McDonald's Special Sauce -- Exposed!

The basic recipe for the Big Mac is, of course, seared in the minds of anyone old enough to remember the 1974 advertising campaign: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Though watching Coudreaut chop onions and slice the center bun is no doubt interesting, the big question among Big Mac fans has been the composition of the special sauce. The answer comes just 36 seconds into the 2-1/2 minute video. The chef pulls out a mixing bowl with mayonnaise, relish and yellow mustard. To it he adds a little white wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika "to enhance the color." A little whisking and voila -- special sauce.

The video doesn't give exact amounts, but eyeballing should get most at-home chefs pretty close. Or you could use Thousand Island dressing, long-speculated as essentially the same thing. Or you could drive through McDonald's and plunk down $4.33, the current national average for the real thing, according to the Economist's latest Big Mac index.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-mcdonalds-chef-shows-how-to-make-big-macs-secret-sauce-20120810,0,7833306.story

 

Yeah, I just always assumed it was Thousand Island. Relish is gross to me, so I don't eat it.

 

As someone who used to work at a McDonald's, thousand island dressing is pretty much what the special sauce is. At least that's what the managers always told us.

 

I probably have about 2 Big Macs per year, because I try to avoid fast food for both the health and cost reasons.

But I saw a sign yesterday on the McDonald's I pass by a couple times a day: On Aug. 15, buy one Big Mac (or quarter-pounder with cheese) at the regular price and you can buy a second one for 15 cents. I'm guessing my lunch option is taken care of on that day.

 

Two Big Macs for lunch? Clearly, you're more avoiding them for monetary reasons more so than health ones.

I love that Hardee's biscuits are made from "Scratch." You trademark the name, you can do what you want with it.

 

What's the special sauce at Bronco Burger?

Big Kahuna Burger don't need no special sauce because it is a tasty burger.

 

I guess it depends on what you consider "from scratch." It is made from raw ingredients. The flour, salt, baking soda and other powdered ingredients come to the restaurant pre-mixed in a bag. The biscuit maker adds buttermilk, kneads the dough, rolls it out and cuts it into biscuits to be baked.

There were more than a few early mornings where I had to go to Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. in my Hardee's uniform to buy buttermilk because we ran out between trucks.

 

Big Kahuna Burger? That's that Hi-Wian (sp) burger joint right?

 

Didn't it used to be the case that Pizza Hut's "Meat" topping was trademarked?

 

LOL McDonalds has an executive CHEF!!

 

The biscuits aren't even made in the restaurants anymore. I go to church with someone who owns the Hardees in my hometown, and he told me the biscuits are already pre-baked or whatever. All they do is stick them in the oven for a few minutes when they're needed.