Fast Food Reference: In-N-Out's Secret Menu

Animal Style

Here's a quick reference to In-N-Out's "Secret" Menu. It's basically a list of custom orders that customers have ordered enough times to warrant being keyed into their ordering system (most other chains don't have such items in their system, but most other chains also have a much larger menu).

Burgers

Default - By default, In-N-Out's burgers come with:
- a beef patty, or two if you get a Double Double
- lots of hand-leafed lettuce
- lots of tomato slices
- spread
- with or without onions (they usually ask if you want onions and if you want them grilled)
- a sponge-dough bun

Let's start with the "Not So Secret Menu" that In-N-Out actually lists on their website.

- Double Meat - default hamburger with extra patty.
- 3 x 3 - default cheeseburger with 3 patties and 3 slices of cheese.
- 4 x 4 - they used to go up to 100 x 100 but the 4 x 4 is now the largest In-N-Out will make your burger. It's a default cheeseburger with 4 patties and 4 slices of cheese.
- Grilled Cheese - default minus the beef plus an extra slice of cheese.
- Protein Style - for people who are eating low carbs or just don't like bread. It's a default burger but wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun.
- Animal Style - probably the most popular "secret menu" item ordered. It takes the default burger and adds mustard-grilled beef patties, pickles, grilled onions, and extra sauce.

Other customizations that can be keyed-in include:

The Flying Dutchman - it is two beef patties, two slices of cheese, and nothing else. The wax paper is the only thing that stands between you and beefy grease. I have no idea why it's called the Flying Dutchman. I tried this one way before I ever started Brand Eating. Beef and cheese is nice, but it was (unsurprisingly) a bit plain. Honestly, I just ordered it for the novelty of asking for a "Flying Dutchman." What I got was a blank look until another employee, who I guess was more in the know, helped out and keyed it in.

The Wishburger or Veggieburger - as in "I wish it had meat." Default burger with no beef or cheese.

But that's not all you can do to your burger, here are the other customizable options:

- Bun - you can have them toast it more, toast it less, or not toast it at all
- Beef Patty - you can have them cook it medium rare, mustard fried (for a little extra flavor), and can also get it unsalted.
- Lettuce - you can ask for extra or on the side... they already give you a lot though
- Tomatoes - you can ask for extra or on the side
- Pickles - you can ask for them; you can ask for extra or on the side as well.
- Chili Peppers - the spicy kind, you can have them chopped and thrown in or on the side.
- Onions - by default grilled onions are chopped and raw onions are sliced, but you can have them slice grilled onions and chop raw onions as well. I tried chopped raw onions recently and like it better; you get that raw onion bite, but it's better distributed than a whole slice on onion.
- Spread - you can get extra or on the side in a sealed packet (The Sister loves those packets).
- Ketchup - optional by request
- Mustard - optional by request

What's the really nice thing? Besides extra cheese and extra patties, the burger customizations are free. Also, they'll really make it however you (reasonably) want it. Check out when I wondered what a McDonald's style hamburger from In-N-Out would taste like. But that's not all you can customize on In-N-Out's decidedly simple menu... the fries and shakes can be tinkered with quite a bit as well.

Fries

Animal Style - similar to the burger treatment. For about $2.00 more, they will melt two slices of cheese onto your fries in this mini-oven that's used only for that purpose and top it off with grilled onions and spread. It's a bit pricey for what amounts to two slices of cheese. I think the price reflects the added labor and use of that little oven. Basically, if it were cheaper more people would order it and that little oven only takes one order of fries at a time.
Cheese Fries - they melt two slices of American cheese onto your fries.
Well or Well-Done - extra crispy fries. They can be a bit dry. You can also asked for "Extra-Well."
Light - the opposite of Well. The fries are just barely cooked and tend to be on the soft and soggy side. Light Well doesn't make much sense, but it's available as well

Shakes

In-N-Out serves three flavors of milkshakes (Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry) and they can be ordered in any combination. The most notable combinations include:
- Neopolitan - a mix of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
- Black and White - chocolate and vanilla.
- Root Beer Float - vanilla shake with rootbeer.

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