Hamburgers vs. Meatballs vs. Meatloaf?

This thought came to mind while making hamburgers for the holiday.  I remembered the commercials for ranch burgers & I had a packet of the ranch dressing mix, so I looked up their recipe.  It contained breadcrumbs.  I always thought breadcrumbs belong in meatballs or meatloaf, but not hamburgers.  Then there’s egg.  I put it in meatloaf but not in meatballs or hamburger.  They’re all almost the exact same thing… but then they’re all completely different.

I generally always throw them all together without a recipe.  They’re easy to do that way.  I guess everyone has their own way to do things.  I make them all the same sometimes, but sometimes I add something different for fun.

I’m just wondering how other people do things?

I’d love some feedback in the comments below.  I’ll share how I generally do things.  These aren’t really recipes, and I don’t measure much, but this is typically what goes in each:

Hamburgers

• Ground Beef
• A1
• Season All
• Black Pepper
• Sometimes, only sometimes… some shredded cheese mixed in or as a filling.

Meatballs

• Ground Beef (Sometimes Turkey)
• Crushed Croutons (Whatever we have for the salad if we’re having one, or a nice mix of spices or whatever.)
• Parmesan/Romano “shake” cheese
• Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian Dressing (It spices them well, keeps them nice & moist!)
• Black Pepper

Meatloaf

• Ground Beef
• Egg
• Bread or crushed crackers.  (I like the bread ripped up more than the crackers.)
• A1, Ketchup, Mustard, or BBQ sauce… or a combo of all of them.
• Season All
• Black Pepper

(Click here for a crazy meatloaf recipe.)

Of course sometimes I add garlic, or onion powder, or something crazy.  That’s the fun if it though, isn’t it?  So, what goes in your meatballs, hamburgers, or meatloaf?

Raw Ground beef (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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