
The Magician of Meat: How Pat LaFrieda Reinvented the Burger - smacktoward
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/65124/
======
frgtpsswrdlame
I actually can't tell, is this article an advertisement?

~~~
gowld
It's a PR fluff piece.

------
creaghpatr
>There was a time when the idea of turning a piece of dry-aged beef into a
burger would be considered an act of blasphemy, not unlike shredding a Chanel
gown to make a bandanna.

There still is a time: right now. I could wipe my butt with a $100 bill to see
if it would make a good artisan toilet paper, but even the most ardent toilet
paper enthusiast is going to have limits.

Edit: there is a winner in this story, it's Shake Shack and their patrons.

~~~
ceejayoz
Yeah, the idea of using prime beef in a burger is... weird.

The point of prime is it's better marbled. You can get that same effect in a
burger by just adjusting the fat/meat mix. I grind mine to about 20% fat, but
you can pick pretty much any proportion.

~~~
koolba
> The point of prime is it's better marbled. You can get that same effect in a
> burger by just adjusting the fat/meat mix. I grind mine to about 20% fat,
> but you can pick pretty much any proportion.

You can adjust the meat to fat ratio but you can't get the >100% beef flavor
that comes with dry aging. If you add non-prime beef jerky to the equation I
think it could be done but with just chuck and fat you can't create the same
set of combinations as you're limited by the maximum "meatiness" of your
initial meat.

~~~
ceejayoz
Dry-aging is a different thing entirely. Prime meat isn't necessarily dry-
aged, and you can dry-age choice meat too.

~~~
moate
But the meat in the article is Dry-Aged Prime beef. To make a statement solely
about the fact that LaFrieda was using Prime beef without also bringing up
that it was Dry Aged removes important information about the product he was
using.

~~~
ceejayoz
Right, and I'm saying that dry-aging _prime_ beef to use for burgers is weird.
If you want the dry-aged taste and it's gonna be going in a burger, you might
as well dry-age some choice meat and add a little more fat.

------
smolsky
Food porn. Love it!

