It tastes better than the real deal, trust us.
Social media has its positives and negatives when talking all things Victorian stage four restrictions. There’s way too much screen time available to us, with little room to just switch off and be in the moment. However, there’s some good in the world of social media, and we found the perfect material in the form of the weekly Instagram cookalong series, Monday Night Fakeaway, from Gizzi Erskine, and Professor Green. The series demonstrates how to make some of the most notorious fast food favourites from your own four walls.
What better isolation treat than the king of all burgers, the Big Mac? With Victoria’s 8pm curfew, late night trips via the golden archways isn’t possible, so it seems timely that we found the perfect recipe to make your favourite burger in your kitchen. The recipe has has featured on almost every news broadcast being dubbed the perfect ‘copycat’ recipe, Erskine commented, “As it is harder now to get a real Big Mac, I wanted to show you how to make one at home,” Erskine is a major advocate of wholesome ingredients, and promised, “It’s almost identical, but with all wholesome ingredients so you don’t need to feel bad, either.”
Now, while we understand it to be ‘healthier’ than the original, it isn’t exactly kale or lentil soup.
Here’s the breakdown.
Level of difficulty: 7/10
Time: Roughly 60 minutes
Ingredients for sauce:
200g mayonnaise
3tbsp finely chopped onion
30g ketchup
1tsp sugar
2-3tbsp dill pickle brine
1tbsp onion or garlic powder
2tbsp chopped pickles
1/2tbsp smoked paprika
30g mustard
What you’ll need for the burger:
2 x 80g beef patties (20 per cent fat)
1 gherkin
1 tbsp of chopping onion
2 or more slices of processed cheese (2 is recommended)
1 bag of lettuce (more if you like your greens)
Let’s make magic:
Prepare a kettle and pour over 3tbsp of finely chopped onion once it has finished boiling. Set a timer for 5 minutes and pour through a sieve and dry in cooking paper, so to squeeze out all the liquid until it’s dry.
Keep 1tbsp of this and place 2tbsp in a mixing bowl with some mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, sugar, chopped pickles and dill pickle brine, garlic powder, smoked paprika and onion. Mix all of this in for 30 minutes.
Be sure to season your beef patties with salt and pepper, and pan-fry in a preheated pan. You are now ready to assemble the prize. Split the buns into 3 and toast. Then spread 1tbsp of Big Mac sauce over the bottom bases and the middle slice. Your chopped onion will be added between the 2 bases alongside your lettuce and as many gherkins as your gherkin-loving heart desires. Place an additional patty and your slices of cheese. After this place the next patty on and put the lid back on.
Drop it back into the pan with the pan lid on with a real small amount of water to melt the cheese.
Your dream burger should now be McDonalds-worthy and delicious in all its glory.
