Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Sabrett Hamburger Review

What:
Sabrett Hamburgers

Build:
1/4 lb. Burger patty (single & double), fried onions, dill pickle chips, Velveeta Cheese, hamburger bun.

Comments:
Sabrett hotdogs are an icon in the tri-state metro area. Affectionately known as "dirty water dogs", they are the staple of every hotdog pushcart in New York and New Jersey. Their casings have a trademark "snap" when bitten and their recipe allegedly contains more garlic than any other hotdog on the market, giving them their unique flavor profile. Sorry Chicago, Sabrett hotdogs are in a different league than your "Vienna Sausages" (take that Abe Froman).

"Yes Virgina, Sabrett actually makes hamburgers too".

I rarely post homecooked foods, but I think Sabrett's hamburgers deserve this honorable mention, at the very least.

I stumbled onto Sabrett's frozen hamburger patties at a local grocery store last summer, so naturally I had to try them. I grabbed the box from the freezer and when I saw the price tag I promptly put them back on the shelf. Fourteen ($14) bucks for 8 - 1/4 lb frozen burgers - WHOA!

I then proceeded to talk myself off the ledge with a quick, internal, "life is short" speech, and put them back in my shopping cart.

Pay no attention to the photo on the box cover which shows grill lines on the burger! These burgers are to be cooked on a flat grill or pan fried ONLY! And be forewarned, they cook very fast. In hindsight, I should've thawed the patties before cooking them, but my curiosity was peaking and I was hangry.

These burgers should not be cooked beyond a temperature of medium! In fact, the best thing to do is to take them off the grill while still medium-rare, and let them finish cooking (in the bun with the toppings) wrapping them in foil or waxed paper to allow them to rest for a full 5 minutes. I call this tempering. That's probably not the correct term for this, but I like it. Tempering, yes, good.

So here it is...
I felt the meat was pressed a bit too tight causing the burger to resist the bite just a little too much for me. However, with that said, they will most likely be okay as long as you don't over-cook them like I did. The burgers have a great old-fashioned, rendered beef fat taste that sent me back to my childhood in the 1960's.

~~Cue the flashback sequence~~

The 1960's was a time when the most popular frozen hamburgers were a brand called "Topps". The Topps Meat Company was established in 1940 in Elizabeth, NJ and by 2007 they were one of the country's largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers. Later that same year, a breakout of E-Coli contamination in the factory caused by "inadequate sanitation" led to the company's demise in October, (damn shame).

Topps burgers were made to be cooked over a charcoal grill, making them the tri-state area's most popular hamburgers for decades. Wherever there was a cookout, you'd find Topps Frozen Hamburgers.

*Cookout is the Jerseyan term for "outdoor picnic".

Back to Sabrett's...

Both the aroma, and the flavor of the meat are spot-on, and it was a familiar flavor that made me think, "I've tasted these burgers before" - somewhere in Jersey - maybe at Hiram's Road Stand in Fort Lee, or perhaps in Wayne at the old Anthony Wayne Grill that closed decades ago, or was it in Cedar Grove at Friendly's Ice Cream in the early 70's? Perhaps it's the Hot Grill's burger in Clifton? I get the distinct feeling Sabrett hamburgers are all around us - and always have been.

All in all, and at the very least, Sabrett hamburgers are worth a try. So get creative and send me photos.

Sorry, no autopsy shots this time....

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Whole Foods Market BUR GER - Wayne, NJ

Where:
Valley Ridge Shopping Center
560 Valley Rd, Wayne, NJ

What:
Classic - Lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, special sauce, American cheese.

Comments:
Something went wrong...

My daughter and her family couldn't wait to get to the much anticipated opening of Whole Foods in our town. They visited the store just two days after it opened on Saturday, September 17th and they were gushing over the burgers, saying how they are better than Shake Shacks! Sampling the new burger in town was on my mind for weeks until I finally arrived there on Wednesday, Oct., 14th.

My son-in-law is a food service director by profession, and he and my daughter are both professional chefs. My son-in-law was so excited about the burger that he described it to me down to the smallest detail. (BTW, he ordered both the grass fed patty and the WFM blend patty and rated the blend better tasting, and with a better texture than the grass fed). Lastly, he told me; "even the bun was perfect, it was a toasted potato bun with a perfect burger-to-bun ratio".

His description does not match the burger bun I was served... not even close.

I was served the... "ut oh, we ran out of burger buns, go get some brioche rolls from the bakery to get us through the night" buns.

Now, I can't prove this is what happened, but check out the autopsy shot below, showing the oversized, (horribly dry) roll I was served. It sucked every bit of moisture out of what could have been a great burger experience. I'm not going to belabor this, but the person taking my order really should've told me of the apparent substitution in order to give me (the customer) a chance to decide if I was okay with it or not. I pray this is not Whole Foods new choice of burger bun.

Sadly, this burger only rates a 6/10 on the BC rating scale.

Everyone's entitled to a bad day so stay tuned for my next review of the burger, because I will (of course), give the WF burger a second try.

FAST FORWARD TO OCTOBER, 2021 -

I visited the burger bar at WF for the sole purpose of getting to the bottom of the burger bun debacle. The gentleman behind the counter said they were still serving the huge, dry brioche buns and that is was not a decision made by a store manager, it came from higher up. WTF Whole Foods???

AWFUL BURGER BUN!!!

Monday, October 12, 2020

Arby's - Neptune Township, NJ

Where:
3585 NJ-66, Neptune Township, NJ 07753

What:
-Beef 'N Cheddar sandwich

-Jalapeno Roast Beef Slider

-Ham Slider

-Chicken Slider

-Sweet Potato Waffle Fries

You eat hotdogs don't you?

After all the mystery-meat videos, articles, reviews and obnoxious TV hosts over the years, I finally got around to experiencing Arby's first hand.

Let me start by saying, the "roast beef" is in no way, a traditional roast beef. Arby's has managed to transform a traditional sandwich meat into a processed, modern-day imposter. If it looks like the real thing, smells like the real thing, and has texture like the real thing, for the sake of convenience, we're going to eat it. I'm not saying Arby's meat isn't real, on the contrary, here is Arby's roast beef ingredients cut and pasted from their website:

Beef, Water, Salt, Sodium Phosphates.

So, contrary to some of the crazy press Arby's roast beef receives, the meat is actually beef - this is good. We can assume Arby's does not use 100% beef since it is not mentioned. This doesn't mean there are worms or ears in there.

The sodium phosphate found in the beef is a form of sodium that acts as a preservative which can also change the texture of foods, but it's used in very small amounts, so we'll assume this ingredient isn't all that bad for you.

So? What transformation is happening to Arby's beef between the farm and the drive-thru window? Perhaps a better question to ask would be; why is it happening?

I can't answer these questions, but I can comment on my Arby's experience, and after trying the roast beef, I got the distinct impression it's made similarly to the hotdog process. It's as if the beef is enhanced with flavorings while being pulverized into a slurry, after which, it is injected into a plastic casing where it gets it's shape before cooking. These casings would be roast beef sized casings as opposed to hotdog-sized.

Take a look at these screenshots taken from a behind-the-scenes YouTube video at Arby's, this piece of meat just came out of the oven, or whatever that cooking machine is. My hotdog analogy might not be too far-fetched...

Beef is cooked at 200 degrees for 48 hours...

Then kept in a warming oven until used...

The beef is then sliced and weighed per order...

Each portion of The Classic Beef 'N Cheddar is 3oz.

Now let me be clear, I am not bashing Arby's in any way, I'm just trying to understand how they arrive at the texture of their beef. It was nothing like roast beef, yet it was neither spongy nor tough nor dry either, in fact, there was nothing unpleasant about it at all. However, the texture does feel a bit like you're eating roast beef flavored bologna; which would be another nod to my analogy.

Enough analysis, here it is:

First, the sliders -

The chicken slider sucked, it was dry and bready.

The ham & cheese slider was surprisingly good. The ham color looks more like turkey than ham, but it tasted like good ham.

With jalapeno's that tasted freshly cut, the jalapeno roast beef slider was also a surprise .

Before moving on to The Classic Beef 'N Cheddar, I'll need to mention the "Horsey" sauce. It's a light horseradish flavored sauce that does a great job of enhancing the sandwiches. I strongly recommend it.

The Classic Beef 'N Cheddar was by far the most respectable sandwich of the bunch. The beef-to-bun ratio was spot-on and the decision to put all this inside a toasted (and very fresh) poppy seed onion roll is nothing shy of genius. The cheese is Arby's version of Kraft's Cheese Whiz, with it's sharp, cheesy flavor just enough to be a perfect match for the serving size.

That's it, mystery meat or not, it's a decent, satisfying sandwich with no gastric side effects. Did I mention you get 2 for $6 dollars? Don't be a food snob, go and try a Classic Beef 'N Cheddar.

The sweet potato fries get an honorable mention... very good.

I'll be reviewing Arby's Reuben sandwich next time, (it shocked me)...

My bag of booty from the Arby's drive-thru window

Sweet Potato Waffle Fries

Ham & Cheese Slider (looks more like turkey, right?)

Jalapeno & Cheese Roast Beef Slider

Chicken & Cheese Slider was, "meh"...

The line-up L to R,

Classic Beef 'N Cheddar-Sweet Potato Waffle Fries-Ham Slider-Jalapeno & Beef slider-Chicken Slider

Classic Beef 'N Cheddar

The Classic Beef 'N Cheddar glamour shot vs. my actual photo.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Burgermaster, Seattle, WA

Where:

3040 NE 45th St

Seattle, WA 98105

What:
1 - Burger Melt

Two ground beef patties, two slices of cheese, ketchup & mustard on a toasted bun (I added raw onion).

2 - Grilled Ham & Cheese

Between slices of sourdough bread and grilled to a golden brown.

3 - Burgermaster

A ground beef patty, American cheese, tomato, lettuce & relish on a toasted bun

Comments:

I'm not sure I'd recommend traveling to Seattle Washington these days, but I had the pleasure of being there last October on a business trip. It's a beautiful state, although right now, it's not in a very beautiful state.

I was inquiring with a business associate about burgers (of course) and he pointed me to a small local family-owned burger establishment with a few locations across the Seattle area called, "Burgermaster". He, like so many others from the area, spoke highly of the burgers, and so I had to see one for myself.

Bottom line; it was a bit of a disappointment for me. The burger had great potential, however like many burger establishments, the potential was lost in the execution. I'll never understand why a restaurant that specializes in burgers, (is actually called, "Burgermaster") insists on taking a fresh, never frozen meat patty and cooks it far too long on the grill. The flavor was great, but the doneness of the burger made it tough and actually a bit chewy. The condiments propped it up a bit giving it some degree of moisture, but in the end, it was just an "okay" burger.

The grilled ham and cheese was "just okay" with a generous amount of butter on the sourdough bread giving it a perfect crispy shell.

The Burgermelt was by far, the winner of the day. The not-so-well-done double patties with all-the-way condiments made this sandwich the tastiest of the three.

The next time I visit I'm going to taste the grilled Dungeness crab & swiss on grilled sourdough.

The perfect burger-to-bun-ratio was just enough to eek-out a 6/10 on the BC rating scale.