For the consumer, note that MCD single burger patty is 1/10 lb, so a McDouble contains 2/10 of a lb of meet, vs the 1/4 pounder.
Had one a week or so ago. I wasn’t aware anything was supposed to be different, and didn’t notice that it was.
Why is that odd?
Part of that is the grill is much faster since then. I work in MCDs about 14 years ago and quarter pounders took maybe 2 minutes to cook. So 3 minutes (cook time plus prep time) sounds about right when being made to order.
I ordered a quarter pounder last week. Didn’t seem any different. Nothing on the menu indicated it had changed.
My son works at a McD’s now as a “burger maker” and I can confirm that there’s no grill per se…it’s a “press” machine that cooks all the burgers. Need to ask him if the new fresh patties are cooked differently. He did say that those patties are now accessed via the fridge walk in and not the freezer, so it is true that they are not frozen any longer. His job consists of cooking the patties of whatever and then they are placed in warming trays to await assembly once ordered, and he told me that the patties in the warmers only have a fifteen minute shelf life so they have to be careful how many they pre-cook depending on business so they’re not throwing a bunch of them away.
Maybe it hasn’t rolled out nationally everywhere yet? I’m not sure. But at my McDonald’s, there was nothing on the electronic menu that advertised the fresh beef, but (and I looked around to make sure it was being offered at that McDonald’s, in case this wasn’t a nation-wide thing) I did find a poster off to the side advertising the fact.
Honestly, I prefer frozen patties at fast food places. A frozen patty put on a grill doesn’t have a chance to go bad.
Raw hamburger can go bad quickly. I hope McD has fully trained its people in properly preparing raw meat. Tummy aches or worse aren’t great advertising for a new menu item.
I ordered a Quarter Pounder a month a so back. It was probably the first hamburger I’ve had there in years that wasn’t as dry as the Sahara. Definitely an improvement, but if I want a really good hamburger I’ll go to Wendy’s.
Here is a detailed review of the fresh quarter pounder from a sharp dressed lad who goes by “The Report Of The Week”. He even inspects his with a flashlight after being told that the purchase was “cash only”. A 7.5 out of 10 on his scale means average, he rarely doles out 9s. I won’t reveal his rating here…
(review is just over 11 minutes long)In keeping with that thought, cooking frozen patties at home isn’t too bad either. Sometimes you’re pinched for time.
Wendy’s does just fine, as do a million other places that use fresh meat (Five Guys, In N Out, etc.) I’m sure it won’t be much a problem, especially as all these places cook their meat well (much to the chagrin of some, although for 1/4 or smaller patties, I don’t particularly care.)
To me, this is worth thinking about. The whole point of “fresh” “never frozen” is that the meat is indeed fresh. If the meat is ground 1,500 miles away, then put in a refrigerator truck for 2 days, then sits in the walk-in for 2 more days, then gets grilled and put in the warming tray for 15 minutes…well, that’s not really gaining me much over frozen, innit?. Frozen locks in the nutrition until it is cooked.
If by “cook their meat well” you mean “well done” rather than “good job”, I kinda get that. For some weird reason though, even if I had the ability to order a medium burger at such a place (and cooking a burger that way requires a pretty thick, fresh patty) I wouldn’t. I only seem to be able to order a burger that way at a good restaurant, or at home. As if somehow the quality of the beef and/or the handling of the process was better and done with care rather than apathy.
Yes, “well” as in “well done.” From a fresh patty, it’s somewhat difficult to get a anything under medium well for anything 1/4 pound or thinner, I would say. That is, if you want a reasonably cooked exterior crust. I have heard of people frying up burgers from frozen for that reason: that they can get a crusty exterior while still maintaining a lower level of doneness on the interior patty for a comparatively thinner patty.
Huh, I haven’t eaten MdD burgers since I was a kid, and I got permission from my mom to get something else. But maybe I should try this. Can you get it as just a burger on a bun, without condimints?
As a child, I HATED that the burger had mustard on it, and refused to eat them. I’m still not a fan of burgers with lots of stuff on them. Maybe some ketchup. If the meat is good, just salt and pepper is ideal. Mustard, mayo, onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, all detract from my enjoyment to various degrees. And I still won’t eat a burger that has mustard, and if I mistakenly get one with mayo, I’ll scrape most of it off. So I don’t usually do fast food burgers.
I’d be curious who can actually tell the difference between frozen and NOT frozen in a blind taste test.
I had one unknowingly yesterday and didn’t notice anything. Taste like the same ol’ burger to me.
Whether or not they’re cooked to order, every fast food restaurant prepares their food to order now, so you can have it however you want.
Yeah, but why bother? No one has ever said to me, “wow, McD has great meat in their burgers”. People who like them tend to say things like
I assume most people like mustard and pickles and stuff on their burgers, and probably enjoy that stuff more than the underlying burger.
(Whereas I often eat just the burger, without even a bun, when I have one at home.)
I believe a standard QPw/C comes with just pickles, ketchup, and onions.
Well, no. The Quarter Pounder is a fairly minimalist burger, by most people’s standards. (Or maybe I should say “by modern standards.” One of the reasons I like the quarter pounder is because it’s not loaded with a crap ton of toppings. But for me, ketchup, mustard, ketchup, onions are the base standard ingredients for a burger.)