Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe to make this combination pork sausage and ground beef meatloaf. We’re using a mild flavored sausage, and recipe from an old North Carolina company known as Neese Sausage. You could take it up a notch by adding hot sausage if you’d prefer. Either way, we’ve got a new twist on an old favorite. Printable recipe included.
Neese’s Sausage-Beef Meat Loaf Recipe:
When winter weather arrived in North Carolina, back when I was a youngster, it meant hog killing time. Daddy raised a couple for our family each year and usually on Thanksgiving Day, instead of sitting down for a big dinner, we got up early and ended the day late, preparing pork for the winter ahead. OK, I didn’t really do much, I was a bit young and pretty much a city slicker, but I do have some fond memories of those days.
Daddy made his own sausage and I got a kick out of helping turn the handle on the sausage grinder he would clamp down on the kitchen table. I remember he went a bit heavy on the Sage, but it was still good with one of Mama’s Buttermilk Biscuits on a cold morning.
Other than homemade sausage, we grew up eating Neese’s Country Sausage around our house. Neese’s is an old North Carolina Company dating back to around 1917 according to their website. I still love their Liver Pudding products, and my brother is a bit fond of their Souse Meat. They just make some really good products and we’re proud to know they’re North Carolina home folks.
I spotted a small Neese Cookbook at a local auction a couple of weeks ago and had to add it to my collection. I broke bad and spent a whole dollar bill for it. I’m a big spender like that. I can’t help it some times. Later, while thumbing through the recipes here at home, I saw this one particular recipe for a Sausage-Beef Meat Loaf and decided I had to give it a try. I think it turned out pretty well and I hope you’ll feel the same way should you decide to try it at your house.
I used the Mild Country Sausage from Neese’s, but you could punch it up a notch by using their Hot brand if you’re up to it. Either way, it’s a great variation on an old Southern favorite that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I also liked the fact that it uses crumbled up Cornbread instead of white bread, breadcrumbs, or crackers. That was different, and I liked being able to use some of the last batch I made in my cast iron skillet.
I’ll tell you a bit more about the cookbook in just a minute. If you’re ready for some Neese’s, then Let’s Get Cooking!
This is the Neese recipe book that I picked up for 1.00 at a local auction. Interestingly enough, the book is marked on the back as costing $1.00 originally. Seems they hold there value pretty well at least. I leaned it up against an old wooden Neese Country Sausage crate that was given to me by a friend a couple of years back.
I’ve loved the old crate since the day I got it. It’s become even more of a treasure in the past few weeks though. The fellow that gave it to me suddenly passed away right before Christmas at age 48. It was a shock to all of us and he is dearly missed. He was all the time buying and selling stuff, and thought I’d like the crate so he gave it to me. He was a bit of a character and we always ended up joking and laughing about almost anything.
The book contains 34 pages of recipes, all printed on thick brown colored paper. Here’s a scan of the Sausage-Beef Meat Loaf recipe as seen on page 19 of the recipe book. It didn’t have an exact date, but I think it was printed in 1976, probably as some type of promotional advertising piece for the sausage company.
I wanted to show you the end of the wooden crate. It’s marked with a Value of $1.75 and “Please Return.” The crate has a hinged wooden lid but I think someone may have just done that themselves. I’ve contacted the Neese Sausage Company to see if they can give me some more information on both the crate and the recipe book, but haven’t heard back from them yet. I just hope they don’t ask me to RETURN the crate.
Neese’s Sausage-Beef Meat Loaf Recipe: You’ll need these ingredients.
We’ll start by washing, slicing, and dicing up the stalk of Celery. So far… so good.
Do the same with the Bell Pepper. If I had a farm, I’d raise nothing but Bell Peppers. They get up to about $1.50 each around here in the Winter months. During the Summer, I can usually find them at a local roadside produce stand priced at 5 for $1.00. I buy a couple of dollars worth, slice them up and freeze them. This one happened to be fresh though.
Place your skillet over Medium heat. When it’s warm, drop in a couple of Tablespoons of Butter.
Add the diced Bell Peppers.
Add the diced Celery.
Stir them around and saute them until they are lightly browned. Don’t let them burn as you continue to work on the rest of the recipe.
Place the Ground Beef and the Neese’s Sausage in a large mixing bowl. Just remember that you’re only using half the one pound package of Sausage.
Use your fingers and crumble up all the meat.
When you have it all crumbled, mix it up real good.
Add the slightly browned Celery and Bell Peppers. I poured the little bit of butter left in the skillet right in with the veggies.
Crumble up the cornbread and add it into the mixture. I’m going a bit “rustic” here, you might want to crumble your cornbread a bit more, like bread crumbs.
Add the can of Cream of Onion Soup. Do not add the water you would normally add to make the soup, just pour it undiluted, straight out of the can.
Add the Salt.
Add the Black Pepper.
Break the Eggs into a small bowl and whisk them up a bit with a fork.
Add the Eggs to the mixture.
Jump in with both hands and mix it all up really good.
Butter up a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. Brush the butter all in the bottom and all around the sides, all the way to the top.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan and spread it out evenly. Use gentle pressure to pack it down in the pan. Be sure to wipe any excess off from around the edges of the pan, otherwise it’ll just burn right on and make cleaning the pan a bit more trouble. You can thank me later.
Open up the can of Tomato Sauce and pour it all over the top.
Cover the top completely. I wasn’t sure about this part as my pan was about to overflow.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not the typical ketchup and brown sugar glaze – that I happen to like – that you’ll normally find on Southern style Meat Loaf. I can’t say it added a large amount of flavor to the finished product, but we’re following the original recipe.
Since the loaf pan was so full, I opted to wrap a small sheet pan with aluminum foil, and use it as a drip pan underneath the loaf pan, as it baked in the oven.
Bake at 350ºF for a good 60 minutes. You could use a meat thermometer to be sure it’s reached an internal temperature of 170ºF to be on the safe side.
When it’s done, remove it from the oven and just set it aside on a trivet to cool a little. You might see some liquid around the inside edges of the pan when you remove the loaf pan from the oven. Be careful not to spill that and just let it absorb back into the meat as the meat loaf cools down a bit.
Serve warm and Enjoy!
