Tips for Smoking Beef: Ground Beef vs. Ground Chuck

In the smoked meatloaf recipes in this section, you will see that some call for ground beef while others call for ground chuck. You may be wondering what the difference is, and if it really matters which one you buy. Basically, it’s all about where the meat comes from on the cow and the amount of fat content there is.

Ground beef comes from less desirable parts of the animal, and can even be from trimmings (it must not contain more than 30% fat.) Ground chuck comes from the chuck roast, and is a more popular cut of beef. Typically, it is leaner than ground beef. That said, do not go by the cut to determine how lean the meat is. Rather, go by the written fat content on the package, which is usually labeled as 90/10, 85/15, 80/20, or 73/27. The first number in the ratio is the meat content, and the second number is the fat.