McDonald's QPC Photo Shoot

[Chris Hennes]

I saw this on Serious Eats this morning: McDonald's Canada has posted a video demonstrating the differences between a burger they picked up at the store and one done for a photo shoot. It's an interesting behind-the-scenes look, and to be honest I find myself not actually objecting to the techniques they use.

[KennethT]

That was really interesting. I was surprised that they're actually using real food, as opposed to more camera-friendly materials. I always thought that the buns were typically made from foam and painted to look browned, and that ketchup wasn't really ketchup but some type of red gel made to look like ketchup, but is much stiffer so it can sit under the hot lights for hours and not sag.

[Shalmanese]

That was really interesting. I was surprised that they're actually using real food, as opposed to more camera-friendly materials. I always thought that the buns were typically made from foam and painted to look browned, and that ketchup wasn't really ketchup but some type of red gel made to look like ketchup, but is much stiffer so it can sit under the hot lights for hours and not sag.

The law, at least in the US is that any ancillary food can be made from whatever you want but the primary thing being advertised must be made from the ingredients you get at the store. If you're selling ice cream topping, the ice cream can be made from mashed potatoes and if you're selling cereal, the milk can be made from glue but if you're selling a hamburger, you can hand tweezer the sesame seeds and use a syringe to apply the ketchup but they have to be real sesame seeds and real ketchup that you actually use for the burger.

[janeer]

I enjoyed this. Very professional, shows integrity.

[Holly Moore]

I was the McDonald's corporate representative at one of the original Big Mac photo shoots back in 1968 or early 1969. Some techniques not detailed in the video: 1) The hamburger patties are frozen. They are quickly browned at very high temps on the outside but the interior of the patties are still frozen solid, which is why the patties hold their shape. The edges are painted as shown in the video. The buns are purchased uncut. That way we could cut them perfectly. We'd bring in maybe 20 dozen buns to get the pic of the crop. The sesame seeds were never perfect so we plucked some off and glued on a bunch more sesame seeds. Photo shoots are incredibly boring - a dozen people standing around a perfectly posed hamburger for eight to ten houts.

Even back then McDonald's only used the exact ingredients used in their stores, purchased from regular McDonald's suppliers.