It may not be sugar that’s making the McD taste sweeter, it might, in fact, be the salt. I read a study some years ago where they took unsweetened chocolate and packed it with something like 10X as much salt as there was chocolate (forget the exact numbers, but it was a massive amount of salt) and folks eating it thought that the chocolate had been sweetened. Apparently, the salt scrambled folk’s tastebuds enough that things packed with salt tasted sweet. Even small bits of salt are said to be able to emphasize whatever sweetness something has. I had a roommate who worked at Burger King at the same time I worked at McD’s (late 80s) and we compared notes on how the things were made. I don’t recall for certain if BK put salt on their burgers (McD’s puts a mixture of salt and pepper on theirs), but I’d be willing to bet that they don’t.
must be a regional thing… here small drinks are listed on the menu board for 99 cents, and hamburgers for 85.
How the heck are we supposed to know how to order? Not everybody eats at McDonalds 6 times a week!
From this thread, it seems like there is some sort of arcane ordering lingo that we’re just expected to know? Well, that explains a few things about why the order takers sometimes seem a bit exasperated with me.
The Plain Whopper I got for comparison was definitely blander, salt-wise.
Burger King also has the disadvantage of using flame-broiling. I say disadvantage because the flat griddle at places like McDonalds will retain a lot of the flavors from previously-grilled burgers, including their grease and a little bit of onion residue, both of which enhance the flavor of the meat. In flame-broiling, most of that stuff drips through the spaces between the grill bars, so the meat doesn’t pick up any extra flavor.
(the abridging is mine)
Huh??? I don’t know of any onion residue that even touches the grill… cooking the meat is fairly straightforward… lay patties, close top part of clamshell, wait… wait… it opens, season the meat and use spatulas to transfer to a tray (i hope that i didn’t give away any trade secrets there…) Back in the olden days of breakfast steak, i might have agreed with you, slightly, but then again, there was never enough steak onions cooked to matter, and the grill is (should be) scraped after every run of meat, so after the first couple batches of (quarter pounder meat, the gap setting between the top and bottom platen for which the steak was cooked), the flavor gain from the onions would be negligible. however, mcdonald’s should have grilled onions drool… we did have a grilled onion McDouble for a while… but like most “New Tastes” it was doomed to be taken away. For the better I guess… if we’d kept that, we probably would have been forced to keep the vileness that was called the Chili Cheese Mc
Double. :eek:
Hmmm … strange, then, I definitely detect a teensy weensy tiny bit of onion flavor in both a McDonalds plain hamburger and a McDonalds plain Quarter Pounder Without Cheese.
Is there something onion-based added to the ground beef before it arrives at the restaurant? Is there something onion-based in the seasoning for the meat, or in the seasoning for the bun? Or is the salt that is part of the seasoning just confusing my taste buds?
BTW, yesterday I tried a plain Big Mac for the first time in my life. My response: “Eh.” I guess it loses something if you omit everything between “two all beef patties” and “on a sesame seed bun.” (Not that I’d try leaving that stuff in – I can’t stand vegetables or condiments.) I’ll stick with the plain Quarter Pounder; it’s got a much higher meat-to-bun ratio.
Hmmm … strange, then, I definitely detect a teensy weensy tiny bit of onion flavor in both a McDonalds plain hamburger and a McDonalds plain Quarter Pounder Without Cheese.
Is there something onion-based added to the ground beef before it arrives at the restaurant? Is there something onion-based in the seasoning for the meat, or in the seasoning for the bun? Or is the salt that is part of the seasoning just confusing my taste buds?
BTW, yesterday I tried a plain Big Mac for the first time in my life. My response: “Eh.” I guess it loses something if you omit everything between “two all beef patties” and “on a sesame seed bun.” (Not that I’d try leaving that stuff in – I can’t stand vegetables or condiments.) I’ll stick with the plain Quarter Pounder; it’s got a much higher meat-to-bun ratio.
:smack: Darn it, the one post that brings my post count up to 12,000, and I double-post it.
nope, not that i can see. however, i guess a cause would be toasting a bun while touching it with the same hands that put onions on a different sandwich… mconions are pretty strong… ever notice any pickle flavor? or maybe i’m just way off. or maybe where you go, there are employees who like grilled onions… and the grill isn’t scraped often, and they always make their sandwiches right before they make yours.
Nope, you’re right. I am convinced that what I was experiencing as “extremely mild onion flavor” was just a combination of the salt and the naturally-occurring MSG in the beef grease.
Ah, but you forget, McDonalds makes most of its money from repeat customers, who do eat there 6 times a week!
So, if their top-secret meal-ordering handshake is muffed by a “casual” customer, they’re probably not too worried.
could be anything. i used to work at McHells, and the guys in the kitchen would at times put the wierdest shit on the grills for their lunches (like the guy who would crack an egg onto the grill and have it with fried pickles and onions).
as for taking special orders, i always found it best to ask fully along the lines of ‘cheese? no cheese?’, else i’d have to not only deal with the problem, but with my asshole of a 1st assistant manager (the reason i quit) breathing down my neck. i mean, yeah, sometimes people thought i was stupid, but i preferred that to having to take crap when i’ve ‘got their order wrong’.
You do realize, Plankspanker, that your username immediately brings to mind the scene in Shallow Hal where Hal asks why Bella isn’t out there on the dance floor spanking the planks with her friends.
/
/
i’m gonna do that/
/
Color me befuddled. Every single time I’ve ordered a QP, they’ve asked me if I wanted cheese. Every time! Of course, I haven’t ordered one in ten years or so …
Just go to Wendy’s.
And what about the Medium Fries? Anyone know when/why that size disappeared from the menu? Or is that just a local thing?
I’m stuck with Small, Large & Super-Size.
Medium used to be so perfect…
I think I work at the ideal McDonald’s - we still have medium fries, they’re the ones that go with all the meals! You all live near substandard weird knock-offs. I bet if you look really closely, they say McDonald’s (-type restaurant) in tiny letters near the bottom.
I am sort of weirded by the “regular” fries. They’re the ones that cost a dollar, and they’re in between the small and medium in terms of size. The weird thing is, they’re the newest size of fries and aren’t sold very frequently. So there’s nothing terribly “regular” about them.
What?! CadburyAngel you have Medium Fries still and yet another size? This is so unjust.
“Regular” and “Medium” seem interchangeable to me - maybe that’s the problem.
aaugh… there is no ‘regular’ or ‘normal’ size anything at mcdonald’s… items commonly called ‘regular’ or ‘normal’ and rebuttal:
fries: sizes are small, mcvalue (dollar menu name) medium…
coffee: small and large
drinks: already discussed
mcflurries or ice cream cones: only one size
cheese(ham)burger: only one size (FTR, small and junior cheeseburgers don’t exist either. they’re cheeseburgers. )
umm… shouldn’t happen. mcdonald’s franchisees are required to offer everything on the ‘core menu’ and other pre-approved things may be sold, and approval must be received first on anything else. if so, they’re probably violating the sacred mcbible rules… there should be menu strips for medium fries, if not, though, they probably exist… mcdonald’s has things not on the menu boards… like the biscuit and gravy EVM here… (regional, i believe, on numbering of EVMs…) we have it, but it’s not on our menu board… challenge… try finding orange bowls on menu boards (uninitiated: a 5 gallon cooler full of hi-c orangey goodness… not bad for somewhere around 8 dollars… )
(Shameless McPlug: go try a new dulche de leche shake… they’re [yum smiley]… something about the syrup makes them really creamy… odd b/c the syrup is translucent… not creamy… taste like caramel… mmm… 2nd best McShake ever, right behind Arctic Orange…)