Are you Mac Enough?

A Guide to Homemade Big Macs

By Dan D. Hallberg, 2 time McDonalds Employee of the Month
It strikes without warning. It knows your weakness and will not stop until it gets what it wants.
I am talking of course about (dun dun duuuun) the Big Mac attack. That strange urge rumbling
deep in the depths of your stomach demanding two-all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,
pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. The most obious course of action is to drie to your
local golden arches and pick up a little taste of nirana on ! buns, but what if your locality
happens to be in the middle of "outh #akota where there are no fast-food places for seeral
miles$ Though this seems unlikely, it is neer the less possible, therefore this guide will help
you stem off your craing, at least until Mc#onalds reali%es that there is not a restaurant in your
area and builds one.
What Youll Need
To make a Big Mac on your own will re&uire at least minimal cooking skill as well as the
ingredients to make one sandwich as listed below. If eerything goes smoothly and you hae all
the necessary items, this process should take about half and hour.
Cooking Utensils !ecial auce "ngredients and#ich "ngredients
'rying (an or flat
skillet suitable for
cooking hamburger
"patula
Measuring spoons
(Teaspoon and
Tablespoon)
Measuring )up
* cup or bowl for
mi+ing
* small amount of
plastic wrap
"ome utensil to stir
with
)utting board and
chopping knife
, of a cup of
Thousand Island
#ressing
- teaspoon of white
sugar
- teaspoon of
cornstarch
. lbs. of ground
beef
*ppro+imately -
cup of shredded
lettuce
*ppro+imately -
tablespoon of finely
diced onions
Three dill pickle
slices
- slice of *merican
cheese
*ppro+imately -
tablespoon
combined e&ual
parts of salt and
pepper
"pray on cooking oil
- standard sesame
seed hamburger bun,
plus an additional
bottom half
Alternate !ecial auce
/ cup of
mayonnaise
. cup of ketchup
- teaspoon of sweet
pickle relish
- teaspoon of white
sugar
- teaspoon of
cornstarch
Getting tarted
*ll of the ingredients aboe can be found at most grocery stores. 0hen buying ground beef I
recommend you get e+tra lean, howeer it is not re&uired. Be warned that if you buy pre-made
hamburger patties that they will be much larger then an actual Big Mac1s patties and the taste
will be less authentic. It is also recommended that you get 'at-'ree Thousand Island dressing.
"haing off calories when you can is always a good idea. *s far as buying egetables go, use
your best 2udgment. Mc#onalds uses pre-shredded lettuce and small dehydrated onions in its
Big Macs. (re-shredded lettuce should be readily aailable3 howeer dehydrated onions
probably won1t, meaning you1ll probably hae to chop them yourself. 4nce you1e gotten all of
the ingredients together, you can begin.
Making !ecial auce
*nybody who1s eaten a Big Mac knows the special sauce sets it apart from other wannabe
sandwiches. "ince it is ideal to let the sauce chill in a refrigerator before use we1ll start here.
-. Measure out about , of a cup of Thousand Island dressing into your mi+ing cup or bowl
5. *dd - teaspoon of sugar to the dressing and then your - teaspoon of cornstarch
!. "tir until the mi+ture is consistent without any lumps other then the relish that1s in the
dressing
6. )oer the cup of dressing with the plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for later
$i!% If you plan on making more then one Big Mac, or 2ust like the sauce, you can make it in
bulk by multiplying the ingredients to fit your needs.
Cooking the Ham&urger
This will probably be the most difficult part of making the Big Mac. 7specially if one has little
cooking e+perience, therefore it is extremely important to follow these directions, so that your
Big Mac is both tasty and safe to eat.
-. 0ash your hands 3 you1re going to be handling raw meat
5. Take your &uarter pound of ground beef and form it into two separate patties. They
should be appro+imately the diameter of a coffee mug and about as thick as three &uarters
stacked on top of each other.
!. 0ash your hands again since you1re done handling raw meat
6. 8ightly spray your skillet or frying pan with cooking spray and place on your stoe top
burner at medium9medium high heat
:. *fter the pan has heated for !; seconds to - minute, use your spatula to place the patties
in the frying pan so you don1t get raw meat on your hands again
<. 8et the hamburger cook on one side until brown and then flip. This will take
appro+imately 5-! minutes
=. 4nce you1e flipped the burgers, salt and pepper both burgers
>. 0hile the other side of the burgers are grilling, place all three buns sandwich side down
on the grilling surface away from the burgers for toasting
Note% It is possible that your buns will be done toasting before the burgers are done since it only
takes about !; seconds to - minute for the bread to toast, if this appears to be the case, then
remoe them from the pan before they burn.
?. 4nce the burgers are browned on both sides, moe the pan off of the heat and let the
burgers sit. If the pan you are using has a top, coer them
WA'N"NG% Eating meat that has not been fully cooked is extremely dangerous. It is
imperatie that you make sure your burger patties are cooked completely through before
eating them. !o test if a burger is done, press it on a "hite plate and make sure the grease
runs clear. If it runs pink or red then it needs to be cooked longer.
Assem&ling your Big Mac
The moment of truth has arried. @ow is the time to make your Big Mac. Though almost
eeryone knows the song about what is on a Big Mac, few notices how it is constructed. Aou
will now be gien inside information on how a Big Mac is assembled.
-. It is important to distinguish which bun is which. 4ne bottom bun will be the actual
bottom bun of the entire sandwich, while the other will act as the center. The part with
the sesame seeds will be the crown. It makes no difference which half you decide is the
bottom and which is the middle, so long as you remember throughout the process of
making it
5. *rrange the buns so that the bottom bun is closest to you and that the crown directly
aboe it, then place the middle bun toasted side up on the crown ('igure -)
!. Take the special sauce from the fridge and e&ually distribute it on the toasted surfaces of
the bottom and middle buns ('igure 5)
6. #o the same thing with your finely diced onions, and then your shredded lettuce ('igure
!)
:. 4n the bottom bun, place your slice of *merican cheese ('igure 6)
<. 4n your middle bun, place your three dill pickle slices ('igure :)
=. @ow using your spatula, place one burger patty on the bottom bun and one on the middle
bun ('igure <)
>. Bsing your spatula again, place the entire middle section of the sandwich on top of the
bottom section ('igure =)
?. (lace the crown on top of the middle section ('igure >)
You (id "t)
"uccessC If you followed these instructions closely, you hae 2ust completed making your Big
Mac. @ow you can scarf down your faorite sandwich while you go house shopping for a place
near ciili%ation, so that when your Big Mac attack strikes again you can hit the drie-thru.
*A+
My ham&urgers arent the si,e o- regular Big Mac ham&urgers a-ter grilling. #hy is that?
o )hances are that the ground beef your purchased had more fat in it then
Mc#onalds hamburgers hae, causing some of the meat to cook down. @e+t time
make your patties a little bigger or buy leaner meat.
What i- " make my Big Mac #ith !re/made ham&urger !atties?
o This is fine if you want a bigger sandwich, but most fro%en hamburger patties are
. pound on their own. Aou may need more condiments on your sandwich to
compensate. 'or a more authentic flaor, use smaller patties.
What do " do #ith the e0tra &un?
o There are lots of things you could do. Aou could toast it and eat it like a bagel
with cream cheese or butter. Aou could sae it and make garlic toast out of it, or
make mini pi%%as. Aou could feed birds with it. The only limit is your
imaginationC