The Big CHOW Recipe
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First introduced in 1968 by Jim Delligatti, a McDonald’s franchise owner in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the Big Mac has forever changed the way Americans think about hamburgers—we now consume 550 million Big Macs annually. In honor of this American icon, we’ve included all the essential elements in our Big CHOW: two all-beef patties, American cheese, and, yes, even our own special sauce. Satisfy your next Mac attack at home.
This recipe was featured as part of our Hamburger Through Time story.
For the burger:
- 2 tablespoons Thousand Island Dressing
- 1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish
- 3 ounces lean ground beef
- 2 (4-inch) bottom halves of 2 sesame seed buns
- 1 (4-inch) top half of 1 sesame seed bun
To assemble:
- 1/4 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
- 1 slice American cheese
- 1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
- 4 (1/8-inch-thick) dill pickle slices
- In a small bowl, mix dressing with relish until evenly combined; set aside. Shape beef into 2 (4-inch-wide) patties (the patties will be very thin). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Heat a griddle or a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add patties and press on them with a metal spatula to flatten. Cook until patties are almost done through and most of the red has turned to brown, about 4 minutes.
- Flip patties and move to one side of the pan until second sides are browned, about 1 minute more. Meanwhile, place bun halves cut side down on burger juices in the pan to lightly toast while burgers finish cooking.
To assemble:
- Spread 1 tablespoon of the dressing mixture on 1 of the bottom bun halves, then top with 1/2 of the lettuce and the cheese slice. Lay 1 burger patty on top of this.
- Place remaining bottom bun on first burger patty, then spread remaining dressing mixture on bun. Top with onion and remaining lettuce. Finish off with pickle slices, remaining burger patty, and top half of the toasted bun.
Beverage pairing: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, California. While a red wine like Zinfandel would work with this massive, delicious burger, a beer somehow feels more appropriate. The familiar flavors of Sierra Nevada, with its balanced hoppiness and maltiness, will make for a good match with the mild, sweet, familiar flavors present in the burger.
Interesting...since I have stopped eating at McDonalds. Burger King, Wendy's, etc. I only do it big burgers like Five Guys, Burger 67, Pop Burger, etc., (NYC) and people who add twists and flare to their beef! But there is nothing like making your own!! Quit complaining and get to cooking!!
ACTUALLY, I prefer Ken's Steakhouse Russian Dressing with a bit of Mayo and Sweet Relish. Tastes much better than the thousand island, which in my opinion is far too sweet.
My favorite burger sauce is ketchup, mustard, Worcester sauce and some mayo all mixed up. Much better than 1000 Island.
Actually the McDonald's Secret Sauce for Big Mac's is as follows:
2 Tbls dried onions
1 Tbls sweet relish
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup Kraft French salad dressing
2Tbls Veg. Oil
1Tsp. sugar
Rehydrate onions in cup of boiling water. Remove to bowl and add remaining indgredients, blend well and allow to rest for at least 1/2 hour for flavors to blend.
The best way to make the "Secret Sauce" is to mix mayonnaise with a bit of tomato paste and relish. It is MUCH better than Thousand Island dressing.
As a former Big Mac Chef, I would add a small amount of reconstituted dehydrated onions (about 1/8 teaspoon) on top each of the patties as soon as they are turned and ditch the raw onions.
Also, the patties were 10-to-1s, so you should be using 3.2 ounces of meat.
why try to duplicate something SO LOW on the deliciousness scale? chowhound is not about recreating junk food!
this is too much.
OK, Amy, if you say so. Something ain't quite right, though. Perspective distortion due to using a wide-angle lens? Definitely looks that way.
I guess I need to buy a Big Mac and weigh the patties.
A couple of points. The best meat for burgers isn't lean, as that makes a dry burger, and this seems like a lot of trouble to duplicate a mediocre product.
I agree with both of the previous posters that this is lame.
To learn how to reproduce the Big Mac at home take a look at the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVCk2...
Akitist, the photo is actually an accurate depiction of the burger. I know it does sound crazy, but to "recreate" this burger we had to weigh and measure the ingredients of the original, beef included (and approximating the other condiments). After cooking the meat, 3oz was all we needed for the Big CHOW.
3 ounces of beef to make 2 4-inch patties? Very thin indeed, like less than a quarter-inch. This compilation is a crime against burgerhood. I'd be willing to bet that the photo is of bigger patties than the recipe calls for.
Why so much whining? They gave you the basics, right. Now go and have fun! Recipe tweaking is best done at home by individual hounds. Everyone hole up in their own kitchen with this basic one, and let's see all the fun permutations that come back!
How many different, tasty and fun variations on the Big Mac can hounds make? It could almost be like one of those group gallery shows where every artist depicts a theme or idea in his or her own way.
Yes, lame. I like it when they try to tweak the recipe or improve on the original. The "secret sauce" isn't even homemade!
Totally agree w/ filth..do you really need a recipe for this?? ..Although there is def. some lemon juice in the "secret sauce".
You guys are crazy! This sounds great and the photo rocks.
This is lame. The ingredients of a Big Mac are self-evident. If you are too dumb to figure out what the Special Sauce is, you can find out by googling.
What next in this series...the PB&J?
Ruhlman does the same thing in his blog. He shadows Good Eats all the time, amoung other media.
is it a coincidence that cook's illustrated just ran a great article on how to make a drive-in burger very similar to the flavors of a big mac?