In the Chicago Tribune, which observes, "Global brands from restaurants to automakers sometimes roll out offbeat products to appeal to Chinese tastes in the populous and intensely competitive market."
How deep is your love for McDonalds?
That's just Spam, mayonnaise, and crumbled Oreos, on a hamburger bun, so it would be easy to make that at home. No need to go to China!
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103 comments:
Healthier than their usual bat and pangolin burgers with Pixie Sticks. Their partnership with Biden and the Democrat Party is yielding dividends.
"Global brands from restaurants to automakers ..... "
They can eat it in their Buick.
Two all bat patties
Special sauce, pangolin cheese
Pickled eel lungs on a sesame tea mung. Bun.
That's $2.01 US, BTW.
Thinking that McDonald's is "gross" or that liking McDonald's is indicative of bad taste is total class snobbery. McDonald's food is amazing. There is not a three-star Michelin chef on the planet who could create a dish anywhere near as universally beloved as the perfect McDonald's French Fries. And the perfect is key. McDonald's invented a perfect product. The French Fries are 99% done when they arrive at the restaurant. You just have to follow the procedure! Doesn't matter if it's The French Laundry or McDonald's, the food business is the food business. Tt's always about mediating the front of house and back of house. Being a good chef isn't really about cooking; it's about managing a team. Excellent service is the synergy produced when the two sides are working at top form. When it's a well conducted orchestra, the sound is amazing. When not, it's an unbearable cacophony.
The oil can't be old because the franchisee wants to stretch the cost. They can't sit in the oil too long past the time because no one's at the station. A crew member in a hurry can't haphazardly sprinkle a couple of half-hearted shakes of the salt.
But. When the oil is right. When the timing is right. When the salt is right. There's nothing better. Well, actually, one thing better. They improved the taste of CoCa-Cola without having to know the formula. Gordon Ramsay or Thomas Keller or Joël Robuchon versus McDonald's food scientists is David versus a thermonuclear bomb.
Of course, the fine dining set cannot acknowledge this because they must maintain the suspension of disbelief, the illusion that they have elevated tastes and refined palettes. Any good restaurateur knows he's not selling food, he's selling status. When done badly, it comes off as snooty, pretentious, condescending, and tryhard. The really good places make ass-kissing an artform.
Spam is delicious.
But I wonder, back at headquarters, do they get any email?
They could call it the Lao for lips, assholes and oreos.
Pair it with some Rice-a-Roni and it's a real San Francisco treat
John Henry
"the perfect McDonald's French Fries. And the perfect is key. McDonald's invented a perfect product..."
I think years ago the fries were good, but they're awful now. They're so dry, I feel like I'm choking them down.
Maybe if it was some kind of mutant Pineapple Oreos that had been crumbled, that might work. Or not. In America, we have many Oreo flavors, something that probably irritates Bernie Sanders. Why do you need more than one Oreo flavor? That's like having more than one kind of deodorant; it's decadent capitalist excess.
In Japan, it's multiple flavors of Kit-Kat candy bars. I've seen ads for some flavors that would curl your hair, or at least your tongue. Perhaps the Spam burger really needs some Pineapple Kit-Kat bar crumbles to turn it into a mini-luau. Or not.
There Are More Than 200 Different Flavors Of Kit Kat In Japan. Here’s Why
Spam and Oreos? Fine.
Mayonnaise? Disgusting.
(And don't try passing it off as aioli. We've caught on to that trick.
China has many areas with large populations of Latinos of Asian descent.
Ann Althouse said...
"the perfect McDonald's French Fries. And the perfect is key. McDonald's invented a perfect product..."
I think years ago the fries were good, but they're awful now. They're so dry, I feel like I'm choking them down.
12/22/20, 6:45 AM
That’s why the meal comes with a drink....but yes, they are relatively dry. I don’t think they have changed, but could be wrong.
Gimme a double quarter pounder and a large chocolate mocha frappe...But hold the fries because I don’t want to get fat.
I feel like I'm choking them down.
Someone prefers the old beef tallow recipe to today's animal-product denuded peanut oil version. Based on the ingredients, I would have guessed this was a McDonald's Hawaii innovation. They pioneer artery clogging in paradise.
Quarter pounder w fries is one of my guilty pleasures, truth be told. It’s also a nostalgia trip, as my best neighborhood friend and I would frequent a local spot when we were young. She passed away 13 years ago and I miss her so.
McDonald's changed their fries years ago to satisfy the militarist vegetarians of the world. No more beef tallow allowed.
SPAM
Shoulder Pork and hAM
Extremely popular in Hawaii. Why?
Canned Meat. Hawaii couldn't raise the animal protein the consumers craved. Enter SPAM. I doubt Iowa consumes the quantity Spam in a year that Hawaii eats in a month. Invented in the 30's it grew into the Pacific Islands when they were introduced to them during WWII. Still popular because fresh meat can't be produced in large quantities do to the lack of sufficient acres of arable land.
I worked in a McDonalds in the mid-60s and can't remember now if the potatos came in frozen by then.
I also worked at a Hardees and they definitely did not. I remember peeling potatoes and running them through a dicer.
I also remember peeling and chopping onions.
Quality is defined as "the absence of variation" (See McConnell, Taguchi, Deming)
This is what McDonalds is famous for. Everything identical at every single store. With some regional variations but everything identical within that region.
You can't have high school kids dicing potatoes and expect quality fries. Each kid will do it differently. The only way to get to quality is automated machinery.
Yes, absence of variation is a goal, not a realistic possibility. That's why specifications with upper and lower limits exist, to show that the product is close enough to quality to be sold. "Good enough", in other words.
John Henry
I want to point out that McDonalds delivers ~600 calories in a very tasty form wrapped up in convenient paper hot and immediately ready to eat for about $3.XX. The lowest skill person can make $12 an hour today off the street with no training just walking into thousands of McDonalds that are hiring. A person can feed themselves for a month working part time one week.
That is a fucking miracle. That is what Free Markets do.
And there are people that complain about it from the snobbiest point of view possible. You people sit here in the greatest country ever in the wealthiest time ever given every opportunity.
And many want to let a junta take over through a blatant coup.
Everyone needs to spend a few months in Afghanistan and maybe you would give two shits about things that matter.
Farmer has it about right but gets the cause and effect backwards.
McDonalds always exceeds expectations. If forced to eat their food, it is better than I remember or expected. But you know going in, what is there. The lighting, the plastic seats, the employees, the bathroom, the service. The hamburger, and yes the fries. (I'll do Culvers, thank you very much)
We have a convenience store chain in Iowa, Caseys. They too strive to meet and exceed your somewhat attenuated expectations (its a convenience store!) Casey's also wins with best Pizza. Beats Dominos, Caesars, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, and two local joints that have a very good pizza.
"it would be easy to make that at home" Not tempted.
I grew up with a plywood shield of frazzled looking eagle delivering a case of Spam to a ship at sea.
It was from my father's ww2 Merchant Marine ship.
I still have it hanging in my living room.
I used to eat Spam in the Navy when there was nothing else. It's food, not much more. I don't think I have eaten it since.
Iowan,
I had thought Spam stood for SPiced hAM. I also understood it was made from waste parts of the pig like lips and assholes.
John Henry
We had a short lunch break in the middle of a trial. Ran across the street to McDonalds. I had a burger and a coke; the coke was flat and the burger tasted like cardboard. My client had a burger and a chicken sandwich. I asked him how it was. He said the burger and the chicken tasted exactly the same. Hmmm.
Fifteen/twenty years ago. That was my last time in McDonalds. Lotta better fast or semi-fast food options.
McDonalds used to have good vanilla shakes; I wonder if they still do?
The best McDonalds I ever had was in Hong Kong, after spending a few weeks in the Guangzhou area in the 90s. I was so happy to see the Golden Arches, so relieved to order something to eat that didn't require thorough inspection for various animal parts I didn't then consider food-grade. They had KFC and, I think, Burger King, but I headed straight for the arches. The Economist magazine used to run a feature in the back called "The Big Mac" index, noting the $US price of a Big Mac in major cities of the world, as another way to evaluate local purchasing power parity. I remember as a kid being amazed at the variety of global cities that had McDonald's, and the dissonance of that fact with the snobby attitude so many around me showed towards McDonalds. As a child of an immigrant from a country with no "fast food" industry at the time, our attitude towards the place was unashamed wonder and desire, and we'd hit one up every road trip. Had to be McDonalds, too, fuck Burger King, although Wendy's was popular with the adults for their all-you-can-eat salad bar. Humbug.
I like Spam. Fried for breakfast. Diced, sauteed and used in fried rice. Is it the best ham evah. Nope. It is also great for camping. Convenient and doesn't require refrigeration until opened. I always have several cans in my Armageddon pantry.
Do I eat it all the time Nah. But, it is suitable to eat and for many nostalgic.
Oreo cookies (not the filling) I hate. They taste like charcoal.
You can't beat a McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin with a small orange juice as an on the road breakfast. Mmmmmm.
In 1961 Jacques Pépin turned down an offer to become chef at the JFK White House in order to work for Howard Johnson developing new food lines for HoJo's.
"You can't beat a McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin with a small orange juice as an on the road breakfast. Mmmmmm."
I like it with cold milk, but yeah.
Fast Food My Way was the first cooking book I used properly, and his shows with and without Julia Child were the basis of my cooking education. I still occasionally do a poached chicken breast Pepin-style straight from that fast food book. He is that rare chef and educator without even a daub of snobbery about him.
I had thought Spam stood for SPiced hAM.
Yea, I'm not going to the mat on this quibble. I think there is some local lore involved in creation to the name. Again, local lore has spam manufactured in the Ottumwa kill plant, and some of my opinion is informed from living in the area for a while and listening to old timers, they wouldn't intentionally deceive, right? Nah. Thinking back, I hired a part time seasonal driver that retired as the local hog buyer ( a job that no longer exists) for Hormel He might have validated the naming story. Hog buyers never lied, right?
Hawaii couldn't raise the animal protein the consumers craved.
Hawaii is a major beef-producing state. The cattle industry has been thriving in the island since the late 1800s. Several immense cattle ranches, including (not least, the Parker Ranch), are located in Hawaii.
Yeah, I understood that the taste for spam developed around the Pacific rim thanks to the massive US military bases in Hawaii and the Philippines in particular, not because of a lack of local protein. Salty, fatty and highly seasoned food that keeps forever in the tropics, and seasons rice and other bland starches well. Not that mysterious. Around these parts, Taylor ham or ham roll slices with egg and cheese are a diner staple, and those are just other names for spam. And we got cows, oh we got cows.
This is what McDonalds is famous for. Everything identical at every single store.
Just like the Catholic Church. Mass is the same every day, everywhere, from Tonapah to Timbuktu. Coincidence? I think not.
We used to make fries from scratch back in the 60's when I worked as a high school kid in one of the first McDonald's in NJ.
Unpeeled potatoes would arrive in a big burlap sacks from Idaho, as I recall. We would peel them in a big machine with a rotating abrasive drum inside. Then we would cut the potatoes individually into strips in a cutting contraption with a big pull down handle.
The "fries" were then blanched in hot oil for i forget how long, maybe a minute or two, and hung in baskets on a big rack until needed.
Then they were cooked in hot oil until they looked just right, and dumped on a tray to be salted by hand with a big salt shaker. How much salt was up to the operator. I liked a lot.
The whole operation was pretty manual and relied entirely on the judgment of the high school kid (me) who was making the fries.
I don't know how they do it now.
Incidentally, the crew was entirely male back then.
I wonder if the SPAM in China is made from Long Pork?
@Ann Althouse:
I think years ago the fries were good, but they're awful now. They're so dry, I feel like I'm choking them down.
alanc709 said...
McDonald's changed their fries years ago to satisfy the militarist vegetarians of the world. No more beef tallow allowed..
Not quite. In the 1980s, it became the received wisdom that a low-fat diet was the solution to heart disease and obesity. The medical establishment, the government, the food industry, and the fitness industry were all on board. Ditch butter for margarine, bacon grease for vegetable oil, whole milk for skim milk (or at least 2% for the love of god). And that's when obesity rates really started taking off.
McDonald's blend of vegetable oil and beef tallow was a victim of the saturated fat purge. In the early 90s, they switched exclusively to hydrogenated vegetable oil blends. Ironically, a decade later the same blend was decried for its trans fats content.
De gustibus ain't what it used to be.
In the 80s after the Grenada invasion, the C-130 I was navigating broke in Kingston, Jamaica after delivering some NATO peacekeepers. We were put up at a tired hotel at the Port Royal marina – I think it is now the Port Royal Hotel. The first day for breakfast, we meet in the restaurant and the waiter comes from the kitchen to take our order. We order; omelets, bacon and potato, over easy, pancakes, etc. Then we wait. And wait and wait and finally the waiter brings out our covered plates and sets them in front of us, and upon opening, we discover each and everyone of us received Spam, scrambled eggs and fresh sliced tomato. He explained: “It was all we had available. It was delicious. The next morning, we asked the waiter if we could really order off the menu this morning and he assured us we could. So, same drill, omelets, pancakes, etc….and we received Spam, scrambled eggs and fresh sliced tomato. The third day the waiter comes to take out breakfast order, and we tell him we would all like Spam, scrambled eggs and fresh sliced tomato. He dutifully writes our orders down and when finished, looks at us and says, “Good choice.”
@Jersey Fled:
The whole operation was pretty manual and relied entirely on the judgment of the high school kid (me) who was making the fries.
I don't know how they do it now.
They are prepared in a factory, fried in oil, and flash frozen. The store just have to give them their second fry. They used to go through a salt-sugar brining, but I have no idea if they still do that.
If you ever do homemade fries at home, you should freeze them. When you put the frozen fries in the oil, the ice crystals help make a craggy surface. If the mood ever strikes you, try this method: cut the potatoes into fries, parboil them in a walter-salt-sugar solution, drain them, spread them out on a sheet pan, and slide it in the freezer. After they're frozen, cook them using the basic double-fry method. Delicious!
...Feifei Mao Enthusiast on the Sina Weibo microblog service
Something tells me that this is the sort of person who'd actually be worried about the authenticity of the General Tso's Chicken.
I think years ago the fries were good, but they're awful now.
You could pretty much substitute almost anything for the word "fries" in that sentence.
How deep is your love for McDonalds?
Anyone see the HBO Documentary on the Bee Gees?
Poignant stories, wonderful harmonies.
Never got the full credit they deserved for being a great pop band.
At least from me.
If you ever happen to be near one of these, give them a try:
Frites Alors!
The "fries" were then blanched in hot oil for i forget how long, maybe a minute or two, and hung in baskets on a big rack until needed.
I wonder if that would work for Sweet Potato fries?? (the orange kind) I want to do that with our Christmas prime rib roast instead of baking them. Anyone?
You can double-fry anything and it's going to be better than twice as good as a single fry, whether we're talking potatoes or chicken wings (that's the secret to delicious Korean style chicken wings--two fries).
Blogger Jersey Fled said...
salted by hand with a big salt shaker. How much salt was up to the operator.
Next time you go there, or to a Burger king and probably others, look how they salt the fries.
It's a big Lexan shaper with some compartments inside. Turn it right side up and one compartment fills from the main compartment.
Turn it upside down, using the handle that sticks straight out from the side and the measured amount from the second compartment flows through some baffles, over a cone and is distributed evenly over the tray.
It is impossible to put any amount of salt but the correct amount though you could put double or none.
It is an ingenious invention and made the inventor a nice bit of change.
It, along with the automatic frier which times the cooking and temperature and lifts the fries when done, and the automatic fry measuring system into the baskets, assures that McDonalds fries will be close to quality (all the same) around the world. You may love them, you may hate them. But they will always be something you can count on.
As someone whose family was always going places in the 50s, I remember stopping for lunch was a crap shoot. You would look at the outside of a diner/restaurant/burger stand and have to make a guess about whether you would get a good meal, how much the price would be, did it have clean restrooms (or an outhouse in the back?) and so on.
HoJos was the first to put an end to that. You knew what you would get (Fried Clams!), you knew how much it would cost, that the rest rooms would be clean and so on.
But they were a full service restaurant. Comparable perhaps to an Applebees today.
If all you wanted was a quick lunch there wasn't much you could depend on until McDonalds.
John Henry
My brain says, "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm", but my mouth says "Ain't No WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY".
I'm surprised to realize I've been to McDonald's only a handful of times in my life. Why? I have no idea.
How is that spam cooked? It looks fried, which would be okay. Otherwise, shudder.
J Farmer rocks the Millennial home french fry hack. Is there anything your generation cannot perfect?
Sweet potatoes are the new soy that the vaganism Karen's want men to consume so they get dosed with estrogen precursors.
I yam what I yam.
"Just like the Catholic Church. Mass is the same every day, everywhere, from Tonapah to Timbuktu. Coincidence? I think not."
I do not think you have been to many masses around the world.
"I worked in a McDonalds in the mid-60s and can't remember now if the potatos came in frozen by then."
I worked at a tech company in Silicon Valley that was purchased by another tech company with headquarters in Nampa, Idaho.
I thought the location odd, and asked about the story behind the company; founders, etc.
Turns out it was owned by the man who figured out how to flash-freeze his Idaho potatoes* and did a handshake deal with Ray Kroc to supply them to all of his restaurants.
Needless to say he was very wealthy, but also smart enough to diversify into tech, etc.
*Apologies to Mr. Quayle.
Fried Spam is delicious. My wife, who is a cook of considerable repute, has made Spam quiches and served them to snooty people - who raved about them.
As for McDonalds, my love for it is deep. When we got back from a Mac-free year in Vietnam, the first thing my buds and I did was go directly to McDonald's and gorge. It was heaven. (And, yeah, I know the joke.)
"As someone whose family was always going places in the 50s, I remember stopping for lunch was a crap shoot. You would look at the outside of a diner/restaurant/burger stand and have to make a guess about whether you would get a good meal, how much the price would be, did it have clean restrooms (or an outhouse in the back?) and so on."
--------------------
As Nelson Algren suggested, never eating at a place called Mom's helped a bit with that. In other of his advice for life life advice:
Never play cards with a man called Doc.
Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.
Personally, I have violated two of those to my regret.
Bring back beef tallow!! at least as an option for those of us that live life on the edge.
"Turns out it was owned by the man who figured out how to flash-freeze his Idaho potatoes* and did a handshake deal with Ray Kroc to supply them to all of his restaurants."
J.R. Simplot
Micron Technology
Darrell said...
"Healthier than their usual bat and pangolin burgers with Pixie Sticks."
Ha! When I first read that I thought you were referring to McDonalds.
Spam in the British Isles. Again because of WWII. The most efficient method of delivering large amounts of protein to the population.
People can say whatever they want about McDonalds' food but I get instantly steamed when I hear anyone denigrate the notion of working there. It is honorable work, and an important entry for many people into the workforce.
Howard said...
I wonder if the SPAM in China is made from Long Pork?
These use those Uighurs for something, don't they?
@ga6
"Micron Technology"
Yes. Micron sold PCs and small servers. We sold the big enterprise servers so an acquisition broadened their offerings.
I got an offer to move to Nampa in the '90s but declined.
Might have been a good move looking back : )
My Dad loved Spam, in the days when it came with a key to open it. Back then it would come with a bit of gelatin, which was his favorite part. Myself, I like the low-salt variety.
@Howard:
Is there anything your generation cannot perfect?
Boomers.
"The only part of a pig you can't eat is the squeal".Oh really? Throw a few slices of Spam in a hot skillet and listen carefully. That's the "squeal" baby, and you're eating it!!!
I do not think you have been to many masses around the world.
True, the presentation varies considerably. But the core of worship, i.e. the liturgy ... the readings ... are the same everywhere. That's what I meant.
I've worked as a pollution control contractor at Hormel Austin plant. The pig screams sounds like terrified people in the kill room. It's almost haunting enough to swear off bacon. Nothing like the sizzle in a fry pan. They make many obscure versions of SPAM down Hawaii and the Philippines.
J Farmer... That doesn't stop you people from trying. Before Covid, at the tony Boston shops my Gen Z granddaughter and I would spot and mock millennial mating rituals in the wild. so it goes
Since this is turning into a food thread, I just ate a chicken salad for lunch.
Made with with the Emeril LaGasse mayonaise recipe someone linked yesterday.
Wow! So that's what mayonaise is supposed to taste like.
Really delicious and took about 4 minutes to make. 1 egg, lemon juice, olive oil, blend.
John Henry
Dust Bunny Queen: You can't beat a McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin with a small orange juice as an on the road breakfast. Mmmmmm.
I prefer the biscuit over the McMuffin. But I don't understand why, with the biscuits, it's "bacon, egg, & cheese" or "sausage and egg". Why is the cheese standard with the bacon but a special order with the sausage?
Spam tastes good. What's the mystery?
"SPAM
"Shoulder Pork and hAM"
SPAM is a shortening of "spiced ham."
Ah french fries--and prepared potatoes. I once spent a couple of enjoyable hours on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle. The passenger next to me was knowledgable about two of my favorite things--fishing and french fries. He was coming back from a fishing tackle convention in Los Angeles--he was interested in vintage bass plugs and I'm a fly fisherman--but that's another story.
He was plant manager for a company in Moses Lake Washington that processed potatoes. They did french fries, they did hash browns, they did tater tots--the whole gamut of preprocessed and frozen potatoes. Each company has very precise specifications for moisture content (and shape and size) in their processed potatoes. And so the MacDonald's fries in Madison that our host doesn't particularly care for because they are too dry, will be precisely as dry as those served at Mickey D's in Mobile Alabama or Modesto California that day. OTOH if Ms. Althouse wants variation, come on out to Southern California and get some fries at an In n Out burger stand--the potatoes for french fries are peeled in each location (by a machine) and then hand cut and fried. They are not the same each day--although they don't vary much. I'm pretty sure that In n Out's Commissary has specifications for moisture ocntent in the Russets it buys for fries.
"People can say whatever they want about McDonalds' food but I get instantly steamed when I hear anyone denigrate the notion of working there. It is honorable work, and an important entry for many people into the workforce."
I never worked at a McDonald's, but I did work for three years in my teens at a MR. SWISS, a now-defunct McDonald's- or Dairy Queen-like fast food chain that was found mostly in the mid-west and south. It was tons o' fun working there! The busier it was, the more fun. I would get into a zone, or "flow," as it's called. I loved working there!
Unlike McDonald's and some (all?) similar chains, we did not pre-cook anything; it was all cooked to order. For my money, they offered the best fast-food hamburger I'd had then or have had later. When I started there, (1972) they had 30 different flavorings for milkshakes. Later, they cut it down to "just" 16 or so. They also made their own corned beef on site!
"come on out to Southern California and get some fries at an In n Out burger stand"
They're good when they're hot but are so thinly sliced they cool off fast and become not-so-good, so you need to eat them all before you start on your burger.
@Howard:
J Farmer... That doesn't stop you people from trying. Before Covid, at the tony Boston shops my Gen Z granddaughter and I would spot and mock millennial mating rituals in the wild. so it goes
Ha. I have a hair-trigger for Boomer or Gen-X snideness towards millennials ;)
@Robert Cook:
I never worked at a McDonald's, but I did work for three years in my teens at a MR. SWISS, a now-defunct McDonald's- or Dairy Queen-like fast food chain that was found mostly in the mid-west and south.
Several friends in high school worked at Chick Fil A, which were just starting to become a thing in the area. It was not still common for a customer to come in, see the prices, and leave. I used to joke that it was the Abercrombie & Fitch of fast food restaurants. Most of the workers were good-looking white young adults with big smiles on their face and lots of enthusiasm. A much more different experience than you were likely to get at McDonald's from the curt, obese black woman with the scowl on her face and the bad attitude.
Robert Cook said...Spam tastes good. What's the mystery?
It does taste pretty good, but the mystery is what it is made of, not to mention the extremely high sodium content.
There is a lower sodium version of Spam, but it’s still kind of salty.
There was a Spam pavilion at the Minnesota State Fair, where you could get you picture taken sitting on the Throne of Spam.
RMc said: That's $2.01 US, BTW.
Thanks, I was curious about that; still not clear why the ".14". Is that the yuan version of our $1.99?
I don't like Spam!
How about Spam, mayonnaise, oreo crumbs, and a bun, that hasn't got much spam in it!
But I don't want any spam!
Back when I visited these sorts of fast food joints, I started at McDonalds then moved to Burger King (Home of the Whopper). Later my buddies and I fell into a Wendy's jag, for a long time. The fries were fine but never my particular focus. Ultimately I went to the place the driver preferred - and I didn't have a car.
Looks like they still put out the Big Mac Index. Appears we're paying a bit more for our burgers than we used to, suggesting our currency is overvalued. Or we like a Big Mac a little more than the next guy.
Re: sodium content; my rule of thumb is that anything in a can (or frozen for that matter) will be high in sodium. Spam has about 25% of MRD (580 mg) per serving. A can of "light" beef soup has 20% (470 mg).
McDonalds ff were much better in the old days!
J Farmer - about McDonald's? Totally, 100% agree from top to bottom. Well done.
Spam tastes good. What's the mystery?
The texture. The taste is fine. It's just ground up pork shoulder and flavored water. It reminds of surimi, ground up white fish in the form of a fake snow crab leg.
In any event, Spam is child's play. What the fuck are those Libby's Vienna Sausages? "Mechanically separated" just isn't a phrase you want to read on a food label.
By a happy coincidence, I have been quite intrigued by Spam for the last few days before this post and have read a bit about the product.
It is, in fact, named for Shoulder Pork and Ham. Pork shoulders were cheap and undesirable, and this was a perfect way to shift them. All the other stuff about WW2 is correct.
As an aside, I was living in Ireland back in 1977 when they got their first McDonald's restaurant, and it was a BIG deal! McDonald's had Irish farmers complete a full growing season for the specific potato cultivar they wanted to ensure availability and quality. They did something similar with all the ingredients that go into the menu.
I first went to the store on Grafton Street with my older brother (I was 11) a month or so after they opened and the lines ran out the door and down the street (this with maybe 8 or 10 registers going). It was mayhem and very exciting. My older brother nearly got into a fist fight with some guy who tried to cut in front of me while he had stepped away.
Now McDonald's is common as mud.
What the fuck are those Libby's Vienna Sausages?
----------------------
LFTB (aka "pink slime") possibly plays a part of the ingredients?
Ireland McDonald's does sell Heinz baked bean sandwiches though. That's different...
I consulted to McDonalds corporate office in Oakbrook in the 90's. They were dealing with a leadership transition from the loyal lifers who came up under Ray Kroc and his followers to the fast food technocrats who had a more scientific approach to food and business management.
It was sort of rocky for a while. The newcomers had little respect for the less educated old timers and vice versa. The newcomers were fast food "experts" who had little loyalty to McDonalds and little appreciation for some of its good and bad traditions. A lot of mistakes were made on both sides, but the company survived.
I like McDonalds based on the people I worked with there. However, it has been a long time since I ate their food. It was a real treat after church in the 1960's. The fries were terrific. Now, I stay away from that sort of food unless I am on the road and in a hurry.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the McDonald's processed-pork sandwich product currently on offer here in the USA. I understand it doesn't have the bloggable weirdness of crumbled Oreo, but I do loves me some of that nothing-genuine-about-it McRib (hold the pickles, please). If only it came with those classic beef-tallow fries.
Spam is too salty. Even the low sodium variety is too salty.
“What the fuck are those Libby's Vienna Sausages? "Mechanically separated" just isn't a phrase you want to read on a food label.“
I got a tour of a Hormel Vienna sausage plant in Ft. Madison IA once. They ground up large parts of pretty good looking beef slabs in a stainless grinder and metered in powdered spices and oil. The bones were screened off. The meat slurry was pumped to a set of nozzles that filled a long sausage tube previously unrolled in a slot. It was cut into pieces and put in a can for cooking, after the oven the cans were lidded. It looked like pretty healthy stuff.
I bought McRib today. Very poor reason to kill a hog. To me, the pickles were the event. Spam has nothin to worry about, xcept killin minorities w/hypertension.
Reminds me of the Japanese Godzilla Christmas tree from a few days back. Some Western things Asians don't get right. I suppose it must happen the other way around as well.
There is a Spam Museum. I have been there. I had never eaten Spam when I went. It was a stop on a drive across the country to help someone move.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I tried Spam for the first time: thinly sliced, dipped in egg, cooked in a skillet, and eaten atop steamed rice. Not bad!
I love the fries too. The only fries I can eat without ketchup. In fact, I prefer them without. I can't really eat anybody else's that way. It's some kind of magic. The only fries I crave and would stop for - just for the fries alone. The rest of the meal is just the side dishes, and I always finish the fries before I eat anything else. That's IS some crazy product perfection, especially when you consider that they probably cost less to make than the bag they are in.
Since I read your posts in reverse chronological order — Shigeru Miyamoto, meet your new project.
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