In-N-Out's "Double-Double" Animal Style @ home.

For some die-hard fans, In-N-Out is probably the best fast food burger available today. And it's hard to disagree with those sentiments, to be honest. Even some East Coasters envy Californians for having In-N-Out so readily available, from what I've heard.

In-N-Out is famous for their fresh ingredients, from the freshly ground meat (from their own meat processing plant in Baldwin, CA), super fresh iceberg lettuce, potent raw onion slices (which are put on as a whole slice and not broken up into rings) and crunchy pickles to the crispy fries; although they don't double-fry them the way they do it in Europe. For the best french fry recipe on this planet, look here. But enough of fries, we're here for the burger, correct? So let's move on to it...

The "Animal-style" version isn't on In-N-Out's regular menu, you'd have to order it from the "secret menu". Animal-style means that one side of the raw beef patties gets hit with a small dollop of mustard during the frying process, is then flipped over and basically simmered, or mustard-fried, before the cheese is added. The raw onion slice which comes with the regular "Double Double" is replaced with chopped caramelized onions. This makes for an incredibly flavorful burger.

I opted for a little leaner, healthier option of the In-N-Out Animal style burger, using a 90/10 ratio of ground beef. The cheese was 2% American slices, the mayo in the secret spread was the light mayo kind. First off, let's start with the secret spread. I really don't know what's so 'secret' about it since it's basically an adoption of the Thousand Island dressing, albeit thicker in consistency. Now the mayo-to-ketchup ration should be 3:1, three Tbsp of mayo to one Tbsp of Ketchup.

Here's what we need for the sauce...

These ingredients make enough sauce for two burgers. If you make more than two, simply adjust the amounts given accordingly.

6 Tbsp of light mayo
2 Tbsp of ketchup
1 Tbsp of sweet pickle relish
1 Tsp of honey
1 Tsp of pickle juice
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until it's time to use the sauce...uhm, spread. Now that that's out of the way let's look at the burger itself. Our ingredients...

The ingredients below yield four 1/4-pound burgers

1 lb of lean ground beef (90/10), freshly ground by your butcher
1 large tomato
1 white onion
4 large leaves of iceberg lettuce, broken up or folded
4 tsp of Dijon or yellow mustard
16 thick slices of sweet pickles (4 for each burger)
8 American cheese slices (2%)
4 toasted Hamburger buns

Start out by measuring the beef into 2oz portions and shape them into golf ball-size pieces. Using damp hands, press them out into thin patties and to a size of about 4-5 inches wide. Season the patties generously with salt and pepper. Set aside. Cut the tomato into 1/4-inch slices and do the same with the onion. I opted for quickly fried onion slices instead of chopped caramelized onions but that's just me. You might want to do it the other way, which is also the original way. My way serves you a good amount of time, though, and tastes just as good as the real deal.

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place 4 closed Hamburger buns on a baking sheet and toast them until they're crisp. When done, using a different pan, open the buns and place them face down into the hot pan and toast again until they're dark around the edges.

Peel off the first layer of iceberg leaves and then take off four nice and crunchy leaves and either break them into bun-size pieces or fold them. Once that is all done, heat 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large frying pan until it is smoking just slightly. Place two patties at a time into the pan. Immediately place a teaspoon of mustard on each of them and spread it out over the entire patties. The first side is done when it's nicely browned and a tad crusty around the edges, appr. 1.5 - 2 minutes. Flip them over and watch the patties sizzled from all the mustard until done, appr. 1 more minute. Add one onion slice - not broken up into rings! - next to the patties and fry it alongside. Top each patty with one slice of cheese and cook until it's starting to melt.

In the meantime, place one Tbsp  of the spread on the bottom bun, top with four slices of pickles, one slice of tomato and the iceberg lettuce. Now top one beef patty with the fried onion slice, stack the other on top and with a spatula place them onto the bun. Close the burger with the top bun and enjoy the gooey, crunchy, crispy, salty and sweet mess with a side of fries!

That's your "In-N-Out Double Double Animal style" made at home!

Got napkins?

P.S.: There's one thing I'd like to add. In-N-Out uses regular hamburger buns, those run-of-the-mill kind. I prefer the Crostini buns from Oroweat. They toast up a tad crunchier which gives the burger a nice touch.