Dear Editors:
That “special sauce” on Big Macs is bull semen.
This has been my little joke all these years.
Very Truly Yours,
Ray Kroc
[from an old National Lampoon “Letters from the Editors” column]
I know it has revamped their menu since then, but the Arby’s of the 1980s is what I think of when I think of Arby’s. And 1980s Arby’s was bad.
I was ten-going-on-eleven years old. It was summertime, 1988. All summer long me and my elementary school chorus practiced for the Democratic National Convention. We were going to be one of the warm-up acts for Michael Dukakis. We were all stoked.
Did I mention that we had practiced all summer? Well, turns out that all that hard work was for naught because Michael Dukakis decided to take the podium early. All the other opening acts got to perform except for us. When we found out, we all started crying. Even the boys. It was pretty hysterical now that I think about it, but I’d never been more disappointed in my life. I actually remember thinking to myself that the bitterness of the night would stay with me forever. And I was right. I think it marked the beginning of my disillusionment with the political process.
What does this have to do with Arby’s? Well, the DNC gave us Arby’s roast beef sandwiches that night. I know they gave them to us before we were supposed to perform, but nonetheless it seems like they were some kind of dry, flavorless, twisted consolation prize to make up for us being robbed. So ever since then, I’ve associated Arby’s with massive disappointment.
This is pretty much it. The beef is then roasted in the oven for several hours, and comes out really similar to a beef roast IMO. I often prefer chicken to red meat, but I have no reservations about Arby’s beef at all. Gimme some Arby’s sauce and some Horsey, and I’ll eat a pound of it if I feel like it.
Absolutely not true at all. The roasts cook in ovens for 3 or 4 hours. You’ll find very few Arby’s employees that say that the cooked product is gross in any way. Their turkey is beyond reproach.
I’ll buy an Arby’s roast beef sandwich any day of the week I feel like it. The sauces make it that much better.
As far as them going OOB goes… there used to be three KFC’s within five miles of my work, they’ve all been closed and shuttered. The franchisee failed, not the brand.
I used to love Arby’s roast beef and hot ham 'n Swiss. Along with most fast food, particularly Taco Bell and KFC. Somewhere in my mid-30’s I started to develop a mild aversion and now, mid-40’s, I cannot stand any fast food, including Arby’s. It tastes salty, overly processed, and starchy to me. I cannot remember the last time I ate at a fast food establishment, though I frequently bring my son to McDonalds. He loves it. I’m not a food snob or a health nut. In fact, I’m ashamed of my poor eating habits, which includes a load of carbs and at least 3 vanilla lattes per day. I just have a late developing aversion to fast food.
Wondering if anyone else finds themselves put off by what was once enjoyable dietary staples.
When I managed an Arby’s (pre and post 911) we used to have left over sandwiches, and maybe an extra turnover or three at the end of the night. My brother would come through the drive through late at night and I would give him what was left. He only got food that had been previously made, nothing new was given to him. He basically got what would have been tossed in the garbage.
Did he or his friends mind? Hell no!
Where did I say it was not cooked or that it was gross?
You hate fast food yet your son loves it? You have at least three vanilla lattes per day?
A fast food thread isn’t where you will find good advice for your problem. Your OP hasn’t been answered though, so…
You said:
Ship to store.
Thaw.
Cook.
Remove from plastic.
I said this was not true because it isn’t. The meat is removed from the plastic before being cooked. I did not imply anything other than that.
It was in 2007 when I was working at an Arby’s.
Not asking for any advice nor detailing a medical or dietary problem. I have wondered if it is perhaps just common for taste to change as one gets older.
Why would it be unusual for my child to love fast food when I don’t? Again, didn’t use that example to solicit advice or judgment. Was trying to avert what I thought might be assumptions about food snobbery, which in a fast food thread, would seem inappropriate and rude.
I worked at an Arby’s back in the early 80s and we removed the bag before cooking then. I figured that maybe they went with a bag the roast can be cooked in, similar to the bags people use for turkeys.
I get it now. I understand where you are coming from.
It’s pretty much the same now. Once about every two or three years, I decide to give Arby’s another chance. Every time I’m disappointed. I grew up with one 1/8 mile from my house, and I think I visited about two or three times in the four years or so it was around. I could never see the appeal myself. Never had a good beef sandwich there. As far as decent beef from chains goes, it’s Anderson’s for me (which I think is limited to Buffalo/Western New York.)
At least three that I’ve noticed closed down recently in the L.A. suburbs (Whittier, La Mirada and Downey). The one in Whittier even had one of those gigantic old-school Vegas style signs out front, which got cut down 
Arby’s was my very first restaurant job. We had a digital scale next to the slicer, but I became a master of reaching into the pile of hot beef and grabbing exactly 3 ounces. You just learn what 3 ounces feels like.
Don’t worry about the sheen - it’s just caused by the salts in the seasoning. I’ve seen it in nearly every precooked roast beef I’ve sliced over my 30 years in the restaurant business.
Same here - when I worked at Arby’s in the '80s, we always removed the bag before cooking.
Digital? I had to hold a 3 oz. weight in one hand and the meat in the other and see if it balanced. 
You’re right about the feel, I could just about bounce the meat of the scale to the bun. And get it right every time.
More disturbingly, every time I see this thread title on the forum page I think of it and start giggling again. Curse you Thudlow Boink, you’ve driven me round the twist! [shakes fist] [giggles]
Not sure about that, as I’ve seen it on non-seasoned meat, too. This article says it’s iron and fat.
I really like Arby’s, but the one closest to me has been known by my friends as “The Arby’s Of The Damned” for longer than I’ve lived here (14 years). Ordering there is like watching a game of “Gimme the Brain!” I eat there maybe once or twice a year nowadays. When I ate there more often, one could watch a certain phenomenon. A new employee would be there. It would be a guy with a Carribbean accent and he’d be all fired up to give you the best service ever. When you come back two weeks later, he’d be broken. Furthering the Zombie-cycle of service.
Or lefse.
But Chimera already said that.