Nothing like happiness more than easy happiness!

Yep, Bubba burgers are great for a gathering! We love ribeye burgers from our local Brookshire's ( a local grocery chain) when it's just us. They are fatty enough (70/30) to allow the burgers to withstand grilling and quite tasty!

I used to buy them regularly, mainly for convenience, and we liked them fine. Then one day I was out of them and bought some regular 80/20, formed some burgers by hand and grilled them. The family raved, and I never went back.

Part of it might be the chef’s fault. I feel like I tended to really overcook the outer portions before the frozen center came to temp. And although I’m not aware of anything inherently more dangerous about Bubba Burgers, I somehow didn’t feel comfortable cooking them below FDA guidelines.

I bought a box of the smashburgers recently and have been pretty pleased. I prefer the fresh 80/20 chuck but these are pretty good. Because they are so thin, there is no issues with cooking through while retaining moisture.

I can't remember the last time I bought hamburger in any form. I still have about 75 pounds left from the steer we had butchered back in February. It needs to last until the next steer is ready to process about this time next year.

Never heard of bubba burger. What is it? Regional maybe?

^Same for me.

Frozen all beef patties, among other meats ans flavors.

I'm reluctant to imagine that frozen anything is better than fresh. I guess with this product there's a convenience factor of having it on hand. We don't keep a supply of anything we might want to have at some indeterminant time in the future. It's easy enough to go to a nearby store to fill any unexpected food whim.

lonejack, you might want to consider getting some fresh food in place of your 1+ year old items sitting in a freezer.

Obviously, you've never eaten home grown beef. Even out of the freezer is fresher than anything commercially harvested.

lonejack, you might want to consider getting some fresh food in place of your 1+ year old items sitting in a freezer.

Why? Other than your own opinion, is there some substantive reason you think frozen goods are inferior to fresh?

" Other than your own opinion, is there some substantive reason you think frozen goods are inferior to fresh? "

If you disagree, answer your own question for yourself first, why you think they're comparable.

I acknowledge the convenience factor. And that for some seasonal produce items processed soon after harvest, having them frozen means they can be enjoyed for a longer periods in the year.

Many items degrade when frozen. In my experience, meat that's been frozen loses elements of flavor, texture and juicyness.

If you're making a meal for tonight that you want to be special for guests, do you buy frozen ingredients to prepare or do you go the places you know that have high quality fresh foods to choose from and get your ingredients at such places?

Another question for you, gardengal. For your special dinner, you decide you want to make fish or seafood. Are you not more attracted to items labeled as Fresh, Never Frozen in preference to what might be the same thing labeled as Previously Frozen? Most people are. It's no mystery why.

It depends on how the meat is frozen. If it's a freezer compartment in a refrigerator, raw meat will not hold well for long and will likely degrade in the freezing process. Flash frozen meat, properly wrapped and held in a manual defrost deep freeze will last for months. There's no damage in the freezing process and properly defrosted and cooked will be equivalent of fresh. There's a bit more variability with ground because of the air and loose liquid, but vacuum packed and flash frozen (and properly defrosted and cooked) is equivalent to vacuum packed fresh. This is generally better than freezing ground loose, though many uses of ground meat disguise any defects from the freezing process. Any preparation requiring loose ground beef (I assume for other meats as well) will be much better if it's not vacuum sealed or frozen, such as thick burgers below fully medium temp, and tartare, which I believe EJF mentioned before was a favorite. That might be coloring the perception.

I have no issue with frozen food, provided it has been prepared and wrapped properly for storage. The question was directed to YOU, Elmer. Your experience, as vast as you claim it to be, obviously does not match up with the majority.

Some items I favor are simply not available fresh - only frozen. According to your 'logic', I should never avail myself of them?

I told of my experiences and preferences, gardengal. And why.

Many people have freezers packed with food. I don't, Other than a few convenience items (really, just a few), I prefer fresh anything to frozen anything when I have a choice. I'm happy to eat based on seasonal or market availability. Which for me, where I live, is more things longer than others can enjoy.

The majority of people eat fast food. Highly processed food. Little variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and infrequent salads. That doesn't describe our diet at all. What the "majority" does, which you state without support, who cares? Should I feel peer pressure to eat what I don't prefer because others do? Nonsense.

And you being a Puget Sounder, I think it's easy to guess without your response that if two otherwise identical salmon items are within your budget, cost is not a consideration, and one says Fresh, Never Frozen and the other says Previously Frozen, which you would choose. You'd ask when the Fresh item came in and if it were the same day or day before, you'd take it. You can duck the question about why because the why is obvious.

You're welcome to do you, I can do me.

It appears you would prefer to do me as well as yourself. You are making unfounded assumptions on what I would choose to purchase or eat - based solely on your personal perception - not on any concrete knowlege.

And you need to brush up on your reading comprehension. At no point did I infer you should eat anything other than what you prefer. You have made that issue blatantly clear many, many times. And by majority, I was referring to the responders here, virtually all of which appear to have no issue with frozen food products.

Again, it is your unfounded assumption that "The majority of people eat fast food. Highly processed food. Little variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and infrequent salads." Really? Got any statisics to support that startling contention?

“Flash frozen meat, properly wrapped and held in a manual defrost deep freeze will last for months. There's no damage in the freezing process and properly defrosted and cooked will be equivalent of fresh. ”

Absolutely agree!

We all know things in our "general knowledge" from just living year after year and observing life around us. Not assumptions. Not everyone has the self confidence to describe things they've picked up along the way in conversation. Sometimes they're wrong, that takes self-confidence to accept too.

If you like stats for things that I think THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE KNOW, here's one I just got from an AI response to your question:

" About 32% of American adults eat fast food on any given day, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Broader surveys show that roughly 75% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week "

The source is the Centers for Disease Control.

There have been more than enough responses over time- a person who never had Italian or Mexican food as a child, another who rarely eats lettuce in salads, another who eats no fish, another who talks about multiple versions of home fried food, another mentioning that their spouse prefers beef and potatoes for dinner most nights, and on and on, to know that many here - the "majority" you find so endearing - do not eat diets as healthy as what the experts recommend and what others eat.

Homegrown beef, processed and flash frozen immediately is in no way comparable to frozen vs fresh fish. Tho I’d rather have fish that has been frozen at sea than fresh fish that’s more than a couple days old. Frozen at sea is common winter available fish, because many species arent available fresh. It’s high quality (at least here). So if I wanted salmon for a special dinner, previously frozen wouwould be a fine choice, as would be my homegrown beef from the freezer.

Much game fish is frozen at sea. Most sushi fish are frozen to very low temperatures to kill parasites.

I think you mean sashimi rather than sushi.

I don't eat tuna other than raw or canned. I understand the need to first freeze many items eaten raw for parasites.

Salmon (or any other fish or seafood) I will always choose Never Frozen over Thawed or frozen. When I have a choice. As for other things I prefer to eat.

Everyone and anyone are welcome to feel otherwise and have their own preferences. There's nothing more personal than what we each choose to eat and we're all different.

Just in this one thread alone:

"Everyone and anyone are welcome to feel otherwise and have their own preferences"

"You're welcome to do you"

Who else here thinks they need bestow permission to others? Certainly not me, nor one other person I can think of.

Damn, another pissing match! I hope someone walks away with some good feelings.

I'm not a Japanese chef. I only know reporting I've seen both in print and TV, and the info from a brief web search. They say fish for sushi. I'm sure sashimi is also. Acid "cooking" affects texture, but doesn't kill the parasite eggs.. That takes a week below zero. This includes wild caught salmon. The truly never frozen are generally farmed.

pllog, I'm not a Japanese chef either.

The raw fish is called sashimi. A preparation that often includes rice around or under other ingredients is sushi. Sushi can include pieces of raw fish (the sashimi), or in need not have any fish at all. A California roll, a popular type of sushi, has no raw fish. Typical ingredients in one are avocado, cucumber, surimi (imitation crab) or less commonly, cooked crab, and nori (seaweed).

Freshly caught and never frozen salmon can be found during summer months in the Bay Area. Some of it's local, some may come from a bit farther north, up the coast.

Yeah. A Japanese friend makes PBJ sushi rolls, and I'm convinced those didn't have to be pre-frozen. The common parlance here is to refer to fish used to make sushi "sushi fish" or "fish for sushi", and when fish handlers on TV say sushi fish is frozen etc., I think most people understand what's being said. I didn't know that the Bay area salmon season was back. Good to know.

"Local" commercial and sport salmon fishing has been closed for the last three years and reopened this year. I only eat it, I don't fish it, so I don't know the geographical boundaries of the moratorium, how much of the coast was involved.