Monday, January 24, 2011

Ongoing Discussions About Food Icons: The Bacon Cheeseburger: McDonald's review

The Bacon Cheeseburger experience

As American as apple pie this piece of Americana takes many shape sizes and forms. From the gourmet to the grotesque we offer a forum for discussion.

Burger Tips: Our favorite burgers are of course the ones we make at home. Respect to Bobby Flay, try potato chips on your burger. It’s amazing how many times burgers have been served with a pile of chips on the side and after trying this one wonders why did it take so long to figure this out?  The chips stick to the top of your bun with the help of condiments, think of ketchup as glue. The combination of salty crispiness adds a whole new dimension to your burger. Lately we have been using small onion challah buns, a bit bigger than sliders, from the Snowdon bakery with delicious results.  


“The great American hamburger is a thing of beauty, its simple charm noble, pristine. The basic recipe – ground beef, salt, and pepper, formed into a patty, grilled or seared on a griddle, then nestled between two halves of a bun, usually but not necessarily accompanied by lettuce, a tomato slice, and some ketchup – is, to my mind, unimprovable by man or God.”
-Anthony Bourdain in his book Medium Raw

 
McDonald's
How original a Mcdonald’s burger review. Yes, just to prove that we are not snobs that we will sacrifice ourselves and our bodies for you our dear reader.  
It amazes me that this burger comes in at just under $1.60. What do you expect for that kind of money, Kobe beef? This is not the benchmark but you all know what it is. When we look at other burgers and say bigger, better and juicier you know what we mean.

Construction: 
Bun, McDonald's does not toast their buns they are caramelized, heated so that the sugar browns. Meat patty, slice of American cheese, slice of bacon, ketchup, mustard, onions (dehydrated and then reconstituted on site) and pickles.
With all the talk of molecular gastronomy the golden arches research team has certainly put a lot of thought into their burger production. Dehydrated onions? Who came up with that and thought it was a good idea. I am assuming it has something to do with cost and consistency across the world.


The Verdict:

The burger is lathered with ketchup providing a sugary blast to the taste buds that overwhelms the burger. Can you even taste the mustard or is it just a color? The onions punch out a bit but are more of a texture. The overall saltiness found within the burger combined with the sugary ketchup and cheese is not totally unpleasant and provides the opiates for masses. The pickles offer a contrasting flavor to the ketchup. The meat seems to act as filler, the best description I can think of  is rubbery, but overall it just sits there. It might be the cheese that makes the meat seem more rubbery but the bacon does add some crispiness to the experience. A small burger so if you eat one you are almost left with the feeling that you want another. The McDonald's burger tastes like something mass produced and is never changing. A sugary rubbery experience. 



Recommendation:
Eat at this burger when you are broke and/or traveling abroad and facing a crippling case of homesickness. 


We believe the best burgers are the ones that you make at home and this is a fun book on the subject. The book was worth it alone for the tip on potato chips and we have tried a few of the burgers, shakes and the B.B.Q. sauce with good results.


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