How to Clone a Big Mac & McDonald's Secret Sauce Clone

The fast food industry would have us believe that they and they alone have the secret recipe for the foods they serve.  The reality is that someone, somewhere created the recipe or method they use for their super, duper delight.  That means with a little experimentation combined with trial and error any home cook can duplicate their favourite take-out or fast food burger and more.  The question immediately becomes why would you want to duplicate fast food?

In honesty we are not huge fans of fast food and I can count on one hand the fast foods I've cloned.  They are: the Big Mac, Subway assorted sub, Wendy's now retired chicken caesar wrap, and White Castle cheeseburgers. Fast food in general is not healthy food.  It is laden with sodium, sugar, fat and high in calories.  A homemade clone can easily be made that reduces all of these things without compromising in taste.  The real advantage is being able to control the ingredients.  At the same time the homemade clone will cost about the quarter of the cost of the fast food version.  Another advantage to cloning a fast food recipe is the food can be made anytime you want in the comforts of your home and for those of us living in rural areas there's no travel involved making homemade versions an eco-friendly alternative.  In the following video Todd Wilbur of Top Secret Recipes shows how to clone a Big Mac sandwich.  Following the video are my comments and the McDonald's secret recipe clone that I use.

Quite often in cooking the method is as important as the ingredients especially when cloning a recipe.  Pay particular attention to the way Todd makes the burger patties then freezes them before cooking.  This is an important step in making fast food style burgers.  Freezing helps to reduce thickening in the middle and the thinness of the patty ensures quick, even cooking.  These types of burger patties are suitable for cooking on a griddle or in a fry pan.

When you are attempting to clone a fast food recipe stop for a moment to think of what logical food items that restaurant would have on hand to make something like their secret sauce.  Then do a quick online search for clone recipes as one may highlight an ingredient you didn't think of.  In this case the Top Secret McDonald's special sauce version [search their site then agree to terms before you can see the recipe] differed significantly from the Copykat McDonald's special sauce version and that recipe differs significantly from a lot of other cloned versions. Once you have gather a few clone recipes you will see a pattern emerging of the dominate flavours.  The McDonald's special sauce is a Thousand Island variant so expect those flavours to dominate.  Use those then tweak from there.

McDonald's Secret Sauce Clone
modified slightly from recipe by: John Mitzewich of About.com: American Food

¼ c Miracle Whip®
¼ c mayonnaise
3 tbsp French salad dressing
½ tbsp sweet pickle relish
1½ tbsp dill pickle relish
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp dried, minced onion
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp ketchup
pinch salt

Mix the ingredients together well.  Microwave 25 seconds.  Cool.  Pour into squeeze bottle for easy application.   Refrigerate.