We’ve decoded the Big Mac sauce and burger recipe. True story. I try to be healthy and eat food with ingredients I recognise (nothing that starts with an e-number, for instance). But, like many others, I am a closet lover of that Big Mac sauce that can only be found under the golden arches.

So, I put my rigorous training and position as digital contributing food editor at delicious. to good use, diligently testing and eating burger after burger in a bid to make this most famous burger at home.

It took a few attempts to get the balance right. Many others have tried and fallen before me, but my dedication was strong (and so was the cheering-on from my trusty colleagues). My pantry doesn’t include industrial flavour enhancers, so it was more difficult than it might seem to get the taste right.

The final, successful, close-to-perfect recipe involved good-quality minced meat, and I did us all a favour and left out the sugars and salts from the original.

This still isn’t exactly health food, but it’s an indulgence I’ve taken for the team. In my relentless testing, I’ve consumed litres of Big Mac sauce, both real and recreated. The upside? My version is pretty good. The downside? I need new jeans

See here for our version of the classic Big Mac recipe, including the secret sauce.