She frequently says that “the loaf will get you the ring,”Lambers said on the podcast Biscuits and Jam
The “marriage-worthy meatloaf” is the beloved family recipe that Miranda Lambert most values.
The country singer shares all the cherished recipes and stories from the generations of ladies who taught her to cook in her cookbook, Y’all Eat Yet? On the Biscuits and Jam podcast, Lambert discussed one particularly memorable recipe from the book with Southern Living’s editor-in-chief Sid Evans: her mother Beverly’s “famous meatloaf.”
“She always says, ‘It’s the loaf that’ll getcha the ring,’ and I mean, it worked for me twice, so there’s that,” Lambert remarked with a chuckle.
In 2019, Lambert wed Brendan McLoughlin, the man she is currently living with. Before divorcing in 2015, she was married to fellow country music artist Blake Shelton for four years.
“If you’re getting serious with someone, you either bring them to Bev Lambert’s house to have the loaf or you prepare it for them yourself,” Lambert said on the program. “Everyone who knows our friend group knows these ladies.”
Ground beef and ground pork sausage are combined in her mother’s sumptuous recipe, which was first published in Southern Living in 2010. It is finished with a sweet and sour glaze. Read the complete recipe below.
Lambert acknowledged that others have also benefited from the meal’s wedding bell effects.
“I guess there are maybe ten cases when someone either prepared the meatloaf or brought it to Mom’s and subsequently got engaged. It’s simply like a small spell, I don’t know.”
Lambert featured some of her favorite dishes and stories from her cookbook. She admitted that her culinary expertise is unquestionably generational.
She remarked, “My mom could make something out of nothing. We didn’t have a lot of food in our house all the time because we didn’t have much money growing up. So she would simply assemble a dinner from the bare minimum. Because it’s inexpensive, we ate a lot of spaghetti, and my mom would save the sauce from our garden.”
“My grandmother actually is probably where [Beverly] got that,” she continued, “because she always had a small sign that reads, ‘Do what you can with what you’ve got’ in her kitchen. And she used her life and her cookery in just that way. And my mother received it from her, who then gave it to me.”
Cooking, according to Lambert, is a chance to relive memories of the people she cherishes the most.
“I feel my grandmother with me when I create something with her items. She is back. And in my opinion, you simply cannot place a value on that,” she added.
Bev’s Famous Meatloaf
2 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. ground pork sausage
18 saltine crackers, crushed
½ green bell pepper, chopped
½ yellow onion, finely chopped
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. mustard
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°. Use an 11×7-inch baking dish.
Add the ground beef, sausage, crackers, bell pepper, onion, eggs, Worcester-shire, mustard, and ¼ cup of brown sugar to a medium bowl. Mix with your hands until blended. Shape the mixture into a 10×5-inch loaf and place it in the baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven; drain the juices into a separate bowl and reserve for the gravy. In a bowl, stir the ketchup and the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar for the glaze. Reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons of the glaze for the gravy. Spread the rest over the meatloaf.
Bake for 15 minutes more, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest portion registers 160°F. Pour the drained meat juices into a saucepan and heat until hot. Add the flour and stir until thickened. Mix 1 ½ cups of hot water into the reserved glaze and add it to the saucepan. Cook until it starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and generously season with salt and pepper.
Remove the loaf from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes. Then serve directly from the casserole dish alongside your favorite mashed potatoes topped with the gravy.
Serves: 6 to 8
