McDonald's Menu Mashup Slideshow

Breakfast-only hash browns meet the Big Mac and fries. Two of the best items on the McDonald's menu, hash browns and fries, are finally united in one sandwich. Consider this a McDonald's homage to the famed fries-as-toppings Primanti sandwich in Pittsburgh. There's textural variety from the crisp fries and the greasy, soft hash browns with the crunchy gold exterior.

The height means that the Big McCarbMac is a press-it-down kind of sandwich. You'll want extra special sauce to help get all the starch down, but for carb lovers, it's an improvement on the sandwich, with fried potato in every bite.

McDonald's does make a Southern Style Chicken Biscuit, but it seems like a regional sandwich that you can't find at every location. Never fear, order yourself any one of the breakfast biscuit sandwiches, ask for some syrup, and then when the lunch menu switches over, grab a Crispy Chicken or Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich and ask for Spicy Buffalo Sauce. Replace the bun with the biscuits, mix the syrup and the hot sauce, and pour liberally. McDonald's should acdtually make this themselves — it's a pretty great fast-food sandwich.

To take this theme to the next level, use the Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich. That adds Swiss and bacon. That doesn't necessarily make it any more Southern, but it does make it even better.

The Quarter Hash Pounder. It's something you don't talk about, and maybe eat when no one's looking, but this mash-up is another of the most successful breakfast-lunch item concoctions. The bun in the normal Quarter Pounder with Cheese is replaced with two hash browns, one on either side. Think of it as a potato Double Down burger. The hash browns are crispy, greasy, indulgent replacements for the dry (in comparison) bun that normally holds the sandwich. And hey, doesn't that make it McGluten-free?

The Big Mac makes for some obvious "because it was there" combinations. You order one and then, with the addition of two of any kind of breakfast sandwiches, the possibilities are endless. Put a Big Mac together with the eggs from any one of the three meaty breakfast sandwiches — the Egg McMuffins (left); Sausage Egg McMuffins; or Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuits. The sandwich has good height, and is pretty tasty. It's easier to eat than the Big McCarbMac, because the eggs make it moister, but it's still a press-it-down sandwich.

Losing the eggs and just grabbing the meat could be a power move, too. You could use the ham from the Egg McMuffin; the sausage from the Sausage McMuffin; and the bacon from the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (buying three of each) — replacing each bun layer with a layer of ham, sausage, and baconr. What would you call that? The Big MacAtkins?

McDonald's doesn't do doughnuts, so technically you can't do a McLuther (the doughnut burger said to be named for singer-songwriter and record producer Luther Vandross, who supposedly loved them). But you can get pretty close. And if you're honest with yourself, it's actually pretty good (ahem, cough, as far as McDonald's goes).

Using two Cinnamon Melts and a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (order the Angus Bacon and Cheese for more over-the-top bacon action), you get the doughnut sweetness and pastry effect and you also get the sweet-salty thing going on. Just keep in mind that this is a hold-it-til-you're-done burger, as there's not much structural integrity to those Cinnamon Melts.

How has this never been done? Oh, wait, McDonald's has done a Philly Cheese Steak? Well, if so, not one you're likely able to find at your local Mickey D's. You order a Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel from the breakfast menu (two, for the right meat-and-cheese-to-bun ratio) and a McRib from the lunch menu (best to ask for it without the sauce in this case). Then, you just use the hoagie roll from the McRib as the bread for the steak and cheese. You'll be missing peppers and onions, but hey, you're not exactly going to be satisfying your craving for the Philly original anyway.

The McWhichCameFirst  is one of the most successful breakfast-lunch mash-up sandwiches. You order a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel and a Premium Crispy Chicken Classic Sandwich or a Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich. (If you're going to go so far as to make this one, would you really ever be the kind of person to order a grilled chicken sandwich to do it? Probably not.) Just place the chicken on the bagel sandwich.

Which name is better — the McWhichCameFirst or the McMotherandChild? Maybe the latter should be reserved for another sandwich, one made with the egg component from the big breakfast, Egg McMuffin, and the Sausage Biscuit with Egg. Then you have eggs done three different ways: egg circle, folded omelet, and scrambled. Then again, that would probably be the McMotherwithChildren? Tasteless, but tasty?

Hollandaise is an emulsion of egg yolks and butter, seasoned with lemon juice and cayenne — a sauce that McDonald's definitely doesn't offer. But there is ranch sauce available at lunch and it's pretty close in appearance to hollandaise. You order two Egg McMuffins, which have the egg and "Canadian" ham components, drizzle on a little ranch, and there you go — food to make you fat. Again, not something you want to tell many people you do, but kind of disgustingly tasty.

Breakfast burrito Baja-style? A McSkillet Burrito with Sausage meets a Filet-O-Fish and a Big Mac. You take the tortilla and empty it of the egg and sausage (or don't), add slices of Filet-O-Fish, and the lettuce, tomato, and special sauce from the Big Mac. Presto. A McDonald's fish taco.

Of course, some things are better left undone. You do them and then say, "What on earth was I thinking?" Such is the case here. There are surely Filet-O-Fish admirers out there, and you have to be with them on the commercial for the original sandwich (pure catchy brilliance), but as far as menu mash-ups go, this is not a good idea. It's far too fishy. But it can be done. Oh, yes, it can be done.

The sweet-salty thing really makes for some of the best mash-up sandwiches, and this is the king of the genre. Order two McGriddles and a Big Mac, then replace the bread layers in the Big Mac with the McGriddle pancake "buns." It's syrupy-sweet, salty, squishy, and undoubtedly unhealthy, but again, as far as fast-food sandwiches go, it's a winner. It's not a suggestion that's going to win over proponents of the food pyramid, or plate, or whatever it is these days, but you bet your boots people would order this if it were on the menu.