McDonald's Quarter Pounder Hack - that might be just the best burger to date!

This just might be a very big offence against all, who like their super posh burgers. But really, I don't care.

The story goes like that: so I went with a couple of bodies out yesterday night. And after drinking and dancing [yeah - you read right...] there is definitely a big yearning of some fatty food. And it might not be at all a big surprise, that McDonald's is not far.

In the middle of the night, even the biggest food snob don't have a big choice [except to go home and to your fridge and choose between confit chicken legs, 63ºC semi soft boiled eggs and 75 hour short-ribs... I plead guilty, milord]. But even with the most obscenely delicious and sumptuous produce in your fridge, you still don't want to invest too much time in the kitchen, when all you want is a couple of relaxing youtube videos [Fresh from the Boat is one of my favourites] and then listening to the void in space on your mattress.

So McDonald's.
One of my goto's is the Quarter Pounder. Since my hunger was bigger than what a single hamburger can handle, the McDonald's Royal with Cheese [John Travolta was absolutely right - in Europe it is not called Quarter Pounder - while it would sell eventually better than the Royal Cheese moniker] was my first choice... besides of the Big Mac.
However I do hate "American cheese". Let's face it: it is not even 100% real cheese - it is just some cheese scraps plus water, plus seasonings plus sodium citrate [or another "salt" to emulsify]. No - in this case I am not against the food additive - it is quite natural - you can make it yourself, if you are "mixing" a solution of bicarbonate and citric acid.
However the cheese usually used commercially is really crap [in the book the Modernist Cuisine at home they suggest to make your own melty "American" cheese out of super-delicious cheeses like Compte, Parmigiani, Stilton... you name it - the advantage is, that you can slice it after you melted it together and the food additive keeps the cheese from splitting].

Anyway - I am again drifting off topic, when it comes to the magics of avantgarde cuisine.

Back to the burger: I always order my QP without cheese and add real cheese at home - also today.
Previously I used a bunsenburner to melt and caramelizse the cheese - nice, but it could get better.
Since I have watched below youtube video about the best burgers in the US - one odd spot used a deep fryer with old fat, to fry the burger patties up - in the last minutes even with the cheese!

So I still had a pan with fat on my stove. Heated it up extremely hot, fried the burger patty of the QP on one side; flipped it - put cheese on [I had emmenthaler] and fried it also on the other side - napping the hot oil over the top of the burger - over the cheese!

The cheese melted obviously - but also crisped up. I just added Dijon mustard on the QP bun and added on top a bit of my homemade sriracha... and bam!

Honestly - I was surprised, how delish the burger was! The cheese was perfectly molten - but had some crisp, which was unusual. The patty was a bit overdone - but due to the [good] crumbly texture, it wasn't really a problem - much more pronounced was the crispy exterior of the meat itself.

This made me wonder - is a Shack Stack or a Johnny Rocket burger better than that?
I would say, they are different. But better? No! This is one of the most awesome burgers I ever had! It even slightly surpasses a sous vide burger [as this will be never as crispy].

So here you have it- you can make hack a simple [and comparable cheap] quarter pounder into the most delicious burger in 5 minutes or less!

Your welcome!

Classics in Fast Food and the thin Burger Patty

After I have reviewed [the agony at] Wings 'n Things, I was just hungry to get the right fast food experience.
You know - sometimes it is not about having the best quality available, but just to experience the right [and accustomed] taste profiles.

Burgers are very special for me. When I was young [this might be 3 decades or so back - I know, that you would never guessed, that I am that old...] McDonalds fast food restaurants were not everywhere seen in Germany. There were still the styrofoam boxes, the better burger came in - and my parents kept me on very low supply of fast food, knowing that these are not the nutritions I would need to grow up strong.
Anyway - there is a typical taste, which I connect to a proper burger. Others might have different expectations. However for me the typical gourmet burgers are not real burgers for me. They might be tasty, they might be even delicious and yes, sometimes they might be of a better quality - but they don't shout burger to me.

So today on the [not so] long way from Dubai to Abu Dhabi I treated myself with a cheese burger meal and some chicken nuggets. Lets face it - the cheese of McDonalds cannot be seen anything else than horrible. Fake. Cheese. Not. Worth. To. Be. Called. Cheese.
But overall you get a nice, soft, juicy and tasty parcel which is touching your memories - in a good way. Chicken nuggets are working very similar with me. I tried a lot of different ones- but I never encountered better nuggets of McD. Please don't misunderstand me - always better are "flaky" real chicken tenders [oh yeah, BonChons - or Kim Chikin how it is nowadays called]. But the formed chicken pieces, we are knowing as nuggets, are the best in McD. Yes - hands down. Usually I don't like formed meat. It taste cardboardy and artificial - except of Donalds nuggets!
And then the sweet, smoky, thick and super tasty bbq sauce - and the tangy mustard dip...

But lets go to the dark side of the golden bows. How dare can they be, to charge more [and extra] for their artificial cheese? I never understood this. McDonalds - if you read this: Please offer a real cheese option. I am willing to pay extra. Really. Swiss or cheddar - it doesn't matter. But real, please!

Enough of it. Enough of the biggest fast food chain [or is it the second biggest?].
Back to the burger.

Fact is, that very few other companies, which are clearly upscale [yes Wendy's, Burger King etc all make also burgers, which are similar] do the "right" burger. The patties become too big. The bread becomes too bready. And the vegetables too veggie.
The triumvirate I know, which are clearly better than Mac - but still hitting the same soft spots in my gourmand feelings is:

• Shake Shack
• Fat Burger
• Johnny Rockets

And in exactly this order!

I read quite a lot of reviews, where reviewers criticized Shake Shack. Because the buns are too soft; because the patties are too thin. But this is exactly, why it is so close to my heart. I love you Shake Shack. No - lets not make kiddies - otherwise I had to eat them all...

Fat Burger features also soft buns and amazing tender beef. Sometimes the beef patty falls apart. But this is ok. We are under friends.

Johnny Rockets - I like the 2 above more than you, but you still have a very soft spot in my heart - especially if I combine one of your nice burgers with your awesome, luscious and forbidden peanut butter shakes.

Well... I am hungry again...