Why do people buy fast food? For the price? The ease? The familiar taste?
For this month’s 24, 24, 24, I decided to set out to see if I could recreate better versions of fast food classics… and it was harder than I thought.
The inspiration: McDonald’s Royal Deluxe Cheeseburger.
Price: 3.70
The competition: my cheeseburger
Price: 3 burgers (5.18) + buns (3.60)= 2.93 per burger
650 g. 20/80 ground beef- 4.40
salt and pepper (pantry item)
Worcestershire sauce (pantry item)
Tabasco sauce (pantry item)
Butter (25 g.)- .12
Cheese (6 slices)- .66
Buns:
1 cup milk (pantry item)
1 cup water (faucet item)
2 tablespoon sugar (pantry item)
2 tablespoons butter- .24
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (pantry item)
5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour- 3.36
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (pantry item)
1 large egg yolk (pantry item)
1 tablespoon water (faucet item)
The verdict: Even though the homemade burger was much larger than a McDonald’s burger, the homemade one was cheaper. Score one for homemade. The burger itself was quite tasty: cooked rare and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce and with a pat of butter in the middle of each one to seal in moisture. Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong with the buns, which came out very pretty but hard as stone. It detracted a lot from the burger, and in the end, it was not a terribly pleasurable eating experience.
The inspiration: McDonald’s Deluxe Potatoes Price
Price: 2.40 for a large
The competition: My deluxe potatoes
Price: I had all of the ingredients for these on hand.
The verdict: There was all-around praise for my potatoes. Even though the MacDo potatoes are quite tasty and deep fried, well-seasoned roasted potatoes rank pretty high, especially when a lot of olive oil is used. I quartered skin-on potatoes and seasoned them with salt, pepper, cayenne and a lot of paprika and roasted them. Mine especially held up well the next day, whereas the MacDo potatoes were soft and unappetizing.
The inspiration: Quick Xtreme Cheesy
The competition: Emmental cheese sticks
emmental cheese- 2.00
The verdict: You may have noticed I didn’t list a price: that’s because due to a translation problem, we accidentally bought chicken fingers instead of these deep fried sticks of cheese. However, we had all tried them at an earlier date, and we all agreed that I did them better. The ones from Quick have an odd texture: spongy rather than cheesy. While frying mine, I understood why: they are quite messy, but the at-home effort is really worth it here.
The inspiration: Quick fondant au chocolat
The competition: My fondant au chocolat
The verdict: Here, the winner was hands-down the Quick fondant. I added cayenne and cinnamon to mine, as I usually do, but Quick won with their extremely chocolatey and nearly undercooked melty chocolate delights. Mine were eaten later, but only after all of the Quick ones were devoured.
When I set up this challenge for myself, I thought it would be a breeze. Little did I realize that fast food joints know what they’re doing: I may whine about picking up lunch at a fast food place like Quick or MacDo, but there are definitely good options at either one, and the tastes that we’ve gotten used to are not necessarily always easy to recreate at home.
Hello, fellow “24”er!
Fun little project you did. I like your conclusion at the end. Sometimes it’s hard to beat the big guy at their game. At least you know you can beat them on taste!
Thanks for sharing. We took our guests on a trip to Hawaii with a luau for our “24” event. Hope you come to our blog to check it out!
Believe me, I think what you cooked was probably way better than anything I can get at a McDonalds here. Except, er, the fries. Seriously. McDonalds fries…best.fries.ever. At least here. I have no idea if they are a bit different where you are.
Gourmet fast food at home. Always tastier, sometimes cheaper. Surely delish. Great 24 post!
Drool…yummy photos. Very ambitious to recreate those meals at home. I’m sure your home cooked versions tasted marvellous, but time is money so I’ll be hitting my local Mickey D’s 🙂