, or the loaf will be dry. Not as tender as the three-meat mix, but still a solid meatloaf.
No chili sauce, can I use ketchup?
Sure. Stir about a teaspoon of chili powder and a splash of vinegar into 1 1/2 cups ketchup and it gets pretty close. Straight ketchup is fine too, just sweeter.
What temperature should meatloaf be when it’s done?
160°F (71°C) in the center. That’s the USDA safe minimum for ground beef, pork and veal.
How many people does it feed?
The 1992 version says six, and those are big slices. Cut it into 8 and serve with a couple of sides and it easily feeds 8.
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