The Big Mac is one of my most favorite things in the world. I *love* Big Macs. I have a Big Mac twice a year. Memorial Day and Labor Day. I read nutrition facts. And there are two things I will not knowingly eat (cue the "Psycho" theme). Trans fat and HFCS.
There are however some things for which I don't read the nutrition facts. Treats. Self indulgence foods. So. I accidentally read the nutrition facts for a Big Mac. OH NO! Trans fat. And a lot of it! Call me naïve. Here I thought McDonald's got rid of trans fat in their food. Turns out that was just french fries. I'm sure there are a lot of people think they completely rid their foods of trans fat. They didn't.
What to do?!
I decided that..well..I'm a smart guy...I'll make my own!
Turns out the sauce was easy! There are a lot of recipes on the web for Big Mac sauce. I used this recipe from Serious Eats. I didn't have any Marmite. I added a splash of white vinegar and sweet paprika and it fooled me.
I made a couple of other departures. I wasn't out to make a better Big Mac. The Big Mac is perfection as is. But I wanted to use a whole wheat bun. Couldn't find a whole wheat sesame seed bun to save my life. And I used white American cheese. Just because I like it. And I used green leaf lettuce. I wasn't going to buy a whole head of iceberg lettuce just to make a Big Mac. Oh. And I used real chopped onion instead of dehydrated onion. Oh and I melted the cheese on my beef patties. Which were quarter pounders. Cooked loosely like Julia Child favors. Other than that it's a faithful replica. Ok ok. I'll just call it Big Mac "inspired".
The order in which it's put together is important. I Toasted the buns. Added sauce. Finely chopped onion. Lettuce. Then the beef patty. Then dill pickle slices. I don't even like dill pickle slices. But it's just not a Big Mac without dill pickle slices. And you do have to trim the middle bun so it's exposed bread on both sides. Just using a bottom bun in the middle won't do. Repeat the buildup of the middle bun just like the bottom bun, put a top on it and...voila! A Big Mac.
I should have scrunched my Big Mac down a little bit for its portrait. That top bun is a little bit...oh.."lofty", I think. But it's not a bad first try. It will just get better from here!
Oh. And Big Macs don't come with beer. At least not around here.
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I'm the guy in the supermarket squinting at the labels all the time. Trans fat is just plain toxic. I don't know why anyone would put trans fat in their product today. Which brings up another hot button. Trans fat is *partially* hydrogenated oil. *Not* hydrogenated oil. *Fully* hydrogenated oil is *not* trans fat. Lately I've seen some products promoting the fact they have "no hydrogenated oil!" and I think they're hoping people confuse the two.
HFCS is a little muddy. Ok, more than a little. My thoughts? I don't eat HFCS simply because your liver converts HFCS directly into triglycerides (fat) and I don't think our bodies were made to process large amounts of sugar this way.
It's not just soda at issue. Almost *everything* has HFCS in it. One week I found my favorite pickles had HFCS in them where they'd previously used sugar. In 4 different supermarkets combined I found just one brand of bread and butter pickles without HFCS. Your bread probably has HFCS in it today.
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