The “ShackMac” DIY HACK

We tried the Shackburger DIY a few months ago and absolutely loved it.  The only knock was that we were still a little hungry after one cheeseburger each.   That led to weeks of debate about whether single patties or doubles are better, and what is the right amount of beef for the perfect cheeseburger.  So we thought we could experiment a little and ordered two sets of the ShackBurger DIY with the idea of turning those singles into doubles.  But that would leave an extra bun for each, but we realised quickly that we could use half of those buns to pay homage to the Big Mac.  Read on to see how we made out…

What we have in store

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The Bun: 18/20

This is still the gold standard for how a bun should taste in my opinion.  It looks like the golden brown brioche that is becoming standard, with no seeds on top, but they call it a ‘potato bun’.  The taste was excellent, just a little more depth to the flavour then others, because there are indeed potato flakes in there to create a stronger bread.   There is also ‘sourdough flavouring’ and I suspect it that subtle taste that just makes this a little better than all of its competitors.  The instructions called for butter and a little griddle time and that was the perfect call in my opinion.  They held together perfectly and everybody commented on how good they are.  However, the extra bottom bun we added to the middle was probably just a bit too much.  Made the whole thing a little wobbly and was probably just unnecessary.  Our fault, not Shake Shack’s.

The Toppings: 5/10

No different than the original review.  The kit comes with a whole tomato and a few slices of lettuce.  Nothing special with the tomato but the lettuce was really good, which is not something I normally notice.  I like whatever variety that is, seemed somewhere between butter lettuce and regular lettuce.  We did shred the lettuce to be more like a Big Mac, and also added onions and pickles for the same reason, but also because we thought they improved the burger.  

The Condiments: 8/10

They keep it simple at Shake Shack.  No scraping unwanted goop off your burger, and now standing at the counter feeling the pressure to decide what you want on your burger.  They give you Shack Sauce and you can add anything else yourself after.  The DIY kit was the same.  Shack Sauce is a very good burger sauce: mayo, mustard, ketchup, paprika, onion & garlic powders, with just a hint of chipotle Tabasco sauce.  It was a great complement to the beef, cheese and bun, even with the two patties in there the flavour held up.  Being a Big Mac tribute we didn’t add mustard or relish as we normally would at Shake Shack, and felt it could have at least some mustard to be better. 

The Cheese: 20/20

If the bun is the gold standard then this is the platinum one.  This American cheese is absolutely ideal for the beef and bun.   The moderately thick slices were actually a little bigger across than the beef patties or the buns so we got to put a little extra on top.  It melted perfectly and didn’t run off in blobs…added an incredible creaminess and subtle flavour to the burger.  That is a lot of cheese with a double and we loved it.  Your doctor might not.

The Patty: 18/20

Still the same great beef as in the restaurant.  Patties come in puck form and then you press on the grill.  I think I should have pressed more than I did as they ended a little thicker than the singles so didn’t quite fill the bun and made the stack a little wobbly. I liked that style as it gave each that home-made look without all the messy work of trying to get each patty the right size.   They didn’t shrink too much, or create too much splatter on the griddle, but had enough fat that they were nice and juicy in the middle.  No gamy aftertaste at all.  The patties were 4 oz (115g) each and as discussed they were a little small for a burger.  But it turns out that two such patties is perhaps just a little much, especially with the extra half bun.  Did I finish?  Yes, it was too tasty not to.  But I still just feel that a 5-6oz patty would have made this perfect.  And in the end, two singles is probably easier to eat than one of these.  Or skip the second burger and add a shake and fries. We have enjoyed Shakeshack, you should check out the review of the Smokeshack here

The Taste: 17/20

Each bite was savoury and delicious, and as with the original the textures of everything were really good too.  I do normally think two small patties is better than one big patty as you get more of the Maillard effect, that rich brown and flavourful crust on the beef that comes from pressing on to a hot grill.  So I expected it to be an improved flavour from the single cheeseburger, but I don’t think it was.  Clearly Shake Shack has put a lot of time and effort into getting the meat/bun/cheese ratio just right and my tinkering threw off just a little bit, even if I wasn’t hungry at all after finishing.  

Our Verdict: 86/100 

We may not have improved on Shake Shack’s cheeseburger recipe, but we did have a lot of fun with this one.  And everybody still loved them.  Not everybody finished them though.  So it appears that while one burger isn’t enough, two might be too many.  So if you are a hungry crowd, then order three burgers for each two people and all should end up perfect.  As with the original, I must say that Shake Shack makes these very easy to prepare and so my thanks go out to them for allowing us to have some of our favourites during lockdown.  Now that the world is opening up, I look forward to getting back into a Shake Shack over the summer.