Hamburger patties... frozen or fresh?

[isaac]

Hello all! I was wondering if it is better to grind meat and make your own hamburgers or to at least buy fresh ground meat and make them versus buying them frozen from a vendor?

Any thoughts?

[kuan]

I saw your other post about being hired as Exec. Chef in Oregon and first of all, congrats. I wish you many healthy years as a chef.

The first piece of advice I have here is as a chef, you will need to create your own specs. Then get your sales guys together and start cutting frozen patties vs. fresh, etc. Some smaller houses may be able to match your spec, but many larger producers have what they have and that's it.

Good luck!

Kuan

[thebighat]

Isaac--for every question you have about a product you'll find that the account rep for any major food service supplier will have an answer, because he has a product to fill that need. We went through the same thing with hamburger at the club I worked at, and found a really nice preformed pattie from Hallsmith Sysco. But the previous poster was right...spec everything out...do you want this,...or that, and when you have those questions answered, then look for the product. Good Luck. You are in for a ride.

[Suzanne]

Hmm, let's see: what other beef items do you serve, and how do you purchase them? Do you do your own butchering, and therefore have sufficient usable trim, or that you can supplement if necessary? Do you have the staff to do the necessary work? What price point are your customers comfortable with, and how does each alternative meet that? What volume of burgers do you sell? What's your storage space like?

Each of these questions is just a part of the larger analysis you'll have to do to determine which is "better." It is not a simple question.