I don’t know how or why – but I LOVE hamloaf! I’m not even a huge ham or meatloaf person, but for some reason, this stuff is one of my favorites!
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For those that don’t know – it’s basically the ham/pork version of meatloaf. For some reason I’ve only enjoyed meatloaf with mediocre success. To me it was like a hamburger with hot ketchup, and who really likes hot ketchup on their hamburger?
My mom would get this little hamloaf thing from the store, already mixed, and maybe add some hamburger in for extra fat and flavor. No sauce of any kind on it (my dad has been a diabetic for over 50 years, so no sugar glaze allowed).
When Colton’s mom sent a ton – and I mean a ton – of pork to us, it not only filled the chest freezer, but also the upstairs freezer and part of the garage freezer. So I was wracking my brain on how in the world we were going to use up all this pork.
And then – light bulb moment! How could I have forgotten about hamloaf!? Granted, I needed a couple things – mainly, a food processor or meat grinder. I didn’t have one. But I have friends. And one of those friends said she needed to get rid of a food processor. And voila – I was in business! (I think mine is an earlier version of THIS ONE, and if it can handle shredding up meat, I’m guessing it can handle just about anything!).
I’ll admit – it’s not perfect. I think there is still some tweaking to be done. I may use strictly ham some time to see how that tastes (every DIY recipe said to use part pork shoulder or butt roast). It also doesn’t have the same consistency as the store-bought stuff, but I think it never well due to using a food processor to shred the meat versus the commercialized pulverizer (or whatever they use).
I also think I will add more pineapple. I didn’t realize how much meat I had in comparison to my itty-bitty can of pineapple. Plus – I kind of love pineapple. A lot. Some time I’ll find a scale to actually weight how much meat I’m using! But the beauty of that is it uses up a bunch of meat at once, giving us a different option from the basic cuts of pork, as well as giving us some “freezer meals” – I put extra in Ziploc bags, freeze, then just pull out to thaw and bake later.
So – check it out and let me know what you think in the comments! Did you try it? Did you like it? What would you change? Check out the video below if you want to see it in action!
DIY-ing Homemade Meatloaf
Use up a lot of pork at once and have plenty to freeze for later with this homemade hamloaf!
Credit: JCT Rustic Homestead
Ingredients
- 4-5 pounds pork – ham steak with pork steak, shoulder, or butt roast, uncooked, minced/shredded with food processor
- 3 eggs
- 4 tb yellow mustard
- 3/4 – 1 c ketchup
- 1.5-2 c Italian (or plain, if preferred) bread crumbs
- 1, 20 oz can of crushed pineapple (could use more!)
- 1 tb paprika
- 1 tb garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 c brown sugar
Directions
1. Mince/grind ham steak and other pork. 2. Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix together. 3. Divide mixture into halves, thirds, or fourths, depending on how big of loaves you want. 4. Spray a 9×13 pan or line with foil. Take amount of meat desired and form into one loaf or several smaller loaves. Bake at 350-degrees for 60-90 minutes, or until done. 5. Freeze leftovers in Ziploc bags. To use – thaw and cook according to #4.Products I used for this recipe:
- Hamilton Beach Food Processor (similar)
- Pampered Chef Cutting Board
- Pampered Chef 5″ Santoku Knife (LOVE!)
JCT Rustic Homestead 
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