4 ms·

_A_ burger? Sure. _The_ burger? Not by a long shot. I've been trying off and on for a year to recreate my platonic ideal of a burger, the (German) McD Quarterp

_A_ burger? Sure. _The_ burger? Not by a long shot. I've been trying off and on for a year to recreate my platonic ideal of a burger, the (German) McD Quarterpounder with cheese of yore before they switched to their "made to order" system. I've yet to nail either the patty or the bun. Recreating something specific at home is non-trivial.

OJFord 3y ago
But fortunately it's trivial to do better than that specific.
- janfoeh 3y ago
  No, it isn't, which was my point entirely. Besides — are you American? If you are, you are unlikely to know what my _that_ even is. I have eaten at McDonalds in the US, and it's not an experience I would care to repeat. So if that's true, I can kinda see where you are coming from, but still - different strokes and all that jazz?
  - OJFord 3y ago
    I thought your point was about exact reproduction? I was being slightly snidely critical of fast food burgers in general, saying it's easy to make better. (If you really want exact, the only helpful things I can think of which I almost said are to add more/introduce sugar to the bun - yet somehow keep it more like a washing-up sponge than brioche - and cook the burger from frozen, it'll change the texture.) No, I'm British, I don't know how British McDonalds burgers compare to German ones, but it's probably almost 20y since I've had one anyway. I did have one in the Netherlands ..10y ago (though gosh, that visit feels much more recent!) which was certainly different to here, but y'know, it's still fast food.
    - janfoeh 3y ago
      Adding more sugar to the buns is an interesting idea, thanks. I will give that a shot for my next batch. The texture of the patty is one of the things I have nailed; that was just a matter of adding salt into the mince instead of seasoning from the outside - that makes them a little denser, more meatloaf-like, like freezing would. And yeah, the regional differences are interesting. I had my last one in the Netherlands.. 21 years ago, and they still served them in styrofoam containers, many years after they had been phased out in Germany. And in Denmark, you could draft your own condiments into little waffle cones. Cute.
nebula8804 3y ago
Fascinating! The made to order system has them cook the patty "fresh" as shown here: [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IVRlYugm69Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=IVRlYugm69Y Just to be clear, are you trying to mimic the burger as it was made before this new system was introduced? Because that was just a frozen puck...
- janfoeh 3y ago
  Right! I'm talking about the "batch-made burgers resting in a warming cabinet until sold" process. That resting process gives them some time to meld together, I presume. To me, a good burger is a messy, fused together thing that looks as if someone has taken a nap on them. With made-to-order, McDonalds not only lost the "fast" in "fast food", but the result is just some stack of components that is so lukewarm, half of the time the cheese hasn't even melted. Regarding fresh vs. frozen - I honestly do not know whether they have changed anything there, at least here in DE. If they did, I cannot taste the difference, and I regularly grind my own meat at home.
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    In the video they use a seasoning that looks like it is more than salt (maybe salt + black pepper?). Maybe combine a big mac patty with that seasoning and you might get close to the original Quarter pounder? Also did you follow procedures for cooking like they do? (mainly crushing the patty on a grill). >That resting process gives them some time to meld together, I presume. To me, a good burger is a messy, fused together thing that looks as if someone has taken a nap on them. You can do that today by just putting the crushed patty into a warming bin. But its got to be something in the meat mixture that causes all that grease and taste you are looking for. You might be able to find that seasoning on eBay or make friends with someone who works at a mcDonalds and have them sneak out some of the seasoning or some of the uncooked patties so you can compare. At least that should be the proper thinking. If you watch all the videos in the channel above they essentially show every item being made. Its various combinations of mostly the same ingredients. My first job out of school was at a Wendys and I saw the same thing there. Small set of SKUs and all the menu items were various combinations of the same things. The old non freshly made patties have got to be similar to their regular cheeseburger/big mac patties because this is a fast food place so they must be keeping unique SKUs to a minimum. Wikipedia does state that the change in 2018 was a move to fresh beef with "preservatives removed". The way i'd start is by first ordering two items, a big mac with nothing but the meat as well as a quarter pounder with no meat. Then quickly put the patty on the quarter pounder(or just ask them to do this lol). Start with that as a taste test.

OJFord 3y ago

But fortunately it's trivial to do better than that specific.

janfoeh 3y ago
No, it isn't, which was my point entirely. Besides — are you American? If you are, you are unlikely to know what my _that_ even is. I have eaten at McDonalds in the US, and it's not an experience I would care to repeat. So if that's true, I can kinda see where you are coming from, but still - different strokes and all that jazz?
- OJFord 3y ago
  I thought your point was about exact reproduction? I was being slightly snidely critical of fast food burgers in general, saying it's easy to make better. (If you really want exact, the only helpful things I can think of which I almost said are to add more/introduce sugar to the bun - yet somehow keep it more like a washing-up sponge than brioche - and cook the burger from frozen, it'll change the texture.) No, I'm British, I don't know how British McDonalds burgers compare to German ones, but it's probably almost 20y since I've had one anyway. I did have one in the Netherlands ..10y ago (though gosh, that visit feels much more recent!) which was certainly different to here, but y'know, it's still fast food.
  - janfoeh 3y ago
    Adding more sugar to the buns is an interesting idea, thanks. I will give that a shot for my next batch. The texture of the patty is one of the things I have nailed; that was just a matter of adding salt into the mince instead of seasoning from the outside - that makes them a little denser, more meatloaf-like, like freezing would. And yeah, the regional differences are interesting. I had my last one in the Netherlands.. 21 years ago, and they still served them in styrofoam containers, many years after they had been phased out in Germany. And in Denmark, you could draft your own condiments into little waffle cones. Cute.

nebula8804 3y ago

Fascinating! The made to order system has them cook the patty "fresh" as shown here: [1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IVRlYugm69Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=IVRlYugm69Y Just to be clear, are you trying to mimic the burger as it was made before this new system was introduced? Because that was just a frozen puck...

janfoeh 3y ago
Right! I'm talking about the "batch-made burgers resting in a warming cabinet until sold" process. That resting process gives them some time to meld together, I presume. To me, a good burger is a messy, fused together thing that looks as if someone has taken a nap on them. With made-to-order, McDonalds not only lost the "fast" in "fast food", but the result is just some stack of components that is so lukewarm, half of the time the cheese hasn't even melted. Regarding fresh vs. frozen - I honestly do not know whether they have changed anything there, at least here in DE. If they did, I cannot taste the difference, and I regularly grind my own meat at home.
- nebula8804 3y ago
  In the video they use a seasoning that looks like it is more than salt (maybe salt + black pepper?). Maybe combine a big mac patty with that seasoning and you might get close to the original Quarter pounder? Also did you follow procedures for cooking like they do? (mainly crushing the patty on a grill). >That resting process gives them some time to meld together, I presume. To me, a good burger is a messy, fused together thing that looks as if someone has taken a nap on them. You can do that today by just putting the crushed patty into a warming bin. But its got to be something in the meat mixture that causes all that grease and taste you are looking for. You might be able to find that seasoning on eBay or make friends with someone who works at a mcDonalds and have them sneak out some of the seasoning or some of the uncooked patties so you can compare. At least that should be the proper thinking. If you watch all the videos in the channel above they essentially show every item being made. Its various combinations of mostly the same ingredients. My first job out of school was at a Wendys and I saw the same thing there. Small set of SKUs and all the menu items were various combinations of the same things. The old non freshly made patties have got to be similar to their regular cheeseburger/big mac patties because this is a fast food place so they must be keeping unique SKUs to a minimum. Wikipedia does state that the change in 2018 was a move to fresh beef with "preservatives removed". The way i'd start is by first ordering two items, a big mac with nothing but the meat as well as a quarter pounder with no meat. Then quickly put the patty on the quarter pounder(or just ask them to do this lol). Start with that as a taste test.