People!!!..
…oops, sorry, was thinking about Soylent Green for a minute there…
Anyway, why does Mickey D’s still insist on calling the condiment used on the Big Mac “Special Sauce”, when in all actuality it’s nothing more than common, mundane Thousand Island dressing?
Does anyone still think that “special sauce” is anything other than Thousand Island dressing?
Trademark most likely.
So. Disillusioned. No. Reason. To Go On.
Actually, yeh, it’s obvious to anyone who’s had Thousand Island dressing before. I love it on the Big Mac, but I’ve never actually tried it on homemade cheeseburgers. I wonder…
After a few decades a food is no longer special no matter how you hype it.
It’s better than their old Mundane Sauce. Three and a half islands, tops.
I don’t know about that. Their “I’d hit it!” ad campaign gave me second thoughts about the special sauce. 
I never actually knew that…neat!
You should give it a try. Occasionally the mood strikes me and I’ll make “home-made” Big Macs.
You (might) remember the commercial jingle that outlined the ingredients. To wit:
Two all-beef patties (I use one fresh ground beef patty and will cook it on the grill).
Special sauce - 1000 Island Dressing as noted
Lettuce
Cheese (American)
Pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
The result is always a crowd pleaser and something to break up the monotony of burgers with the standard lettuce, tomato, mayo, etc. combination.
Does anybody know if they produce and then ship the sauce overseas? A mac in Japan tastes exactly the same as it does here… I’m thinking they must, else regional variations regarding ingredients would possibly affect the flavor?
It would be a massive shipload of sauce though… hmm.
“It’s still people! They said they’d stop, but they lied!”
At anyrate, I believe, tho I can’t swear to it, that in the 60s, and I’m serious. the special sauce was tartar sauce.
hh
Since it basically amounts to a slightly spiced combination of mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard I effectively have it on every burger I make.
I noticed McDonald’s food tasted different in England. I can’t quite say how…it was subtle, but even though I hate McDonald’s, I’ve eaten there enough to know how it tastes. And in England it was slightly…off.
Maybe they boiled the burgers first.
If they call it ‘special sauce’, there is no requirement for it to conform to any particular recipe - so as long as it’s made from ingredients approved as fit for human consumption, it can be made of anything they like.
Whereas mayonnaise and thousand-island dressing are still somewhat variable, but only within tighter constraints. You can’t sell any old thing as mayonnaise.
I’ll agree that the base is 1000 Island but with extra horseradish. I’ve tried it at home & it takes a extra dash of horseradish to make it Special Saucey.
You people are either deluded or in denial. I just happen to know what the special sauce is. I read an article about it in Skeptical Inquirer.
OK, not so much an article as a comic.
And not so much Skeptical Inquirer as Penthouse.
But still, it was in print, so it must be the truth.
In panel one, an angry customer complains to the counter guy that “You forgot my special sauce!”
In panel two, the counter guy gleefully squeezes a zit onto the burger.
And now you know.
When I worked at McD’s, one of my favorite co-workers used to fill his mouth with Special Sauce, wait for an audience, then “vomit” into the nearest trash can. Effective. 
I didn’t know, but then, I don’t really care.
Call me whatever names you like, but I still enjoy my big macs with ketchup too much. I’m not sure if I’ve ever even tried the special sauce. 
Well McDonalds never said “special sauce” was anything other than thousand island dressing. People just assumed it was.
Thousand island dressing?? On anything other than a salad?? I knew there was a reason why I don’t mind eating at McDonald’s the odd time but I still don’t like Big Macs and rarely order them. (I miss the Arch Deluxe :()
That being said, one of my favourite condiments for damn near everything (including burgers) is (a surprisingly hard-to-find product) sandwich spread (the Kraft version, the Heinz version is way too gross, thankfully it’s even harder to find). It’s not that dissimilar to special sauce/thousand island dressing, but way more palatable. (Shameful product promotion in hopes that other Dopers will be hooked like me and Kraft will be forced to make more of it)
BTW, though I rarely frequent there, isn’t this better for Cafe Society?