The One Fast Food Item That Makes Cody Candelario Geek Out - Exclusive

Remember Cody Candelario from Season 19 of "Hell's Kitchen"? If you're a die-hard romantic, you might be holding onto hopes that he and Mary Lou are finally a thing. (For the record, Cody Candelario did gush exclusively to Mashed about the "great relationship" that he and Mary Lou nurtured on "Hell's Kitchen," where he let slip that they often played cards off-camera. Alas, he stopped short of confirming romance.) 

Most likely, you remember Candelario for his awe-inspiring dishes — take the pork chop with polenta, bourbon pickled corn, and pomegranate chorizo vinaigrette that earned him a black jacket in Episode 12. To be sure, Candelario is no stranger to the flamboyant. His Instagram profile is filled with dishes as extravagant as oyster and mignonette sauce.

Candelario, however, is also firmly committed to comfort foods. He recounted to Mashed that working in a food truck was his "first culinary job ever." By his twenties, he opened one of his own in Germany, dedicated to the art of the hamburger. The all-star chef has a palate to match his professional trajectory. As he admitted to Mashed, fast food fascinates him, especially Mickey D's Double Cheeseburger. 

The McDonald's Double Cheeseburger holds a special place in Cody Candelario's heart for three surprisingly insightful reasons. Behold Exhibit A: the onions. "It seems like their onions that they put on their burger are almost free from moisture," Candelario explained to Mashed. "They're not dehydrated — and they're not salted or anything like that — but they are dried off ... to the point where they're basically texture." 

Exhibit B is equally as important to the burger's success. "Their pickles are dried off too, which I find really smart. You're not adding any excess moisture, which you want to limit as much as you can," Candelario detailed. "Because a beef patty is going to sweat like crazy. [You want] to keep that bun from going soggy, whether you're using potato starch, or otherwise, it's not ideal."

Last, but not least, Candelario would invite you to bask in Exhibit C: the double cheeseburger's "bite-depth." Bite depth, should you not have meticulously studied a burger as Candelario clearly has, is "how [much effort] it is to take a bite [of the burger]." Needless to say, in the "Hell's Kitchen's" contestant's judgment, the McDonald's Double Cheeseburger is "a really perfect handheld [experience]."

Candelario is putting his studies in the science of a burger-making to good use. Cody and @lolo_overland are currently hard at work on their newest show, @theefoodtruck, for which Candelario tells Mashed he is working on a "Smashburger pop-up."  Follow all of their Instagram profiles for updates on this and other upcoming projects.