When I was a little kid I remember describing it as tasting very slightly soapy or something, it doesn’t bother me as much now but it still tastes different than any other chain or homemade burgers.
Anyone else notice this? I mean go to Wendys, Jack In The Box or Burger King and all the burger patties are pretty similar tasting. Now go to McDonalds and the patty tastes very distinct. The one thing I do notice it that MD’s patties are usually very lightly cooked compared to other chains.
The last time I ate at a MacD’s, over 10 years ago in an airport, I remember the “meat” had NO taste. Well, other than grease.
When I go to Mickey D’s, I get the original small hamburger or cheeseburger precisely because you can’t taste the meat. One time I got a quarter-pounder: blech. Never had another one.
I recently posted somewhere about my last McDonalds burger. I was running late, had already eaten some fruit and was craving something small with meat as I was on my way someplace. So I went through the McD drivethrough and bought a McDouble.
The meat had no texture and no taste. It fell apart in my mouth into a mass of non-textured god-only-knows. I had to assume that it was made from Pink Slime - the mechanically separated meat slurry, and not regular beef. Perhaps that’s part of making the McDouble so cheap.
The last time I had a QP was a couple of years ago and I remember that it had flavor. Not awesome flavor, but still generally ‘meat’ flavored.
Honestly the only reason for 95% of my (still only occasional) visits to McDonald is breakfast. A bacon, egg and cheese bisquit or bagel sandwich is nice once in a while. (But I won’t touch the steak ones because the last time I did, I took a bite out of it and grease shot down the front of my dress shirt.)
IIRC from my time doing construction and hitting up McDonalds on the regular, their double cheeseburger has a distinct…peppery taste…
Tell me if I’m wrong though.
McDonald’s double cheeseburgers taste like grease and shame and fat and cheese. God help me, I love them.
McDonald’s and taste in the same sentence. Amazing.
That’s my recollection, too.
Well unlike most Dopers I’m not going to fall over myself insisting I rarely eat fast food.
I love McDonald’s. I usually get breakfast there, but I can enjoy a McDouble no problem. The meat tastes like McDonald’s meat. If you’ve eaten McDonald’s for a large part of your life, it will taste perfectly good. If not, well, it’s probably a little strange.
Nothing else tastes quite like it, but it’s great if I’m in the mood for it on a road trip.
That’s usually when I really love to have just their small hamburger too. Especially in the winter. Num num num!
I don’t notice anything too out of the ordinary about their regular burgers. However, there is something different about their Angus burgers; I think it has the peppery taste that others are mentioning they can taste in their regular burgers.
I am not entirely sure I would call it “beef”, “Meat” seems a stretch, but yes, the burger I have a week or so ago had the distinct “McDonald’s” taste. I remember it as “bland, wet cardboard and grease”. We have Whata-Burger here, my go to for a quick burger.
http://www.whataburger.com/Food
Tasty, nom, nom
Capt
I actually do like McDonald’s (my favorite of the big three burger chains), but I agree, there is a certain smell and taste to their beef (or maybe it’s the whole burger itself) that is uniquely McDonald’s. Nothing else is like it. I don’t find it “soapy,” just very particular to their chain. Burger King also has a very particular flavor that is unique (and one which I happen to intensely dislike). Wendy’s is the one that tastes most like an actual generic hamburger but, for whatever reason, I don’t like it (which is odd, as I loved it as a kid in the 80s.)
I do find that they have a lot more pepper seasoning than the other major chains.
I like the Mickey Dees dollar double cheeseburgers (I’ve noticed small reddish particulate matter in the patties. Pepper?) they are alright.
But their fries are hands down the best fast food fries.
Cow assholes do have a distinctive taste. (Philip K. Dick reference)
McDonald’s does have an unusual source for their beef, which might account for the different taste. On the one hand, you’ve got beef from retired dairy cows, which is generally too lean to be palatable, and thus is sold cheaply. On the other hand, you’ve got the fat that’s removed from ordinary beef cows, to produce low-fat ground beef, and that’s also pretty cheap. Combine the two, and you can get a reasonable fat proportion, very reliably and repeatably, made from two things that would otherwise be waste products. Which is what McDonald’s does.
I like McDonald’s burgers. Not as much as I used to (I think they’ve changed since I was a kid) but as long as I don’t get one that’s got too much pepper on it and isn’t too dry, I like 'em just fine. They do taste different than other burgers, I agree. That’s fine with me. My favorite fast food burgers are McD’s, BK, and In ‘n’ Out. Wendy’s is okay in a pinch. Jack in the Box is terrible.
There’s a chapter in “Fast Food Nation” that talks all about artificial flavorings and how all Fast Food Restaurants spend a lot of money to inject all their food with a very specific flavor. Everything tastes exactly how it is supposed to.
I find this is true of McDonald’s (and the others as well). They don’t taste like Hamburgers. They taste like McDonald’s. And it’s a taste I happen to like (unfortunately) and find I crave sometimes, which is probably by deign.