It was time for me to come back! Had a wonderful and relaxing vacation, got to spend fun time with J-man, but am ready to rock again.

What have I been doing? Well, for starters, I managed to copy the McDonald’s burgers. I sure did and get this, I even bought MSG for it; they use lots of it and I really wanted to duplicate their burgers. So far I nailed the Big Mac. And the cheeseburger.

I like the concept of those thin, griddle-cooked burgers but I ditched the MSG. It’s just not for me. Then I started messing with the basic recipe and replaced the ketchup and yellow mustard twirl for a simplified but oh-so good Southern comeback sauce.

I also added lettuce and real onions instead of the dehydrated onions McDonald’s uses. I used my non-stick griddle mainly because I found the trick is not to use any oil or butter when cooking the patties. Less fat = less guilt.

These are my kinda burgers. Simple, fast and very tasty.

 
Ingredients: 

Burgers:

1 pound ground beef (ground chuck works best)
4 hamburger buns
1 small onion
4 slices cheddar
iceberg lettuce

 
Seasoning:

2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
(add 1 tbsp MSG if you want to duplicate McDonald’s)

 
Comeback Sauce:

5 tbsp mayonnaise (I use Hellmann’s)
5 tbsp ketchup (I use Heinz)
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp mustard powder

 
Directions:

Here’s the foundation for my new best sauce: mayonnaise and ketchup. They get along just fine.

The pepper doesn’t make it really hot, no worries, it just adds a tremendous amount of flavour and some zing.

Stir in the remaining seasonings and set the sauce aside. The longer you give it, the better it will be.

Mix everything listed under ‘seasoning’ and put it in a shaker.

Chop the onion as fine as you can without turning it into mush. For me this slap ‘n chop works best.

Slice the cheddar. I buy it in bulk and freeze it. Flavour is perfect but it gets a little crumbly after thawing but we’ll melt it anyway.

McDonald’s burgers are 2 oz per burger, so form 8 small meatballs.

Basic hamburger buns. I like the ones with sesame seeds on top. Slice them in half.

My dirty little secret: I use my tortilla press for making burgers after I line it with a cut-up ziplock bag.

You can use a rolling-pin and ziplock bag as well, though! Place a meatball in there…

And flatten the heck out of it.

Heat a griddle, mine was non stick. Use no butter or oil and bake the patties for roughly 2,5 to 3 minutes on each side.

They will instantly shrink and become the perfect bun size.

Flip them over and season them on both sides after they’re done.

Top one burger with cheddar and put another one on top. Lay the buns on the griddle and toast them slightly.

Top the buns with lettuce, the double cheeseburger, a dollop of comeback sauce and onions to taste.

You have to try them! No really, I won’t rest until you will.