Well, maybe see how it went for us before trying it yourself at least.
We recently reported on the highly limited Spam and Oreo burger sold at Chinese McDonald’s restaurants for one day only. It’s a burger concept that captivated imaginations around the globe and normally we’d charter a private jet to head down and try one ourselves.
But with travel off the table due to COVID-19 and our inability to afford a private jet, we instead had to try and craft our own burger. Luckily, it’s made from items sold worldwide and getting the raw materials wasn’t an issue. So, without further ado, here’s how we made our own version of these sandwiches that appear both highly sought after and highly repulsive at the same time.
I wanted to try and make the sandwich as authentic as possible, so first I bought a tin of Spam and box of Oreos from the local supermarket. Then, I headed over to McDonald’s so I could get an official sesame seed bun.
I went with the Bacon Lettuce Burger since it had a similar bun to the Spam & Oreo Burger and the other toppings aside from the mayo didn’t seem like they’d interfere, like they would with the heavy sauce on the Teriyaki Burger.
First I took two slices of Spam and fried them up until they were about as brown as in the McDonald’s China advertisement.
Once that was finished I started to extract the bun from the Bacon Lettuce Burger. Unfortunately, there was an abundance of finely diced onions mixed into the sauce that I had to pluck out. Not only that, but I noticed it was much more yellow than depicted on the menu and later learned it was more of dijonnaise that a solid mayonnaise.
The amount seemed less than the Chinese picture too, so I pulled out my trusty bottle of Kewpie and doubled it up.
Finally, I got to work on making the crushed Oreos. A lifetime of pulling them apart cleanly to make my own double-stuffed had finally paid off.
It seemed like three single cookies would be enough to cover the sandwich, but I went with four to be safe and able to make two double-stuffed.
Assembly was easy enough but took a bit of time, so I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it back up in true fast food fashion. After that, we were ready to go.
Sure, it wasn’t like the advertisement’s picture, but such burgers rarely are. Rather than the mayo oozing out over the cookies, the cookies seemed to have flooded into the mayo and occupied its space.
As for the taste, all of the three main toppings tasted good, but the sandwich seemed to lack harmony. The flavors were all existing together in this sandwich but they weren’t really going together in anyway. It was weird though because they weren’t really clashing either.
Chewing one moment would give a blast of spam but the next moment a taste of that distinct Oreo chocolate. The mayo/mustard was surprisingly the most mild of the three.
It’s hard to really judge it. I guess it was okay and an interesting experience, but there was nothing amazingly good about it.
It was tasty but I don’t think I’d recommend it unless you’re really, really bored.
Speaking of which, after finishing off the sandwich I was left with the Bacon Lettuce innards. This whole experiment in cookies and burgers inspired me to go one step further on the hypothesis: If cookies can be put into a burger, then a burger can be put into a cookie.
The flaw in this design was painfully clear in that the single Oreo is way too small to cover the patty, but it did do a surprisingly good job at holding everything together. I actually had little trouble eating it.
This was a rather similar experience to the Spam & Oreo burger but this time the Oreo cookie overpowered the taste of the beef. In that way I could see how the Spam was a really smart call in that it kept the Oreo from dominating the overall taste.
▼ The cream filling didn’t really do it any favors either
Then it dawned on me that maybe harmony isn’t alway the goal in flavors. Maybe there’s something to be said in having balance without harmony. I’m not sure the Spam and Oreo burger nailed this concept, but it did bring it to the forefront.
So, I don’t think this combination will set the world on fire with deliciousness, but it is a very important step in the overall field of burgerology. If burgers were musicians the Spam and Oreo would be more like a Merzbow than a Kenshi Yonezu.
Photos © SoraNews24
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