00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with a Bigger Better Big Arch Burger.
00:08That's right, not only will I show you a larger and I think far superior version of McDonald's offering,
00:14I'm also going to show you an easier and better way to do smash burgers.
00:18And as if that wasn't enough, I'm also going to remind everybody about the world's most underrated crunchy snack food.
00:25And to get started, we'll begin by building our Bigger Better Big Arch sauce.
00:30Which starts with some mayonnaise, to which we will add some ketchup, some yellow mustard, some sweet pickle relish.
00:38And of course, go ahead and use dill pickle relish if you want.
00:41But we're actually putting sliced dill pickles on the burger, so I think sweet's the way to go.
00:46And then we'll also want some garlic powder, some smoked paprika, a little splash of cider vinegar,
00:53followed by exactly three shakes of cayenne to make it bigger and better.
00:58And that's it, we'll take a spoon and give it a mix.
01:01And then keep it in the fridge until we need it.
01:03And yes, this is even better if you make it ahead.
01:06And once that's set, we will move on to one of the world's most underrated crunchy snacks.
01:11Funions!
01:13Which are like onions, but more fun.
01:15And we'll be using these instead of what McDonald's uses.
01:18Which are those little crumbly fried onions that your aunt puts on the green bean casserole every year.
01:24And those are fine, but this is going to taste better and be crunchier.
01:29And then besides the Funions, the other stuff going on this burger is going to be some sliced dill pickles,
01:33as I mentioned.
01:35Some thinly sliced fresh red onion.
01:37And of course, some iceberg lettuce, which I think should be thinly sliced.
01:42And once that stuff's set, we can move on to the meat.
01:45And what we'll do is make two patties, which I'm going to smash flat between plastic.
01:50And with a classic smash burger, we place the ball of beef in the pan, and then we smash it
01:55flat.
01:56But for the home cook, instead of trying to do that in a hot pan, I think smashing ahead of
02:00time like this is much easier.
02:02And we can get a nice uniform shape and thickness.
02:05And as you'll see, we're going to get the same beautiful crusty crispy surface.
02:09And once pressed, if we want something neater, we can go around and fine tune the edges with our fingers.
02:14And by the way, we're using 5-ounce instead of 4-ounce patties.
02:19But I'm sure this would be fine with the more standard size.
02:22So you decide.
02:24I mean, you are, after all, the Samuel L. Jackson of your protein maxin.
02:28But either way, this is going to be a tasty burger.
02:31Speaking of which, before we start frying our burgers,
02:35let's take our burger bun and open it up and spread over a little bit of our sauce.
02:40Since what we'll do before our pan gets too, too hot is toast our bun to warm it up
02:45and give that inside surface a little bit of crispy texture.
02:49Plus, by cooking it a little bit, this portion of sauce is going to have a little bit of a
02:53different flavor profile
02:54to the copious amounts we're going to spoon over the bun later.
02:58So I think this is a nice little trick that makes any burger better.
03:02And I don't think there's anything more beta than serving a nice burger on an untoasted bun.
03:08And once that's been accomplished, we'll set that aside.
03:11And we'll crank up our heat to high and wait for the pan to get nice and hot.
03:16At which point we'll transfer in our pre-smashed mash burgers.
03:19And then we'll take our spatula and we'll give those a nice pressing down
03:23to make sure that meat's stuck to the bottom of the pan.
03:26Which is kind of the key to create that nice crispy crust.
03:29And once those are nicely adhered,
03:32we will generously season the top with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.
03:37And because these patties are nice and thin, we only have to season one side.
03:41And then what we'll do is let these cook for just a couple minutes.
03:45Or until we see that meat around the bottom edge, lose that raw red color.
03:49And once the bottom of the burger looks like that,
03:52we'll take our spatula and we will loosen those front edges.
03:56Because before we go in from the back, we always want to loosen the front.
04:00And that's it.
04:01We'll take our spatula and loosen the other sides before we forcibly,
04:05but very carefully, scrape all the way through.
04:08And I'm going to flip that first one over, breaking off a small piece.
04:12So that when I flip the next one over, it will fly across the pan.
04:16And the reason I did that totally intentionally was to show you that if that happens,
04:20and a piece of meat breaks off, push it and poke it underneath the burger's edge anywhere,
04:25and it will magically reattach.
04:27And we can all pretend that never happened.
04:30And then as soon as you do flip a smash burger,
04:32you want to immediately place over your cheese,
04:35which for a bigger, better, big arch burger is going to be some white cheddar.
04:39And once that's on, as soon as it's melted,
04:42which is only going to take a minute or so,
04:44our burger is going to be cooked through and ready to serve up.
04:48And what we'll do is transfer that onto a plate
04:50and let it rest for just one minute while we dress our toasted bun,
04:55which for me starts with quite a bit of our sauce, right?
04:58The trade-off with a smash burger
05:00is that we're sacrificing a little bit of moisture in the burger
05:03and a little bit of juiciness
05:04for that incredibly flavorful, super beefy, crispy caramelized crust.
05:10So do not be shy when you're spreading that on.
05:13And once that's been applied,
05:14we will lay down some freshly sliced red onions,
05:17which I think are so much nicer than what you get at McDonald's,
05:20which I believe are those little slivered white onions
05:23that someone cut about seven hours ago,
05:25and they're like way too strong.
05:27And that's it.
05:28We'll top those with our Funyuns.
05:30And I'm going to go with three small to medium ones,
05:32but you put on as many as you can fit.
05:35And then over that, we'll go with our third piece of cheese,
05:38which I know is not melted yet,
05:40but it's pretty much going to be
05:41when we place over those hot smash burgers.
05:44And once those have been placed over,
05:46we will lay down our three dill pickle slices,
05:49followed by some more freshly sliced onion,
05:52and then our last set of Funyuns.
05:54And then our last step is to top this with iceberg lettuce,
05:58which I'm going to pile on the bun,
06:00and then attempt to flip over on top without everything exploding.
06:04All right, maybe it's easier to pile it on the Funyuns
06:06and then top it with the bun.
06:08But either way, we will place that over and press it down.
06:12At which point, you'll just start eating.
06:14Okay, I wasn't able to immediately,
06:16since I had to fuss around a little bit
06:18and do some food styling.
06:20Since I had to place it in front of a side of Funyuns
06:23and then take my contractually obligated pictures.
06:26But eventually, I was able to pick that up
06:29and bite in.
06:30And that, my friends, truly was a bigger,
06:33and I think much, much, much better,
06:35big arch burger.
06:36Or so I assume, since I've never had one.
06:40Okay, I did watch a video
06:41of one being made in a McDonald's,
06:43as well as more than a few reaction videos.
06:46And of course, the famous clip of the CEO trying it.
06:49And based on all those observations,
06:51I've concluded this is way, way better.
06:54All right, those Funyuns really are incredible,
06:56and they retain their crunchy texture
06:58and have a beautiful, savory onion flavor.
07:01And if you do have a nice big cast iron pan,
07:04and you can do the smash burger method I showed you,
07:07it really is shocking how much better your burger will taste.
07:10And besides being more intensely beefy
07:12and super, super savory,
07:14that texture from the crispy crust
07:16really does take the cheeseburger experience
07:18up to another level.
07:19So if you're looking to bite into a big burger,
07:22I could not recommend this anymore.
07:24And by the way,
07:26I wanted to call this the Alpha Arch Burger,
07:28but apparently that's the name of a dental implant.
07:31And you know, some people might have got confused.
07:34So my corporate overlords suggested we come up with another name.
07:38But no matter what you call this burger,
07:40or whether you've had the original Big Arch Burger or not,
07:44this was incredible.
07:45And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:48So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
07:52a printable written recipe,
07:53and much more info as usual.
07:56And as always,
07:59enjoy.
08:02Enjoy.
08:03Enjoy.
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