The Difference Between McDonald's And Culver's Beef

For a dish as fundamentally simple as ground beef on bread, burgers can taste wildly different depending on how they are made. This is partly because not all ground beef is the same: the cuts of meat used still matter, even if it's all ground up just the same. And this difference can be seen, among other places, between McDonald's and Culver's.

McDonald's states that its burger patties are made of ground beef trimmings, with chuck, round, and sirloin specifically named as some of the cuts used. However, Culver's ButterBurgers are a blend of three specific cuts: chuck, sirloin, and plate. The difference isn't just in Culver's specific use of plate beef; It also uses whole cuts, as opposed to McDonald's, which uses trimmings.

The Golden Arches' reliance on beef trimmings for its burger patties is a sacrifice in quality made to make the burgers more affordable to produce and sell. Any ground beef often includes at least some fat trimmings, but McDonald's patties are entirely made of assorted meat scraps. Culver's, on the other hand, uses a specific blend of just three cuts for a more curated (and many would say better) burger experience. It may also use some trimmings, but not to McDonald's extent, and that restraint shows.

Custom beef blends are a big part of why restaurant burgers often taste better than homemade. Anywhere that sells a quality burger is putting more thought into the flavors and textures than simply using the equivalent of grocery store generic ground beef. And when it comes to the eating experience, not all blends are made equal. 

The best burgers typically feature some of the best cuts for ground beef, like chuck and sirloin. Chuck has a meat/fat ratio that's naturally ideal for burgers, and lean sirloin adds an appropriate amount of firmness to each bite. It's understandable why McDonald's would name these two among its assorted beef trimmings, but it stands out that Culver's burger blend is predominantly chuck and sirloin. 

The third beef cut in Culver's blend, plate, is fatty and rich with meaty flavor, which makes it a perfect thing to add to a burger. The Wisconsin-born chain clearly put particular thought into how its patty mixture would taste, and the popularity of its ButterBurgers is a testament to that. McDonald's also put consideration into its medley of beef trimmings, but likely with more emphasis on lower operating costs. Nobody can doubt that chain's successes, either.