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I just wanted to point out that Angus beef just tells you the type of cow the meat comes from -- it DOES NOT mean that it is prime. It certainly is not prime coming from McD's. Is could be USDA Choice or Select. I think the term Angus is just a marketing hoax. It means asolutely nothing in terms of the quality of the meat! Just my 2 cents. I will try the Angus Burger soon, but I'm certainly not expecting anything great.
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re: wrobert3
Sorry for posting twice in a row. What I posted about McD's Angus Burger is correct, but I did learn something new. "Certified Angus" (this is NOT what McD's is using) does mean something in terms of quality. Here's what I read (link follows):
"Certified Angus Beef" (CAB) is a special industry designation developed in 1978 that involves standards for marbling, tenderness, age, and color. According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, only about 8% of U.S. beef is entitled to the label "Certified Angus." Just because something is labeled "Angus" or "Black Angus" doesn't mean it's the same quality as "Certified Angus Beef." Angus beef is further differentiated by USDA grades such as "prime," "choice," and "select," giving us such labels as "Certified Angus Prime," indicating the best Certified Angus Beef.
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re: wrobert3
alanbarnes
Jul 13, 2009 09:43 AM
>>"I think the term Angus is just a marketing hoax. It means asolutely nothing in terms of the quality of the meat!"<<
I responded to a similar post of yours on another thread, but here goes again...
"Angus" is just a breed of cattle. But it's a breed that was developed solely for the quality of meat produced. Not for the quantity or creaminess of milk given, not for the ability to pull a plow or a heavy cart, just for the quality of meat.
Different breeds have different characteristics. This is true of chickens, dogs, and cattle. Laborador Retrievers and Chihuahuas are "just" different breeds of dog, but they have some very distinct characteristics. If breed weren't important, why would people pay super-premium prices for Wagyu beef? It's just a breed, after all. But it's a breed that develops tremendous quantities of intramuscular fat, resulting in meat that tends to be way above USDA Prime.
There's no "marketing hoax" going on. Beef cattle with an Angus lineage are well-regarded for good reason. Among any breed of cattle, there's some variation in the quality of beef they produce. But on average, Angus (or Hereford or Wagyu) cattle will produce much higher-quality meat than, say, Guernseys or Holsteins.
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re: Davwud
alanbarnes
Jul 13, 2009 11:25 AM
I agree with your butcher. An Angus steer may be more likely to produce a quality steak than another breed, but once the carcasses are butchered the steaks speak for themselves.
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I tried this burger once last week, and then again yesterday... which is HUGE for me because I'm kind of a once-a-year visitor to McD's, and usually only after I've been starving myself unintentionally for a day or two and suddenly I crave those premium chicken strips. Last week's version -- the first I had tried -- was the Angus Mushroom 'n Swiss, and it was ok except for the BUCKET of mayo they put on it. I like a little bit of mayo, but this must have been applied by a Paintball gun. I scraped most of it off, and while it was still gooey, it was also pretty good.
Yesterday, tho, I told them to leave the mayo off, and the difference was amazing. It's not a massively juicy burger (McD's burgers are pounded too thin for that), but this was, for me, the first McD's burger I've ever had which I actually thought was really, really good, and not just caloric landfill usefill only when there are no other options. Without mayo it was surprisingly good, and I would have it again.
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I just got around to trying the angus burger and I can say I was sorely disappointed. It tasted like one of their regular patties which translates out to pretty plain in my book. If I had to pick a better McDonald's burger, I would go with the Big and Tasty.
So far my favorite of the fast food angus variety has to go to Burger King.
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re: MissyLissey
pdpredtide
Jul 10, 2009 07:41 AM
yeah i really hated it too. just tried it. :( blah!
tastychomps.blogspot.com
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HamburgerToday
Jul 6, 2009 12:17 PM
I used to be a big fan of Chow.com way back in the day when there were intellectual conversations about food - nowadays it pains me to read through a thread like this one. I'm not defending McDonald's but jeez how can you people not know what truth-in-menu laws are all about or even labeling laws in general! Let me see if I can clear some things up:
* angus is a breed of cow
*Ceritfied black angus is a program for the breed of cows and is a great marketing ploy.
* Black Angus is also a breed of cow and Angus cow's can be brown. ( I don't think Mickey D's is advertising certified black angus or even black angus for that matter).
* Most meat manufacturers choose cuts of beef that will have great flavor and texture with the grind that they will use - Using cow pieces parts or "cheap" meat makes for a gristly, fatty and inconsistent burger! I truly doubt that they are using lips and ass!
* if you eat potato chips, popcorn, anything with vanilla (including your birthday cake), or soda you are consuming something that is naturally flavored! come on people! Vanilla extract is not really vanilla - it's made from vanilla but it's not real vanilla! Its a flavor!!! Popcorn is almost never flavored with real butter anymore unless you're making it at home. But flavored potato chips are just that "flavored".
* Educate yourself before you slam something like this! if you hate Mcd like the second poster did to begin with (probably an Hardee's' employee) you probably should start with a disclaimer. -
I live in SC and we will be getting McD's angus burger in August 09... finally. My biggest problem is that they are offering a maushroom burger (gross) WHY aren't they doing a spicy/peppercorn burger with pepperjack cheese?! Also, we have Carl Jr's here, but they call them Hardees. I really really wish we had an IN and Out Burger place here, I would love to try them, but we don't have one close at all. However, my favorite fast food burger is the Flamethrower from Dairy Queen!
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angus isn't a type of meat; it's a type of cow. I find it fascinating, however, that instead of attacking this is in its ads, JAck in the box merely goes for the lowest common denominator: equating the word angus with anus. It probably figures its prime demographic wouldn't give an f about where a piece of meat comes from--ground beef from chopped-up Chilean boys or prize cattle--and just tries to make a point that while no one knows the word "angus" besides ACDC acolytes and fans of the australian band, eveyrone knows "sirloin" which, depending on the cut of meat, might be decent or might be just as generic as chopped beef.
long story short, to quite Zimmerman"
PROPOGANDA ALL IS PHONY!›1 Reply-
re: joeboo
monkuboy
Aug 4, 2007 05:08 PM
That may be true, but people sure remember the JITB ads.. I doubt that had they been more educational that anyone would pay much attention to them. I think Ralph's ought to have a commercial in which people go nosing around inside of a cattleman's house looking for the "Rancher's Reserve."
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't angus beef simply defined as beef from a cow that is over 51% black? Making it a bit of a marketing gimmick by the beef industry?
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re: Fussy Foodie
monkuboy
Jun 11, 2007 08:23 PM
Same as "Ranchers Reserve" beef from Pavilions/Von's and all those other phony fancy names these markets have for their normal beef. One market starts it and all the others jump on the bandwagon. Good thing we've got How's Markets in Southern California.. no silly names, just choice and prime-grade beef that is clearly labeled as such.
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re: Fussy Foodie
Davwud
Jun 13, 2007 12:46 PM
Hurray!!!!
I've been saying Angus Beef is a suckers bet for a long time now. I can't believe how many people are getting sucked in by this crap. Not only is it not better beef, IMNSHO it's not as good as regular beef.
As I always say, "Somewhere PT Barnum is smiling"
DT
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re: Davwud
Vikzen
Jun 13, 2007 12:52 PM
Sucked into this conversation because I too have been forced to eat at fast food chains when on the road and zero to only very dodgy other options. IMHO the Carl's Jr Six-Dollar-Burger is the best choice among CJr's, McD's and Jack in the Box. I tried the "Sirloin Burger" in the middle of nowhere - reluctantly - and I could only eat enough to quell my hunger pangs. It was so peppery! Blah! So $6 gets my vote for best junk food burger.
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re: Fussy Foodie
HamburgerToday
Jul 7, 2009 07:22 AM
Angus is the breed of cow - Angus cow's come in a variety of colors, the most well known being black. The black angus became famous when a group of farmers got together and developed their own program called "certified black angus" it is a very strict grading process. some people (like me) don't believe that the certified black angus beef is all that great but I will admit that it is a very, very consistent product.
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amyzan
Jun 11, 2007 04:58 PM
Okay, I'm not likely to actually try this burger, but I'm going to risk chiming in here. After reading about how McDonald's relies on artificial flavoring cocktails to make their products taste consistent across the continent (and globe for some products,) I am even less interested in their food when hungry and in a hurry. Any company who makes it their practice to flavor the hell out of everything rather than actually start with decent ingredients, bleh, that's the opposite of chow.
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re: rworange
amyzan
Jun 13, 2007 08:11 PM
Wow, that's weird, I must be getting all that from the bun! That's the thing I dislike about McD's, you know? There are so many other places that make burgers without the weirdo flavoring agents. I loved McD's when I was a kid, but back then they were frying in lard. Who didn't love those fries?
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re: rworange
1oo% beef means any part of the cow, that is between the snout, on back to the tail. 100% beef doesn't designate which cut or which quality of beef was used. Remember when Oscar Mayer and other brands of wieners or hotdogs used to claim 100% all meat? How vague can they get? McDonalds use 100% top quality top cut Angus Beef? GET REAL! These are the same people who once used Beef fat to flavor their french fires, rather than just use 100% pure potatoes and deep fry them in the healthiest oil. McDonalds thrives for QUANTITY NO QUALITY!
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re: 1gator
rworange
May 27, 2009 07:39 PM
Um, beef fat is tastier than healthy oil. Fries in duck fat are also tastier.
Though I do agree that top cuts are probably unlikely. Still, you have to know where McDonald's came from. For all the nostalgia about 50's food and burgers, a lot of time those burgers were mystery meat, more likely to have pork or fillers in them When McDonalds came out with their guarantee of 100% beef that was a major quality leap.
And you do ... or many you don't ... have to give them props for keeping it all-beef ... however questionable the cut or cow might be. At least they haven't junked it up with a million chemicals like everthing else in the world
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re: tjr
amyzan
Jul 6, 2009 08:08 PM
Well, I certainly can't argue the opposite with you, considering I haven't traveled the globe eating McDonald's. In fact, I'm not sure where I read that this was their aim back when I posted in 2007! It may hve been Fast Food Nation?!? Not sure. Anyway, I do have the impression McDonald's in concerned with consistency, and want the quarter pounder in Boise to taste the same as the one in LA, as in Miami, etc. Yeah, probably they alter their menu items and flavors for different countries. My point, though, is their use of artificial flavorings. This whole issue turns me off. I heard on KCUR's Good Food last month that pasteurized OJ is always artificially flavored, because the processing removes all volatile oils and natural flavor, in order to make it shippable. Processed OJ tastes like sugar water until they package it and add the flavoring in the packaging process. That is just not good eats, I'm sorry. Mickey D's has the same problem, in my book. It's just a matter of personal preference, so don't be offended if you're a big fan of the place.
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rworange
Jun 9, 2007 10:33 PM
Why is the SF Bay Area always the last to get fast food. I'm still ticked we never got the Popeye's burrito ... anyway ...
I love the new Jack in the Box commercial which talks about the sirloin burger and shows where the sirloin is located on the cow and someone asks Jack to "point to the angus area" since competitors are serving angus burgers.
Jack responds "i'd rather not'. Unfortunately the JITB sirloin burger isn't that tasty and on the dry side ... great commercial though.
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re: rworange
lol - reminds me of Alton Brown's frequent use of his "steer graphs" - they used to be cute, but dang!! Enough!!! If I see Alton use that thing one more time, I'm going to thwack him on the side of da head!!! lol
By the way, my sister tried the MCD Mushroom Burger, she didn't like the taste very much and said it wasn't worth the money. She didn't finish it. -
re: rworange
Sam Fujisaka
Jun 11, 2007 07:21 PM
It was always sophomorically funny driving back to Eugene on the freeway from the south so many years ago when someone would once again have broken the "G" in the big neon letters for the Black Angus steak house that used to be there at the entrance to the town.
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re: Sam Fujisaka
The Black Angus in Stockton, CA, had a similar problem with their sign. Back in the late 70s/early 80s, it was also notorious for establishing plenty of meaningful overnight relationships, many of which started on the dance floor. Those two aspects gave it the nickname "The Black Hole".
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re: rworange
aparently you dont know the differance between angus and sirloin. yes the sirloin is part of a cow but angus is a specific breed of cattle that are known for having leaner meat then outher breeds. this commercial was a prime example of advertising without any factual grounds to support.
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re: c2hurst
One of the criteria (out of 10) required for cattle to be "Certified Angus Beef" (CAB) is that the have a "Modest or higher degree of marbling" so they would not be leaner than other breeds. (http://www.cabpartners.com/facts/faqs...
)While the beef in McDonald's Angus Burger comes from Angus cattle, it is not necessarily from "Certified" Angus cattle (I would bet dollars to doughnuts it isn't).
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re: c2hurst
alanbarnes
Jul 13, 2009 10:15 AM
Apparently you don't know the difference between analysis and humor. Your post is a prime example of a response to an advertisement without any coherent grounds to support.
You've also got your facts wrong. Lean beef is low-quality beef. The Angus breed was developed to maximize intramuscular fat. Kind of the opposite.
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Someone asked this on another thread, but my husband and I tried them and we noticed some kind of weird, salty taste that kind of tasted like an old-fashoned beef burger, but not quite. In other words it tasted as though they were injected with some kind of beef-like juice. I'm not saying it was treated, I'm just saying it tasted as though there were some kind of chemical flavor-enhancer at work. My husband thought it was gross and wouldn't even finish his. I ended up dissecting mine to try to understand what made it taste so odd.
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re: Fuser
A friend told me this was the "best burger of all-time!" So like an idiot, against my better judgement i went out and got one last night. Let me tell you, i noticed that salty-garlic infused taste fuser talked about. It was weird, first of all, it only took 1 minute at the most for me to order and for the burger to be in my car. At carls they at least take time to make the burger. Secondly, this thing is being passed off as angus. The six dollar burger is far better, and of course anything from in-n-out.
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re: Fuser
For one there is a reason that mcdonalds is the largest fast food chain, and it is not because of artifiicial ingredients. The angus is seasoned during the assembly process with a special ratio of butter flavored seasoning to provide optimal taste. To say that any other competitor comes even close is a joke, Mcdonalds offers healthly and tasty options for a decent price. Yes there is some not so healthy items but overall they have came a long way.
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re: Fuser
Um... perhaps that taste was "drowned in MSG".
I know that only a small percentage of the population gets a bad reaction from MSG, but, unfortunately, I'm one of them.
I can say that Mickey D's is no worse than my reaction to Burger King and Wendy's. The only place I've tried recently, that I didn't get a reaction was KFC. I tried their "grilled" chicken. It wasn't bad. It wasn't particularly good, either, but it wasn't bad.
I used to be a junk food junkie, but now -- it just isn't worth the migraine I know is coming.
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Xericx
Apr 3, 2007 11:28 PM
I had one the other day....they are quite big for a McDonalds burger....kind of reminded me of the 6 dollar burger...i joked on another board I post at that Angus has come to mean "thick slice of meat" in the modern vernacular.
It was surprisingly dry...but frankly, wasn't HORRIBLE. I liked it better than Carl's $6.
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re: Xericx
lotta_cox
Apr 21, 2007 09:58 AM
while i won't say it's the best burger i have ever had, i thought it was by far the best burger i have ever had at McDonald's. On the drive to Palm Springs we stopped at a McD's for shakes, and they were offering samples in the drive though line. Pretty tasty. A few weeks later, out and about after a few cocktails I treated myself to a whole one and loved every bite. (There is no Carl's or In'n Out in my hood).
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I have not eaten one of these as of yet, but I just finished chatting with the McDonalds Corporate customer service department, and they are just using generic Black Angus ground beef. The are not using anything special such as Black Angus ground cuck, ground round or ground sirloin, Iso I bet McDonalds is just using the cheapest Black Angus cuts and grinding them up to be ground beef patties. Hardee's at least is using Ground Sirloin for some of their Angus THICK BURGERS. McDonalds may be the biggest, but they will never be the BEST, as they trive for VOLUME sales and to be the BIGGEST fast food chain, but don't seem to be concentrating much on being the best. Places like Culvers, Applebees, Fudruckers, etc will beat McDonalds HANDS DOWN any day, when it comes to PREMIUM burgers.
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re: 1gator
Like you, I saw the ads and while traveling I had a late arrival and was starving. Before I got to the hotel, I drove through a McD's and picked up an Angus burger. Let me just tell you, I called my sister to let her know I'd arrived and told her about the burger; my conclusion was: there is some guy in the McD corp named Angus and they named a burger after him! I was convinced there was no Angus Beef (registered version) in that burger I ate. We had fun with the McD jokes as indigestion began to set in. Our final conclusion? Save your money and your waistline.
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re: 1gator
Besides using "the cheapest cuts", I wonder if they are using the ammonia-treated "trimmings" from Beef products inc. that was exposed by the NY Times in in their Dec. 30, 2009 article, "Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned". I haven't had a McDonald's burger since I read that article, gross!
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