McDonald's 2011–2012

[prasantrin]

McD's in my area of Canada just came out with breakfast biscuit sandwiches, so for two days a couple of weeks ago, they were offering free biscuit sandwiches--sausage and egg, bacon and egg, or just sausage. I thought they weren't that bad, though McMuffins were better.

I'm hoping they bring back fried pies and pizza, but failing that, what more do I have to look forward to? Surely there are some new offerings in the US that have yet to make their way to the Great White North?

And is the quality of McD's getting better or worse? When I did my burger taste tests last summer, McD's actually finished above one very popular local burger joint in town (and I would eat a McD's burger again, while I would never eat that other burger joint's burger again) and I thought my Quarter Pounder really wasn't all that bad. Why all the hate on McD's?

[gfweb]

Uggh. To me, McD's is the lowest common denominator in fast food and wants to be that way. The worst burgers of the big chains. Wretched meat. My daughter boasts that she's never had one. Occasionally something is good, like the original filet-o-fish, but it gets changed with time and becomes junky. Their breakfast burrito isn't poisonous and the fries remain fine. McMuffins are OK

So many chains are better. All of them are better.

[torakris]

I haven't eaten at a McDonald's in the US in many years but I do admit to being a sausage McGriddles addict, sausage only, no eggs and cheese--eewww.

I occasionally get cravings for just a plain hamburger, and I really like the ones at McDonald's over the other chains. There is a good chance the taste is just nostalgia speaking.

I did have the new Miami Burger here in Japan and really liked it. I have no idea why they called it a Miami burger though.

[haresfur]

Macca's breakfast is my downfall. Other choices here are usually either quite expensive and/or serve pre-fabricated sandwiches with cold, dry, fried eggs.

Recently they had a special that was similar to a bacon McMuffin but with more bacon, I think, and with Aussie tomato sauce that really went well. The current special is a Mighty McMuffin with double bacon and sausage. That's really a bit much.

The McCafe mochas are drinkable although the machine at the food counter is pretty bad. They apparently have a policy that they won't fill people's reusable cups at the food counter but the Manager filled mine anyway. At some stores the McCafe is at the end of the food counter, but they are completely separate at others so my ritual is to eat the hash brown while it is still warm while waiting for coffee. Under no circumstances, unwrap the sandwich until the hash brown is consumed.

The free WiFi is a rarity at other places, so they get my business when I travel.

[Chris Hennes]

So many chains are better. All of them are better.

Gotta disagree with this: I rather like the QPC and the Big Mac. I also like those breakfast biscuits. For me, Hardees is the king of the "horrific fast food" camp. I also think that Carl's Jr. burgers much, much worse than McD's. Now McDonalds' coffee? No chance. Wow what dreck.

[Fat Guy]

McDonald's is the biggest and has the most name recognition, so people seem to attach all their fast-food antipathy to McDonald's. Yet, McDonald's has a much higher quality level than the fast-food baseline: better ingredients, nicer stores (and also it's more expensive).

[Holly Moore]

Agreed, yet a McDonald's of the 60's or 70's served far better end product than the current day McDonald's - fresher and faster.

[prasantrin]

I included McD's QPwC in my burger taste test last summer (I did a test of popular local burger joints/stands), and McD's wasn't even the worst. I don't think McD's produces a bad product (generally speaking), though it's certainly not the best in any genre. And their fried apple pies still rock if you can find them.

I noticed McD's has caramel shakes right now. Do I or don't I? I love caramel anything, but I'm worried it will be sickeningly sweet and have that nasty aftertaste some artificially- flavoured caramel things have.

Shamrock shakes will be available for a limited time, too.

Question (primarily for Holly, but if anyone else knows, please chime in!), does McD's use evaporated milk in its ice cream products?

Edited March 6, 2011 by prasantrin (log)

[barbarataylor]

McDonalds sucks! This food is so tawdry and I can't imagine to eat that kind of food ...

[Chris Amirault]

McDonald's is the biggest and has the most name recognition, so people seem to attach all their fast-food antipathy to McDonald's. Yet, McDonald's has a much higher quality level than the fast-food baseline: better ingredients, nicer stores (and also it's more expensive).

Case in point:

McDonalds sucks! This food is so tawdry and I can't imagine to eat that kind of food ...

Barbara, why do you think it sucks? When was the last time you had food there?

Full disclosure: my daughter chose Mickey D's as her birthday dinner location. I didn't argue against it, because, whatever my objections to fast food or McDs, I loves me a Filet-o-Fish.

[Holly Moore]

Question (primarily for Holly, but if anyone else knows, please chime in!), does McD's use evaporated milk in its ice cream products?

I'm only familiar with the shake mix used way back when. At that time I do not believe McD's used evaporated milk.

As an aside, in new products we looked at vegetable oil based shakes, they were horrible and never even made it into test market.

[lstrelau]

Guilty pleasure - a big Mac and fries with rootbeer, thankfully I don't get the urge often.

Haven't been to the East Coast in far too long but remember seeing Lobster Rolls on the menu of McDonalds in Boston area. They might offer Poutine in Quebec too.

[gfweb]

I don't hate McDs, but to me it is way below Burger King or Hardees in quality. Why people love it mystifies me.

McD burger meat has more gristle, seems to be a less substantial patty, and has minimal meat taste.

Big Mac vs. Whopper? Whopper wins by a lot. AND I get to have it made without raw onion and pickle.

BKs double stacker is a nice burger.

McDs fries beat BKs, but not by a mile.

[Fred12fred]

Had my first McNuggets in about 15 years the other day and McD's should be ashamed to include the word "Chicken" in the name.

Sure, when hot and slathered with ranch sauce, they were passably inoffensive.

But, when they cooled off slightly, they took on a slightly sinister quality. I noticed that each nugget seemed unnaturally airy, as if they foamed the chicken (lets face it...mechanically separated chicken...) and nuggetized it. There was no appreciable "meat" texture. It was all coating and filler...maybe I would have been better off trying to eat one of those plastic sushi models...

I think I'll stick with In-n-out when I need my fast food fix...

[patrickamory]

I agree, there's something weird about nuggets. I think Jamie Oliver had a TV show about this for kids in the South or something - some truly disgusting footage. I have no idea what relation his demonstration has to McDonald's claim that their nuggets are now all "white meat" - whatever that means.

I admit I'm still happy to scarf 10 of them down on occasion, dowsed in sweet'n'sour or BBQ sauce. I always feel slightly disgusted afterwards.

[Andrew Fenton]

Question (primarily for Holly, but if anyone else knows, please chime in!), does McD's use evaporated milk in its ice cream products?

Hmmm:

Milk, sugar, cream, nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids, mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, dextrose, sodium citrate, artificial vanilla flavor, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, disodium phosphate, cellulose gum, vitamin A palmitate.

[SobaAddict70]

Once in a while I'll have a Big Mac or Crispy Chicken sandwich. McD's fries are, ehhhhh.

The McRib sandwich is a guilty pleasure.

That's about the sum total of my McD's experience.

[Country]

Agreed, yet a McDonald's of the 60's or 70's served far better end product than the current day McDonald's - fresher and faster.

The first McDonald's I encountered was in 1964 or '65 when I was working in Newport, RI and had a friend in Providence who I'd visit. Out in the middle of nowhere on the road between Newport and Providence was a McDonald's. I was hooked after the first time I stopped there. Their burgers were so good I'd buy three. Eat two on the way to Providence and eat the third, cold, on the way back to Newport late at night after they'd closed.

You're right Holly. The McDonald's of today are nowhere as good as back then. Especially after they changed their fry oil years ago, I hardly ever go to one.

[ChrisTaylor]

Every so often I'll get a craving for McDonald's burgers. Can't explain it. I don't like them. I haven't eaten the stuff on a regular basis in years. I know, in advance, I'll regret it later. It's like, I guess, a reformed smoker craving a cigarette, just one, years after quitting. Maybe it's the childhood in which McD's was kind of a big deal rearing its head in the adult me.

Even rarer, I'll actually cave and go buy a Big Mac. Not the fries or anything: the fries are, as someone said above, best described as 'ehhh'. Too salty, too. And of course, the burger will give me 'Macca's Belly' for a good couple hours afterwards and I'll feel the need to brush my teeth about three times afterwards because of how much I hate the smell.

I must admit I did go into McDonald's a couple of times last year to try the then-newly introduced Angus beef burgers. Someone, somewhere in the McDonald's machinary realised if you doubled the size of the typical McD's patty and charged a bit extra for it and had the guy from The Castle and Packed to the Rafters say it was 'fancy', they could sell a lot more burgers. Even with my cynicism, I was a bit curious. They were bad. Worse, possibly, than the standard Big Mac.

Curiously, when I make cheeseburgers at home I almost always sauce them with a combination of ketchup and dijonnaise. A nod to McD's.

[KingLear]

Just made turkey burgers tonight - shallots, jalapeño, garlic, red bell pepper, parsley, koshering salt, cumin and chipotle hot sauce all in the mix. Irish cheddar, bacon and tomato on top. A little mayo on top - but ketchup, mustard or any other condiment wasn't required - would have gotten in the way. No fast food chain can compare.

That said, I crave a QPw/C every 6 months. Almost like clockwork. BUT mostly, I crave the breakfast sausage patty. It's my dirty secret - every few months I'll order a Big Breakfast with 2 extra sausage patties, sprinkle them liberally with pepper, then keep them to the side while I eat everything else in order to save the best for last.

[Mjx]

I am wallowing in a state of post McDonald's shame: A recent visit to NYC was so hectic that most of the plans I had for eating were blown out of the water, and I ended up in McDonald's three times, wading through obscene quantities of chicken nuggets. Thing is, I actually craved them: I was raised in a vegetarian and anti-consumerist household, so I didn't actually have anything from McDonald's until I was in my 20s, but a single Happy Meal established an odd craving for food that has no flavour I can really describe, beyond 'salty, sort of sweet'. But man, those things are loaded with MSG: I had ten for breakfast one morning, and was pretty trippy.

[Nasi_Campur]

I love the filet-o-fish and those yummy deep deep fried apple pies things. And don't forget the mystery shakes!

OOPS,,, hold on.... that was 35 years ago. laugh: Silly me, I literally haven't stepped inside one of those "establishments" since. :

Edited March 26, 2011 by Nasi_Campur (log)

[threestars]

Occasionally something is good, like the original filet-o-fish, but it gets changed with time and becomes junky.

I should agree on this one. Some are really good particularly their filet-o-fish. I love it. I also noticed that some of the chains here in our area have different servings compared to other areas.

[rotuts]

i sometimes get a Big Mac on Tax day: you get a second for 1 c US!

I dont eat both! but their meat has a steamed quality, but I like all the junk they put on it.

the best 'meat' is at Burger King. they 'char' the meat (ie sl burn) that adds a great deal of taste

fortunately for me there is no In'N'Out burger place here in the east.

now those are a completely different story! and the fries great!

double-double Animal Style!

[jmolinari]

What is hilarious to me is the hypocrisy of a number of these posts where people say "McDonalds is the scourge of the earth and is barely food, but i eat it sometimes because some things are tasty"

Anyone who doesn't admit McDonalds' fries, when hot and well seasoned aren't the reference fry, is lying to themselves.