Vincent & Jules approved.
(Image courtesy Miramax)
Well, not really a quarter pound — but closer to a quarter pound than it used to be:
According to an internal document obtained by CNBC, the chain will be rolling out a new patty next month that weighs 4.25 ounces before cooking and also has a different shape.
The current McDonald’s Quarter Pounder patty starts out at four ounces pre-cooking and shrinks to about 2.8 ounces before it’s assembled on a bun. In the memo, McDonald’s also details “new assembly” procedures for the burgers to make the searing on the meat more visible and toast the buns for longer.
It might seem like an odd move for the chain to tweak one of its most recognizable menu items, but the document said the change to the patties “improves the taste, texture and appearance of the burgers” and the meat will “retain more moisture resulting in a juicier and more flavorful burger.”
I can’t find the link, but I read a while back that internally, McD refers to its standard patties as “tens.” That’s because there are ten of them to a pound, or 1.6 ounces each — and one “ten” per standard hamburger.
By way of comparison, when I grill sliders here at Casa Verde, I start by forming miniature patties out of two ounces of beef. That’s right: My sliders contain 25% more beef — and of higher quality — than a full-size McDonalds burger. So if they’re serious about upping the beef content in their Quarter Pounder, then maybe the company is starting to get itself on the right track.
But they’re still going nowhere fast until they fix what they broke with those tasteless, soggy, sad little fries.
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