Delicious and Tender Beef and Pork Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you mix ground pork and ground beef together? ›

Most sausage-grade pork contains a fair amount of fat (around 25-30%), making it a perfect partner for even the saddest, leanest beef. Mixing equal parts by mass of the two meats gives you a fatty blend that won't dry out during long cooking times, making it ideal for dishes like meatloaf.

Fat Is Your Friend

This is the reason most cooks choose ground chuck since it has this ideal proportion of fat to meat. During cooking, the fat will liquefy, making the meatloaf moist.

The mix provides a fantastic ratio of meat to fat, as well as creating a delicious dimension of flavor and texture.

The choice of ground pork vs. ground beef can significantly impact the taste and texture of your recipes. Lean ground beef is a great option for those seeking a lower-fat protein source, while ground pork offers a distinctive flavor and tenderness.

The safest way to stack your raw animal proteins inside the fridge is based on their minimum temperature for cooking. Based on this information, whole cuts of raw beef and pork can be stored together on the middle shelves, below the top shelves where ready-to-eat foods are stored.

Onions, garlic and celery do pose one problem though: they don't cook down easily. Little bits of crunchy onion or celery or potent, hot garlic will spoil the comforting aspect of eating meatloaf.

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

Metal pans are great conductors of heat; in other words, they heat up quickly, but in turn, they also cool down more rapidly once removed from the heat source. Additionally, metal pans can withstand higher temperatures than glass.

If you want to make the best meatloaf possible, a sheet pan is a much better medium.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.

Can you ground pork and beef together? ›

The Type Of Fat Affects The Texture

It creates a super tender, gelatinous structure. This means you can combine types of ground meats in order to influence the final texture. For example, add ground pork to your meatballs to give them a smoother, softer texture than just using ground beef alone.

Pork may be a better choice, then, if you're trying to manage your blood cholesterol levels. At the same time, though, beef has higher levels of minerals like zinc, calcium, and iron and certain vitamins like vitamin B12 and vitamin K, so it can be a healthier choice in some cases.

The taste preference between pork and beef is highly subjective and can vary from person to person. Both pork and beef offer a wide range of cuts and cooking methods, which can influence their flavor and tenderness. Pork tends to have a milder, slightly sweeter flavor compared to beef.

The Type Of Fat Affects The Texture

Pork fat is softer than beef or lamb fat which may be slightly waxy. And then there's veal. It creates a super tender, gelatinous structure. This means you can combine types of ground meats in order to influence the final texture.

The best ground beef to buy for burgers is 80/20 ground chuck – 80% lean meat and 20% fat. Ground chuck is ground from the shoulder and has that ideal lean-to-fat ratio of 80/20 (i.e. not too lean) for a super flavorful, juicy burger.

Whipping up this flavorful, make-ahead meal-starter is as easy as 1, 2, 3—three ingredients that is! Ground beef, pork sausage and onions simmer together for about 20 minutes until the meat is browned and the onion is fragrant.