The yin and yang of In-N-Out: onions, tomato and lettuce are cold, burger, cheese and bun are hot.
On my frequent return trips to San Francisco, I have a routine. The night I arrive (or sometimes the next night, if the trip out has been too long and strenuous) I go to the same In-N-Out and order the same meal, two cheeseburgers with double raw onions, mustard instead of sauce and pickles. (Ideally there will be an order of extra-crispy fries as well, but this trip the hateful Dr. Ludwig shook his finger at that.)
The first bite of this burger is about as close as you can come to nirvana in a public place, and this time I realized one of the key benefits is the juxtaposition of hot and cold elements in a combination that initially perplexes but ultimately delights the palate.
The burger and cheese are warm, of course, and so is the lightly toasted bun. But the lettuce, tomato and onion go straight from the refrigerator to the prep area and are slightly chilled or at worst room temperature. The pickle and mustard, my custom additions, are also chilled. The mouth does not know what to make of this combination and simply opens wider in happy submission.
McDLT styrofoam box, photo courtesy of The Smithsonian.
I am not the first to take note of this appealing balance of opposites: for several years McDonald’s sold the McDLT, a burger in which the lettuce and tomato were literally separated from the burger in a styrofoam tray so the diner could combine them at the critical moment. The McDLT, which was immortalized by a pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander commercial in 1985, was discontinued in 1996 for environmental concerns.
Please note you cannot experience this bliss in the Animal Style, which we reviewed against our “Texas Burger” a while back. It has grilled onions, eliminating that coolness factor, and the mustard is heated up along with the meat on the griddle. Avoid.
The McDLT was my goto in my limited McD’s days. I’ve never had a Big Mac. I took my son to the clown for the first time last week because he wanted a crispy chicken sandwich. I took a bite of the chicken and ate one fry. It was my first McD’s since the ’90s. The chicken was OK, but the fries are still nasty.
The best thing in the clown’s bucket is also one of the simplest: the basic cheeseburger. There’s something about the way that cheap meat, cheap cheese and ketchup melt together (and I hate ketchup on burgers). You can also tweak it on the app and add mustard, extra pickle and onion and hold the ketchup for a snack that’s not bad.
I with you on the cold/hot combination, but I thought the reason the McDlt failed was because the cheese was on cold side. You’ve got to melt the cheese on a cheeseburger.
I had forgotten that! You’re right of course. Probably why I did not eat very many McDLTs.