From a homemade Big Mac to Greggs cheese melt: Restaurants share free tutorials to try at home

If a weekly family takeaway has become a bit of a tradition in your house, it’s likely you’re missing out on your favourite restaurant meals.

Sensing our cravings, the likes of McDonald’s and Greggs have launched free tutorials sharing how we can make our favourite meals at home.

If you’ve been in mourning since the closure of these fast food outlets, you might be surprised at just how easy it is to make them yourself.

With restaurants adding more and more tutorials to their social media pages all the time, here’s some of our favourite DIY meals.

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Greggs’ sausage, bean and cheese melt

Greggs is uploading how to videos of our favourite lunches on its Facebook page.

Cleverly named GIY (Greggs it yourself) the first one in the selection is the sausage, bean and cheese melt; the perfect lazy weekend breakfast treat.

To re-create this at home you’ll need five ingredients: beans, sausages, puff pastry, cheese and an egg.

The video talks you through how to make it in an easy-to-follow way, which includes encasing the beans and sausage into some egg-washed pastry along with a sprinkling of cheese.

It then suggests GIY bakers should seal the pastry by forking down the edges and egg washing before putting in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes.

Read more: People advised to stop buying dairy and gluten-free foods unless needed

McDonald’s Big Mac

The McDonald’s Big Mac is arguably the holy grail of weekend takeaways and now - wait for it - we can make it at home.

The triple-tiered burger might look a bit tricky, but it’s not too hard to re-create at home - and there are plenty of people trying it out on social media.

To make the burger, you need beef mince, burger buns - ideally seeded - iceberg lettuce, an onion, burger sauce, American cheese and gherkins.

To create the three layers, cut one of the burger buns in half so the middle layer isn’t too thick.

It’s also important to buy beef mince rather than pre-made burgers for the most authentic taste. Simply mould the beef into a meatball shape and then flatten to create the signature McDonald’s burger shape.

The sauce might be tricky, which is why some people are opting to use ketchup or burger sauce instead, but if you are looking to make it, there are various takes on the infamous sauce available online.

Our favourite is from chef, Todd Wilbur, and it includes:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons French dressing

• 4 teaspoons sweet pickle relish

• 1 tablespoon finely minced white onion

• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

wagamama Katsu Curry

With all wagamama restaurants closed, people are pining for their favourite Japanese dishes.

wagamama’s executive chef, Steve Mangleshot, has heard our cries and put together a series called “wok from home” which teaches us how to make some of wagamama’s signature meals.

The first of the series will go live on 8 April on the restaurant’s Instagram account and we’re told the recipes will include Chicken Katsu, Yaki Soba, Cha Han and Firecracker & Wok Fried Greens.

That’s our meal plan covered.

“This is the first time in 20 years that I’ve gone this long without cooking wagamama food and to be honest, I’m missing it. So, I thought I'd bring the wagamama kitchen home so we can all get our wagamama fix!” Mangleshot said.

Read more: The foods UK panic buyers are ignoring

Bread Ahead doughnuts

We’ve provided you with some solid main-meal options, but what about dessert? We couldn’t possibly forget dessert.

Luckily, Bread Ahead, didn’t forget either.

The Borough Market bakery is providing us with daily tutorials on how to make everything from focaccia to bagels during live home bakery sessions on its Instagram channel.

The recipe the bakery released makes six indulgent doughnuts. The best bit? They’re really not as tricky as you might think and include a basic set of ingredients:

• 170g strong white flour

• 1 medium egg (equivalent to 50g)

• 40g water

• 15g caster sugar

• 5g fresh yeast

• 3g salt

• 40g softened butter

With new recipes landing every day, we’ll all be seasoned professionals before this lockdown is over.