Brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened the first McDonald's drive-in restaurant in 1948, in San Bernardino, California. When the brothers began to order an increasing amount of restaurant equipment for their growing business, they aroused the curiosity of milk-machine salesman Ray Kroc. Kroc befriended the brothers and became a franchising agent for the company that same year, opening his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois. Kroc later founded the hugely successful McDonald's Corporation and perfected the fast-food system that came to be studied and duplicated by other chains over the years. The first day Kroc's cash register rang up $366.12. Today the company racks up about $50 million a day in sales in more than 12,000 outlets worldwide, and for the past ten years a new store has opened somewhere around the world an average of every fifeteen hours. The double-decker Big Mac was introduced in 1968, the brain-child of a local franchisee. It is now the world's most popular hamburger and it is super easy to duplicate at home. You can use Kraft Thousand Island dressing for the special sauce, or just follow the link in the ingredients list to another recipe for cloning the special sauce from scratch.
1 sesame-seed hamburger bun half of an additional hamburger bun 1/4 pound ground beef dash salt 1 tablespoon Kraft Thousand Island dressing (or click here for special sauce clone) 1 teaspoon finely diced onion 1/2 cup chopped lettuce 1 slice American cheese 2 to 3 dill pickle slices
1. With a serrated knife, cut the top off the extra bun half, leaving about a 3/4-inch-thick slice. This will be the middle bun of your sandwich
2. Place the three bun halves on a hot pan or griddle, face down, and toast them to a light brown. Set aside, but keep the pan hot.
3. Divide the ground beef in half and press into two thin patties slightly larger than the bun.
4. Cook the patties in the hot pan over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Salt and pepper lightly.
Build the burger in the following stacking order from the bottom up:
bottom bun half of dressing half of onion half of lettuce American cheese beef patty middle bun remainder of dressing remainder of onion remainder of lettuce pickle slices beef patty top bun
Makes 1 hamburger.
Paul
5/9/2009 8:30:00 PM
Great Job! I love Big Macs and I love being able to make them at home now!
Thanks!
jason
4/30/2009 7:49:00 AM
Had never tried a big mac until I tried this recipe and now I am addicted to them! Can anyone help me out I'm in Australia and we don't have creamy french dressing so I am using liquid french salad dressing? - Tastes amazing still but am I using the correct substitute? Thanks
Rafael Dubena
4/5/2009 6:03:00 PM
This is just like the real one! My whole family loved it and I made it in Brazil! Very good, thank you!
KanKicker
3/15/2009 6:19:00 PM
Amazingly Accurate! I used two 8-ounce burgers instead of the directed. I also used the hamburger buns I already had, but the taste and saucetasted just like the real thing!
DuckyBob
2/15/2009 2:00:00 AM
This is a fantastic recipe clone. You probably would not be reading this if you were not already a Big Mac fan. So here we go. Follow the recipe EXACTLY. The only thing I would recommend is using "Kraft Select American Cheese Slices" It is closer in flavor to the original cheese used back in the 70s. The construction really is critical, do it just as Todd instructs. The special Big Mac sauce is also very important, take the time to prepare the cloned recipe for that also, (a little further down the recipes page) It is well worth the effort. I have been a Big Mac fan for almost 40 years, and now I can make 'em at home! Thanks Todd, you're the man.
Jasmine
9/5/2008 6:38:00 PM
Perfect!!! Love these! And what's best about them (besides their taste) is that they don't have the Trans Fat that you get at Mc Donald's!
Oh - one thing we changed about them is increased each patty to be 3oz instead of 2, since the buns at the store are larger than those ad Mc Donald's. We also use dill pickle relish instead of sweet relish in the dressing.
Walt
7/25/2008 8:01:00 PM
I made a batch of these when some friends came over. They loved them! They liked that they tasted like big macs but were right off the grill and weren't luke warm like Mcdonald's serves them.
Jackie
5/27/2008 8:59:00 PM
This recipe is fantastic!There is a difference in the taste and texture though and I couldn't quite put my finger on it til I realized the burger I had just made had MINIMAL preservatives and MINIMAL fat - That's the difference! My husband is now addicted to them and won't eat any other burger
Chris
2/9/2008 2:05:00 AM
I had a family cookout awhile ago,and I made 20 of these burgers. They all said they are better than the real Big Mac!!!! From now on they insist I make them at all cookouts.
crystalsman
1/27/2008 6:39:00 PM
I dont think it was as good as the real thing but it was one of the best homemade burgers I've ever had.
