I’ve never tasted a Big Mac, simply because of fear of the unknown “special sauce.” I can’t imagine anyone biting into an unidentified sauce for the first time. If you don’t want to give it a descriptive name, do not expect me to eat it, that’s what I always say.
If I go to McDonalds, all I get is a 1/4 pounder, “no sauce” at all. [I realize I could, perhaps, order the Big Mac with “no sauce,” but it seems wrong somehow. They seem so proud of it, and they act like it’s an integral part of the experience.]
You have no idea what you are missing! Of course I am craving a Big Mac right now so I might be biased.
I detest mayonnaise, mayonnaise based “sauces”, and anything remotely resembling Thousand Island dressing, “sandwich spread”, tartar sauce etc…but I do love a Big Mac every once in a while. Just order it with no sauce or even sauce on the side if you want to try it like that.
There is no duplicating the flavor of a Big Mac (which is not a good hamburger, but once you accept it as its own entity, it is very tasty!) even if you can duplicate the sauce. I think it is the very cheap beef and high amounts of sodium that make it so very good. I get a lot of eye rolls over the “no mac sauce” orders, but it is worth it to me.
Okay, so its pretty much like “Thousand Island”, but NOT Thousand Island “Ranch”. That makes sense, because I was pretty sure the stuff was not like “ranch” dressing. Thousand Island probably made ranch dressing famous but just because a dressing is Thousand Island doesnt mean its ranch
Ranch dressing and Thousand Island dressing are two completely different animals. Not even close to one another. [[URL=“http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ranch-Dressing-I/Detail.aspx”]Ranch](1/2 cup mayonnaise) is sour cream, buttermilk, mayo and a buttload of herbage. Thousand Island is mayo, catsup, pickle relish, onion, and maybe a little bell pepper. How did one make the other famous? Or are you refering to a brand instead of a dressing?
I get THAT. If you (or at least I) buy ranch dressing there is a good chance it was made by thousand island. And I’d WAG that thousand island was the first big name in brand name dressings in general. Does that answer your question?
From what I know, they work with local suppliers to keep their supply chain shorter and reduce shipping and other costs. The thing is, this stuff is produced in huge factories. It has to be, or they’d never be able to supply their stores. That means it’s all planned out, and McDonald’s “taste engineers” are undoubtedly involved in calibrating the production. One of the points of fast food is that there isn’t much variation in taste. You want a consistent product.
Also, a lot of the products they use are commercial already. They don’t have to worry about building ketchup factories since Heinz is already available pretty much anywhere in the world. Same with Coke, Danone dairy products, Nestle, Minute Maid, etc.
And yeah, everything in Japan tastes virtually identical to the same products in the US. Regional special items are available seasonally. Those are different. But a Big Mac tastes just like a Big Mac.
Maybe I am just totally misremembering stuff here, but ISTR that Thousand Island was a type made by a specific company, then they got famous making that type and branched out to all kinds of other types, ranch being a “somewhat” close relative to the original “thousand island” flavor, as opposed to stuff like oil and vinegar/italian/russian/blue cheese kind of dressings.
If I AM totally misremembering this, just ignore the fact that for some reason I made a mental connection between “ranch” and “thousand island”. Geez, its nots worth getting your salad in a toss or spilling some special sauce
I get a lot of eye rolls over the “no mac sauce” orders, but it is worth it to me.