In-N-Out Burger menu items
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The original In-N-Out in Baldwin Park, California only provided a basic menu for its customers. While still based on burgers, its menu today includes numerous other items that have been added throughout the years. The listing below includes both basic items and their common variants (where available). [1]
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[edit] Menu items
One reason In-N-Out has not expanded rapidly is that their food is never frozen. The delivery trucks are only able to travel a limited distance from In-N-Out's sole meat packing plant, where the company does its own boning, grinding, and pattying of fresh beef chuck.[2] This commitment to freshness has limited the restaurant's expansion to the states of Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah in 2008. [1]
In-N-Out focuses on providing a basic menu with few changes since the restaurant was established in 1948. The simple menu consists of the following:
- Hamburger
- Cheeseburger
- "Double-Double" - a double cheeseburger (two slices of cheese and two meat patties)
- French fries (one size only)
- Milk shakes - chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.
- Drinks - Coke, Diet Coke, 7 Up, Barq's root beer, Dr Pepper, lemonade, iced tea, milk, coffee
[edit] Ordering an In-N-Out Burger
Despite the apparent simplicity of the menu, there are hundreds of different ways to customize a burger.
All burgers consist of one or more 1/8 lb. beef patties cooked to "medium-well", and served on a lightly toasted sponge dough bun. Cheeseburgers and Double-Doubles also feature one and two slices of American cheese, respectively. The default style of burger includes a spread similar to Thousand Island dressing, tomato, and a portion of lettuce. In addition, customers are asked if they wish to add onions (fresh or grilled). Although not included on the stock burger, In-N-Out can add pickles to the burger; they may also substitute mustard and/or ketchup for the spread, or in addition to the spread.
All ingredients, as well as the toasting of the bun, may be specified as light or extra.
Available on the side are ketchup, mustard, the spread, and any of the produce that is put on the burger, excluding the grilled onions. Chili peppers can also be added to the burger, or ordered on the side.
[edit] The Secret menu
There are also "secret" item specials, variations of the basic menu that are not listed on the menus in the stores, nor advertised. A few of these variations are detailed on the company's web site for all to see.[3] [1]
Some items on the "secret" menu have a slightly different price due to the addition or removal of ingredients — in particular, the meat and cheese.
- M x C (m by c)
- M meat patties and C slices of cheese (for example, a 3x3 or a 2x4)
- Double Meat
- Two meat patties without cheese.
- Triple Meat
- Three meat patties without cheese.
- Animal Style
- In addition to the usual condiments, mustard fried on the meat, pickles, extra spread and grilled onions are added. [1]
- Animal Style Fries
- Fries with cheese, spread, and grilled onions.
- Extra Everything
- Adds extra spread, tomato, lettuce, and onions (regular or grilled).
- Flying Dutchman
- Two meat patties and two slices of melted cheese.
- Extra Toast
- Bun is cooked longer so it is extra toasted.[4]
- Fries "Light"
- Fries that are cooked for less time.
- Fries "Well"
- Fries that are cooked longer to be extra crisp.
- Fries "Light Well"
- Fries that a cooked a little longer to be slightly more crisp.
- Fries "No Boat"
- Fries are placed directly into the red tray, without the paper boat. You may receive more fries than normal in this manner.
- Fries with cheese
- Fries with two slices of melted cheese placed on top.
- Grilled Cheese
- Two slices of melted cheese, tomato, lettuce and spread on a bun, with no meat. There is also a Grilled Cheese Animal Style (grilled onions are added).
- Choco-Vanilla Swirl Shake
- Chocolate and vanilla flavors combined in one shake.
- Neapolitan Shake
- All three shake flavors (strawberry, vanilla and chocolate) combined in one shake.
- Root Beer Float
- Vanilla shake with root beer combined (all soda flavors also available).
- Protein Style
- Instead of a bun, the burger is wrapped in lettuce. This style of burger was created when customers started asking for it in the early 1970s.[5] [1] In addition to burgers, a protein style Grilled Cheese is available.
- Veggie Sandwich
- A sandwich without meat or cheese.
- Spread
- Extra packets of refrigerated "Spread".
- Lemon Up
- 1/2 lemonade 1/2 7-up.
- Arnold Palmer
- 1/2 lemonade 1/2 tea. (Named after the 1/2 tea 1/2 lemonade drink found in grocery stores, created by golfer Arnold Palmer)
[edit] Burgers
The bulk of the secret menu revolves around the burgers. Animal Style is the most popular "secret" style. In addition to the standard toppings, Animal Style burgers include pickles, extra spread, grilled onions, and mustard fried onto each meat patty. 3×3 (3 by 3), 4×4, or variations of m × c, refers to a burger with a varied amount of meat patties (first number, m) and slices of cheese (second number, c). For example, a burger with six meat patties and three slices of cheese would be a 6×3. The largest known burger of this type was a 666x666, created for a Caltech Ditch Day stack in Ricketts House in the spring of 1997. (The purchaser had to construct a steel trough to transport it home.)[6]
Although big burgers have been popular in the past, the company has decided to set limits to the size of a burger to a 4x4. Reasons cited by management are quality control, packaging, and presentation.
It is possible to order a burger with no meat (a Grilled Cheese) or no cheese (such as a Double Meat or Triple Meat). Unlike some restaurants which use a vegetable patty, at In-N-Out, a Veggie Burger is a sandwich containing only vegetables, and no meat or cheese.
In-N-Out has two ways of providing a burger with no bun, which are popular among Atkins dieters and low carbohydrate eaters. Protein Style replaces the hamburger bun with large leaves of lettuce. The Flying Dutchman is simply two meat patties and two slices of cheese; it includes no bun, vegetables, or spread. For eat-in orders, the bottom patty is placed on top of a burger wrapper, alternating meat, cheese, meat, cheese. For to-go orders, the Dutchman is arranged meat, cheese, cheese, meat, and placed inside of the wrapper.
Chopped Chilies adds mild (pickled) chopped peppers to the bottom layer of the burger. In addition, sides of chilies are available upon request.
[edit] Onion styles
Onions may be present on the burger in many different forms.
Regular Onions is what a customer receives by default, if they want onions. This refers to one full slice of onion that is not cooked, but rather placed on top of the center patty or cheese slice while the meat is still on the grill, giving the onion time to warm and soften its flavor. Raw Onions are not warmed at all, and instead placed between the spread on the bottom bun and the tomato, keeping them cold. These can also be ordered as Chopped Raw Onions. Grilled Onions indicates chopped, grilled onions placed in the same location as 'regular onions'. Whole Grilled Onions consists of a whole slice of onion placed on the grill and cooked until it is soft.
[edit] French fries
In-N-Out uses Kennebec potatoes, and peels, slices, and rinses every individual potato by hand shortly before it enters the fryer. Standard fries are cooked four to six minutes (or until "golden brown") in 100% pure, cholesterol-free vegetable oil.[7] A salt and pepper mixture is added after the fries are cooked, although ordering a No-Salt Fry will omit this. Fries Well-Done are cooked for a longer period, making them crispier. Fries Light are fries that have been cooked for a shorter period, making them softer. Fries Light Well are cooked longer than standard fries, so they are more crispy but not as long as fries well-done, which often leaves them rock hard and full of oil. Although not typical, a customer can order a fry cooked for a time they specify, such as 30 seconds (for example, a 30-second fry).
Animal [Style] Fries are topped with two slices of cheese, spread, and grilled onions, and are served with a fork, salt packet, and napkin. Cheese Fries adds 2 slices of melted cheese on top of the fries, although you can specify exactly how many slices you would prefer.
In-N-Out french fries have always been fried in vegetable oil, even before it became fashionable. These fries thus taste more like potato chips than fries at other restaurants that have been specially treated and fried. Other chains had used lard (or, like McDonald's, beef tallow) until the discovery of its negative health effects caused a switch.[citation needed]
[edit] Drinks
Rather than ordering a single flavor shake, a Neapolitan Shake is a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry shake. The Choco-Vanilla Swirl Shake is also available, with a mixture of chocolate and vanilla. Root beer floats are part vanilla shake and part root beer, although any combination of shake and soft drink can be ordered. Large and Extra Large shakes are also available. The cup sizes for these shakes are one below those of soft drinks, that is, a Large Shake is a Medium Soft Drink cup, while an Extra Large Shake is a Large Soft Drink. There is no small size shake, just the standard 14oz. shake cup.
Fountain drinks can also be ordered mixed together. For example, Lemon-Up is a mixture of lemonade and 7 Up, and theres Tea-ade, also known as an Arnold Palmer, is a mixture of iced tea and lemonade.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e McNichol, Tom. "The Secret Behind A Burger Cult", The New York Times, August 14, 2002, p. Late Edition - Final, Section F, Page 1, Column 1. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. "Over the years, this trend has evolved into what's become known as the Secret Menu -- a list of popular burger variations that don't appear on the menu but are passed along by word of mouth. For example, a burger ordered Animal Style comes doused with mustard and pickles, extra special sauce and grilled onions. The Wish Burger is somewhat simpler to parse -- a vegetarian option, without meat or cheese. And the Protein Style burger replaces the bun with a piece of fresh lettuce, for those on a low-carbohydrate diet. And then there's the mighty 4-by-4, with four meat patties and four slices of cheese."
- ^ Schneider, Brad. "Double-Double locks up the Beckham deal", Evansville Courier & Press, July 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. "Decades ago, the Snyders purchased their own meat-packing plant to ensure the quality of their products. No In-N-Out restaurant was ever built more than a few hours drive from the plant so customers would get only fresh beef in their cheeseburgers. To this day, no In-N-Out burger is ever frozen."
- ^ In-N-Out Burger Secret Menu. In-N-Out Burger (2006-08-08).
- ^ in-n-out’s secret menu » Badmouth
- ^ Nguyen, Daisy (March 26, 2004), “Bunless burgers old hat at In-N-Out”, The Oakland Tribune, <http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040326/ai_n14571110>. Retrieved on 17 June 2007 “‘In fact, it was customers who gave it the name protein style,’ said Carl Van Fleet, the company's vice president of planning. They also created it, in a sense, when they began requesting it in the early 1970s, Van Fleet said.”
- ^ (May 2007) Legends of Caltech III. Caltech Alumni Association. ISBN 978-0-9764321-0-4.
- ^ IN-N-OUT Burger (2006-08-08).
