Mac and Wild’s – Big Mac and Wild DIY

For a few weeks now McDonald’s has been running ads for their “Grand Mac” which is a Big Mac made with larger patties.  It wasn’t enough to make run out and buy one, but it did make crave a gourmet version such the legendary “Big Matt” on offer occasionally as Hawksmoor restaurants.  So, when one of the Cheeseburger Me team mentioned that Mac & Wild were offering their version this month, it had to be tried!  Read on to find out how it was…

The Bun: 13/20

The bun was fine, perhaps just a little overcooked as it had a couple of crispy bits and was a little stodgy.  But it might have to be cooked that much because of its extra large size to give you the traditional parts you need for a Big Mac.   It is a heavy brioche with a few sesame seeds on top and it comes uncut.  It was pretty easy to cut into thirds to be fair, although I think all three were just a little bigger than the McDonald’s version.  The instructions call dry frying/toasting the bun and also for a steam at the end to help soften them up

The Toppings: 8/10

Nothing fancy here, but it worked as needed.  The kit comes with a full head of iceberg lettuce and a whole gherkin.  The pickle fans in my house thought the gherkin was excellent.  The instructions ask you to slice into 20 coin shaped pieces but I think only a dozen made it to the burgers as they were pretty good.  We were surprised that there were no onions as in “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” if you remember the song from the 1980s ads that once led to me getting kicked out of music class but that is solved in the next section.   

The Condiments: 7/10

The kit comes with their Big Mac & Wild special sauce, which was not as close to McDonalds sauce as we expected.  It was more savoury than  the original (which has more of a sweet tang) but a look at the ingredients shows that Mac & Wild had added the onions to the sauce so you are getting two of the ingredients at once.  Not ideal if you are a “no onions” person as there are supposed to be three tablespoons of sauce on the burger (1 TBSP per slice of bun) but thankfully we like onions so it worked for us.

The Cheese: 15/20

The real Big Mac disappointingly only comes with 1 slice of cheese, so we were pleased to see that this kit comes with two slices of American cheese. Perhaps the slices could have been a tad larger, but they melted well and added the soft flavour and creaminess to the burger that you want and expect.  

The Patty: 17/20

The Grand Mac comes with two 75g patties but Mac & Wild beat that with two really lovely 90g patties.  That is a little over 6oz total so a good amount, and the beef is really well-marbled.  The patties come pre-formed and cook pretty easily.  There is a little splatter as the fat cooks off but not too bad.  There was a hint of the gaminess you get in grass-fed beef but there was no sense of that at all in the final taste.  Beef flavour was perhaps just slightly lost in final tasting, but definitely a quantum leap up from the dry, salty, peppery taste you get at McDonald’s.  We reviewed another Big Mac imitation and it went straight to top spot, you can check out the Hawksmoor Big Matt review here

The Taste: 16/20

If you are a fan of the Big Mac (and I am) then you will love this as it has the exact flavours of a Big Mac, but less of a greasy aftertaste.  Plus it is more filling.  I think overall, Mac & Wild beats the original in meat and cheese, ties for sauce and toppings and perhaps pales just a notch on the bun as it’s a little heavy.  One of my fellow testers removed the middle section of bun and was very happy with the remainder. 

Our Verdict: 76/100 

I have to give an honourable mention for the quality instructions and the charity donation.  £35 for two burgers is a bit of a steep price BUT there are two reasons it still has value.  First, the kit comes with a couple of cans of Gen!us Craft Lager, which was a nice crisp lager that complimented the taste of the burger well.  More importantly, £5 goes to the Doddie Weir Foundation for motor neuron disease, which is a really good cause.  I lost a young, fit and active friend with young children to MND and so was very glad to support the foundation with my taste buds.  Limited time only so order while you can.  Well done Mac & Wild. You can check out Mac and Wild Instagram page here