The Fast-food double burger as one chain fixed it, and the cheapest way to eat two patties. Two thin patties, one slice of cheese between them, and the fast-food condiments: ketchup, mustard, sour pickles, and onion. Nothing cold or crunchy and nothing optional. Every part is there because it’s cheap, fast, and the same every time.
Picks
Salty, sweet, and rich; the same every time.
- Forming burger patties: Two thin patties, 45 g each (ten to the pound), cooked from frozen. These are likely double-ground to get a soft texture from cheap cuts.
- Seasoning burgers: Salt and pepper (and MSG), as they come off the heat
- Cooking patties: On a hot flat-top, both sides at once in a clamshell griddle at the restaurant; two or three flips at home
- Assembling burgers: One slice of American cheese between the patties, pickles, and rehydrated dried minced onion, on a small toasted bun; wrapped so it steams
- Sauces and condiments: Ketchup and mustard
Where it comes from
McDonald’s used the McDouble name as early as 1964. The modern McDouble arrived in 1997, as a deluxe: two patties with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise instead of cheese. The version here, one slice of cheese with ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onion, is the value-menu burger it became. It’s one of the cheapest things the company sells, half the price of a Big Mac for the same amount of beef, and it’s almost identical to the double cheeseburger, which has a second slice of cheese. A Bacon McDouble joined the U.S. Dollar Menu & More in 2013. (McDouble, Wikipedia.)
| Constraint | Pick it explains |
|---|---|
| A value-menu price | One slice of cheese instead of two; no lettuce or tomato |
| The same burger in every restaurant | Frozen patties of a fixed weight; fixed condiments |
| Cooked and served in a couple of minutes | Thin patties, both sides at once; dried onion that only needs water |
| Held and carried in paper | A soft bun, wrapped so it steams |
Why these picks
- Two thin patties. Twice the browned surface, and they cook through in a minute or two.
- One slice of cheese, between the patties. Both patties melt it, so one slice does the work of two. It’s also the whole difference from the double cheeseburger.
- Rehydrated dried onion. Mellower than raw onion and distinctly fast-food. Fresh onion isn’t the same, though you can soak fresh onion in water overnight to get something close.
- Ketchup, mustard, and pickle. Sweet, sharp, and sour against the salt and fat. Without them it’s heavy.
- Wrapped. A minute in paper steams the bun soft and melts everything together.
How it fails
- Heavy: skimped on pickle or mustard.
- Dry bun: served straight off the griddle, without the minute in paper.
- Thick, chewy patties: pressed too thick. A 45 g patty is hard to handle at home, so the McDouble recipe uses 75 g, pressed thin.
Variations
- Bacon McDouble: two half slices of crisp bacon on the cheese.
- Deluxe: the 1997 original. Lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise instead of the cheese.
- Double cheeseburger: a second slice of cheese, one on each patty.
- Cheeseburger: a single patty, but otherwise the same build. These were two for $0.99 for a long time in the 1990s.