Get your Big Macs while you can

[Rich Engelhardt]

They are gone as of the first part of next year!
Along with the apple pies!

Man what a blow! I don't eat the two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle, onion all on a sesame seed bun often, but, when I do I relish every bite!
I'm going to have to make a point of having a Big Mac as often as I can in the next few weeks.

Sad :(

[Scott Shepherd]

Maybe they'll replace it with an actual hamburger made from beef ;)

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Big Macs and apple pies aren't going anywhere.

[Bert Kemp]

Seriously... people that eat Mac ducks burgers have never had a real beef burger. Go anywhere in cattle country and order a burger and you'll never eat at mac ducks again.:rolleyes:


Maybe they'll replace it with an actual hamburger made from beef ;)

[Jason Roehl]

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/bigmac.asp

[Rich Engelhardt]

Cool!
I should be red faced for getting snagged into this - but- I'm just so happy it's a farce, I don't care!
I had a bit of a scare for a second there.

[Lee Schierer]

The last time I had one I was surprised at how small the whole thing was. The bun seemed almost slider sized and the patties were less than 1/4" thick and weren't as large in diameter as the bun. I won't be buying one again any time soon.

[Larry Edgerton]

Years ago I was training my Malamute to stay in the back of the truck. He was good one day so I stopped at Micky D's and bought him a couple of Big Macs. I set them on the side of the bed and he smelled them and pushed them off on the ground. So I picked them up and took the bun off, and he pushed them off on to the ground again. This is the only thing I ever saw that this dog would not eat.

Makes ya think.....

[Curt Harms]

Years ago I was training my Malamute to stay in the back of the truck. He was good one day so I stopped at Micky D's and bought him a couple of Big Macs. I set them on the side of the bed and he smelled them and pushed them off on the ground. So I picked them up and took the bun off, and he pushed them off on to the ground again. This is the only thing I ever saw that this dog would not eat.

Makes ya think.....

Critters know. We have a spoiled-rotten Maine Coon mix cat. He loves 'real' food, knows all the signs of grilling. He'll have no part of most frozen dinner type meats. Arbys though - toss him a bit of roast beef sandwich meat and it may well not make it to the table or floor.

[Matt Day]

Just to be clear, as Jason pointed out, snopes debunked this rumor.

[Brian Tymchak]

The last time I had one I was surprised at how small the whole thing was. The bun seemed almost slider sized and the patties were less than 1/4" thick and weren't as large in diameter as the bun. I won't be buying one again any time soon.

My wife and I feel the same way about Wendy's. They have so dramatically downsized their burgers and raised their prices that we've stopped going there.

[Dennis Peacock]

Found this with a simple search:
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/No-McDonalds-Is-Not-Getting-Rid-of-the-Big-Mac-286717741.html

[Mike Cutler]

Rich

Don't be embarrassed about getting snagged into stuff like this, or for liking Big Mac's.
I can make a better burger than has ever come out of a Mickey D's. ( I should know because I worked in one during high school. ;)) Sometimes though I just want one of their Habanero Ranch sandwiches and fake fries. ;))
Sometimes people just want what they want.

PS
Don't like Big Mac's though, never did. I hated making them too, as a kid, and we actually cooked them on the spot back in the "old days".:D

[Jason Roehl]

Just to be fair, because I, too, made thousands of Big Macs back in the day: those burgers are 100% beef. That doesn't mean that it's good beef, nor that it's not over-ground. McD's has two main beef patties: 10:1 and 4:1. That's 1/10 of a pound per patty and 1/4 of a pound per patty, pre-cooked weight. The Big Mac gets 2 of the 10:1 patties, and due to several high-profile food poisoning incidents over the years, they get cooked beyond all recognition. When I started there, they used gas-fired clam-shell grills that cooked the 10:1 patties for 42 seconds at something like 375ºF, the 4:1 got (IIRC) 66 seconds. That left the patties still somewhat moist, but S.O.P. was then to put the patties in a steam cabinet for up to an hour to be used at any time within that hour. When a tray was pulled from the cabinet, any pooled grease/water (from the steam) was poured off before the sandwich was assembled. I'd say the burgers were borderline back then ('92-ish), but I know they have since increased the cooking times, and possibly temperatures, at least a couple times to get them to the flavorless leather they now are.

I'm just glad we have a local brewpub that serves burgers cooked to order. I usually order them cooked medium, just to be safe. Occasionally, I've gotten one that was medium rare, but I don't send those back--they're pretty good that way! If I got a rare one, I'd send that back.

And, as good as those burgers are, they don't hold a candle to the burgers I make at home--made from beef raised on my in-laws' farm--far more flavorful than any ground beef I've ever had from any store or restaurant.

[ray hampton]

And, as good as those burgers are, they don't hold a candle to the burgers I make at home--made from beef raised on my in-laws' farm--far more flavorful than any ground beef I've ever had from any store or restaurant.

stop bragging

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have a soft spot for Big Macs mostly because they were a departure from the traditional McDonalds w/it's limited menu of only burgers and fries - the no seating/no carhop walk-up window and the fact that going to a McDonalds was a very rare treat!

[Scott Shepherd]

Just to be fair, because I, too, made thousands of Big Macs back in the day: those burgers are 100% beef. That doesn't mean that it's good beef, nor that it's not over-ground.

If that's 100% real beef, then someone should be put in jail for doing whatever they do to that beef to make it taste like that :rolleyes: That's surely a crime against humanity :p

[Jim Becker]

Mickie Dees is pairing their menu, but not taking it THAT far! (and yea...I don't eat there if I can avoid it. Five Guys is first choice and BK is second when it comes to burgers from "fast food" places. But I'll take Chipotle any day... ;) )

[Jason Roehl]

stop bragging

More bragging on my in-laws' beef-raising methods than my burger-making, though I do doctor up the ground beef a bit and grill it over hardwood charcoal with some hickory chunks thrown in.

[Jason Roehl]

If that's 100% real beef, then someone should be put in jail for doing whatever they do to that beef to make it taste like that :rolleyes: That's surely a crime against humanity :p

Factory-farm-raised beef, I'm sure (tasteless, like the stuff from most grocery stores), plus the aforementioned cook-to-death-and-then-some approach, and it's no surprise they are what they are.

Like Jim, I'm more likely to go to BK in a fast-food situation, but even those are way over-cooked and not very flavorful. (I do like Chipotle, too--I get the steak bowl with just about everything in it). Wendy's? Nope--burgers were made to be round, not square. And they have a funny taste (made from clown cows?) Sonic--ick. Five guys--not impressed. Rally's, I like, but they're not local, so they're a rare treat when I'm on the road. White Castle's is okay, but the next-day cost is too high.

[Mike Cutler]

Jason

You definitely "flipped" for the Golden Arches after I did.
I worked for "Ronald" in the 1974-1976 time frame.
McDonald's hadn't started doing breakfast yet, and the burgers were wrapped in paper, not styrofoam.
The Big Mac's were in a paper ring in a box,and let me tell you, it was a trick to learn to stack that burger in that paper ring, six at a time, coming off the grill.
I remember the last summer I worked there, when we started making breakfasts. I'd been making burgers for a few years, but I knew nothing about cooking an egg. Those Egg McMuffin's were a pain. Simultaneously breaking 6 eggs, into hot metal rings on a grill. I must have burned my knuckles on every one I made for the first week or two.
We had a lot of fun working there. A bunch high school kids, cooking for the masses. What were they thinking? ;)

[Pat Barry]

I have never enjoyed a Big Mac. Maybe if I could get it without the pickles and special sauce. I'm more of a Quarterpounder with cheese guy.

[Paul McGaha]

Just to be fair, because I, too, made thousands of Big Macs back in the day: those burgers are 100% beef. That doesn't mean that it's good beef, nor that it's not over-ground. McD's has two main beef patties: 10:1 and 4:1. That's 1/10 of a pound per patty and 1/4 of a pound per patty, pre-cooked weight. The Big Mac gets 2 of the 10:1 patties, and due to several high-profile food poisoning incidents over the years, they get cooked beyond all recognition. When I started there, they used gas-fired clam-shell grills that cooked the 10:1 patties for 42 seconds at something like 375ºF, the 4:1 got (IIRC) 66 seconds. That left the patties still somewhat moist, but S.O.P. was then to put the patties in a steam cabinet for up to an hour to be used at any time within that hour. When a tray was pulled from the cabinet, any pooled grease/water (from the steam) was poured off before the sandwich was assembled. I'd say the burgers were borderline back then ('92-ish), but I know they have since increased the cooking times, and possibly temperatures, at least a couple times to get them to the flavorless leather they now are.

I'm just glad we have a local brewpub that serves burgers cooked to order. I usually order them cooked medium, just to be safe. Occasionally, I've gotten one that was medium rare, but I don't send those back--they're pretty good that way! If I got a rare one, I'd send that back.

And, as good as those burgers are, they don't hold a candle to the burgers I make at home--made from beef raised on my in-laws' farm--far more flavorful than any ground beef I've ever had from any store or restaurant.

Do you remember which years you worked at a McDonalds Jason? I worked at one in 1975 and 1976. This was before the clam shell grills. We had regular open grills, If I remember correctly when busy we used to keep about 60 of the small patties cooking and I think about 24 of the 1/4 pound patties. It was plenty enough to keep you busy.

Mostly I worked at the french fry section. At the time our store had just converted from fresh potatoes to frozen potatoes for the fries.

Working at a place like that is not a bad job for a teenager really. I'm sure there are better jobs out there to be sure but I found it to not be that bad.

PHM

[Jason Roehl]

Summer/fall of 1992. First job. I started the day before my 18th birthday, got my birthday off. If I remember, they installed the clam shells on my birthday, so they really didn't even have me do much on my first day. I worked opening all summer (had to be there at 4:30 AM--made for a screwy sleep schedule, as I went to bed about 1 AM, being a teen and all), then my parents moved out of state near the end of summer, so I left for about a month with them (worked for a moving company then). I came back to go to college (Purdue), and worked closing for a couple months until I got tired of biking back to the dorm at 1:30 AM and quit. At one point, biking home (no lights), I almost got run over by a cop on a call doing about 70 in a 30. I heard him pop his siren right behind me--I think I went high enough for him to go underneath me. It probably scared him as much as me...

[Rick Potter]

5 Guys is not bad. It's not In N Out, mind you, but not bad.

I picked up a couple Arkansas college friends of my daughter at the airport years ago. They said they were hungry, and insisted we stop at In N Out before going on to visit the daughter.

[Richard McComas]

Grind your own bugger.

Here's how

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hamburgers/zen_of_hamburgers.html

[Mike Cutler]

5 Guys is not bad. It's not In N Out, mind you, but not bad.

I picked up a couple Arkansas college friends of my daughter at the airport years ago. They said they were hungry, and insisted we stop at In N Out before going on to visit the daughter.

Rick

Oh yeah, In & Out Burgers. Used to hit the one on Colima, off the 60 Freeway in Rowland Heights, on the way home many nights.

Their old bumper stickers used to say "Get an In & Out Burger Today". Being little smart aleck kids we used to white out the "B" and "r" in burger.

I worked at the Mickey D's on North Garey Avenue in Pomona. Used to have kids from Claremont, Pomona, and Ganesha High School working there.

[Brian Elfert]

I never buy burgers at any fast food place. When I do occasionally have a burger it will be at a real sit down restaurant. If I do have fast food it will most often be Jimmy Johns or Subway. I do on rare occasion eat breakfast at McDonald's.

Years ago I was camping at an event where they supplied food for us to cook. They gave us hamburger patties 1/8" thick. They gave us thin patties so they would cook well done to avoid food poisoning. They mostly tasted like shoe leather.

[Rick Potter]

Mike,

That must have been a while back. High school kids are hard to find in fast food places around here. Now, all the 'kids' are from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. My brother has a rental house just over the back fence of that store.

[Jim Becker]

Jason, while the burgers at Five Guys are just "ok", it's the fries that shine. IMHO, the best fries on the market. Made with actual potatoes delivered in bags, cut in the store and fried in clean peanut oil. They even taste like potatoes. :)

[Jason Roehl]

Hmmm...their fries didn't really stand out in my mind for some reason, despite being fresh-cut. I'm thinking they might have been too thick, so the "crisp to mush" ratio was too low for my taste. If McD's wouldn't use such nasty-tasting oil, they have that ratio perfect. The fries I do like, though not from a burger joint, are from Penn Station. Their sandwiches are pretty darn good, too.

[Chris Padilla]

In 'n Out....fries, burgers, AND shakes. 5Dudes doesn't even serve shakes!!

[Jim Becker]

In 'n Out....fries, burgers, AND shakes. 5Dudes doesn't even serve shakes!!
Unfortunately, that organization doesn't exist around here...