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In the new method, cooks will still press down on the top plate, but for less time.

“We sear and we sort of lift away from it,” she said.

In another breakthrough, McDonald’s will add onions directly to patties as they cook, to soak in juices. Asked if that would make a mess — since cooked hamburgers are moved from the grill to a warming drawer on the sandwich assembly line — Pitman said, “OK you might lose some onions in the drawer.

“But they stick to the meat really nicely,” she said. “You get that little caramelized note because of the heat coming from the beef.”

McDonald’s protocol previously allowed for no more than eight hamburger patties on a grill at one time, or six Quarter Pounder patties. The new rules will reduce those patty maximums by two — six regular patties or four Quarter Pounder patties.

Fewer patties will allow for better heat distribution on grills, but more important, it will force cooks to grill more frequently. That means burgers won’t sit as long in the warming drawer, Pitman said.

McDonald’s is using the same trick with fresh produce — reducing the size of the lettuce trays on the hamburger dressing table, forcing cooks to make more trips to the fridge for lettuce. The upside, Pitman said, is crispier lettuce.

The final, and most complex change was to the bun baking process. Pitman said the objective was to increase their heat retention, so customers would “be able to feel that nice warm bun.”

The new bun recipe includes more moisture, which holds more heat, McDonald’s said in a briefing note on the buns. The top of the bun — the crown — will be reduced in height by three millimetres, “allowing deeper heat penetration.” Meantime, the bottom of the bun — the heel — will be increased by three millimetres, “thereby increasing the heat retention,” the briefing note reads.

McDonald’s will also add a glaze to the buns to seal in heat and moisture and improve the “overall bun appearance.” A prolonged toasting time will give a “fresh caramelized bread flavour.”

Pitman said they also added a buttery note to the Big Mac buns to offset the slight acidity from the extra Big Mac sauce. (The addition of 10 extra millilitres of Big Mac sauce addressed customer complaints that there wasn’t enough sauce per bite in the previous iteration of the Big Mac.)

• Email: jedmiston@nationalpost.com | Twitter: jakeedmiston