In praise of MaccyDs

[ceepeebee]

But that's just the way I form opinion. As such I've eaten McDonalds, read the SUN and the Sport (in its day) along with the Guardian, The Telegraph, Private Eye and many other rags, I've driven a Ford and a Ferrari, drank Cristal and Asti and holidayed in Butlins and the Bahamas...and formed opinions on each...but not without trying them first.

This is all very admirable, but have you ever been to *you*?

Apologies to Charlene there.

 

[PBancroft]

Just to put a different spin on things, I've had some pretty bad customer service at McDonalds.

About ten years ago I had a hankering for a Quarter Pounder with cheese and popped into the local restaurant to get one. As it was busy there was quite a queue so I waited patiently in line. After about 10-15 minutes I got to the front, whereupon the girl at the counter turned off her till and walked away - she didn't say anything or make eye contact, just turned it off and walked away. When I (quite loudly) said 'Excuse me, is anyone serving here?' I got a snotty look from one of the other servers and was told to queue up. Instead, I chose to leave (as did several of the people who had been queuing behind me).

Of course, I have been back since (though not to that one as far as I can recall) and never had a similar issue. The breakfast wrap things are actually quite tasty, and handy for long days on the road.

 

[just jim]

Well you could if you were daft enough to ignore what your own eyes tell you when you see the thing in action.

But what I wouldn't suggest is that you form an opinion on the blender by simply taking another persons word for it, that's for sure.

I'd want to observe it, test it and then come to my own conclusion.

But that's just the way I form opinion. As such I've eaten McDonalds, read the SUN and the Sport (in its day) along with the Guardian, The Telegraph, Private Eye and many other rags, I've driven a Ford and a Ferrari, drank Cristal and Asti and holidayed in Butlins and the Bahamas...and formed opinions on each...but not without trying them first.


go on give it a go, try a Maccy Dees, you never know you may (like Nigel Havers) enjoy it!

Jonny you are the man!

 

[jonny jeez]

Some classic Internet trollery / keyboard warrioring there, well done. If you'd bothered reading or acknowledging what I wrote, I have eaten macD's food, I just don't think it's very good.

And you should be aware in this day and age that you don't have to buy or even read a newspaper to know it's editorial output and agenda but hey, carry on.

Apologies if you feel I am in some way trolling. I was naively mistaken and unaware that an alternative view was to be considered triolling. I must be careful to adhere to your rules in the future.

I am of course, your loyal servant.

However, I am even more confused. You don't have to read a newspaper to understand its editorial content and agenda....

Agenda I accept...but editorial content...how so?

 

[jonny jeez]

This is all very admirable, but have you ever been to *you*?

Apologies to Charlene there.

Thank you for your concern. Perhaps if we should ever actually meet face to face, you will see that I am most comfortable in *me*.

 

[jonny jeez]

Jonny you are the man!

Sigh...happy days

Wrong colour though!

 

[Paulus]

I am not a great fan of their burgers, but when working by Paddington Station last year, one of the staff from the local Mcdee's was handing out vouchers for the breakfast Mcmuffins. 2egg and bacon or sausage and egg for 99p. I got quite hooked on them. The bacon and egg especially. The coffee has improoved greatly as well.

 

[Fnaar]

*makes mental note to nip to Paddington next time I'm in London to get some muffin and some hash*

 

[Fab Foodie]

*makes mental note to nip to Paddington next time I'm in London to get some muffin and some hash*

Used to be the speciality of Kings Cross ....

 

[Fnaar]

Used to be the speciality of Kings Cross ....

Yep, Padders too. I lived there for a year or so in 1984-5, and worked there for about 5 yrs late 80s/early 90s.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Yep, Padders too. I lived there for a year or so in 1984-5, and worked there for about 5 yrs late 80s/early 90s.

How much were you charging back then?

 

[ianrauk]

You can't beat a Maccy D's Vanilla Milk Shake... YUM BLOODY YUM YUM!!

 

[jonny jeez]

Sausage and egg McMuffins are one of my Secret Food Shames. I love them, though, especially along with a couple of portions of hash brown. But not something I'fd want to eat every day, mind. Maria really rates the coffee now, and she's a bit of an afficianado.

Don't be ashamed...Rejoice in your love of the lowly muffin!

Mind you, wonderful as they are, they're more addictive than crack and no doubt twice as deadly.

Moderation is the key

 

[theclaud]

I've eaten at McDonalds twice recently. Once because my friend Dr Evil has an unaccountable but somehow endearing fondness for their horrible strawberry "milkshakes", and the second time for reasons similar to DZ in the OP - I had ridden 100 Welsh miles alone and found myself hungry, cold and (worst of all) in Newport, with 45 minutes to wait for the train. In fact it was DZ's reports of decent coffee that led me to seek it out. But there was no coffee in the Newport branch. On my earlier visit to the Swansea Docks branch with Dr Evil I had, having become unfamiliar with the menu innovations, ordered some kind of novelty item with "Deli" in the title. It was one of those concoctions of Chorleywood pap, chicken-pap, and and mayo-ketch slime that falls to pieces in your hands and tastes identical across the fast-food world. Determined to avoid the same mistake, and not without a Spurlockian hint of manic excitement, I opted for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (or, more accurately, "cheese") and some fries. The chap who was serving was charm itself, and visibly moved by my devastation at the news about the coffee. No-one seemed to mind my bike. So far so good. I ate hungrily, and it wasn't even horrible. It wasn't good either.. The problem with this kind of fast food for me is that there's no sensual pleasure to match its slightly naughty, tantalizing promise - all of the pleasure is in the anticipation, it's just that you carry that anticipation right through to the empty wrapper in a futile attempt to stave off the disappointment. It's this sort of mockery of pleasure that's at the heart of what's wrong with the food industry. I don't care how "bad" something is for me, as long as its promises are true. And unlike DZ I think "nutrition information" generally demystifies the good stuff whilst not getting to what's wrong with the bad. It's not a coincidence that the stuff we get the most nutrition information about is the same stuff that's killing us.

I intend to make at least one more visit at some point to investigate the coffee, and will almost certainly fall face first, willingly, into a Big Mac when I do. So let's big up the charming staff, the welcoming managers and the khazis-you-could-eat-your-McSandwich-off, but let's not confuse a friendly face and a well-furnished toilet break with a benign corporation. And while we're approvingly selecting our lower-calorie "Deli" option let's raise a rootbeer to Steel and Morris, to whose Jarndyce-v-Jarndyce-tastic ordeal we owe what little accountability McDonalds has to all of us who have nowhere else to go for a slash, a coffee and a sensual disappointment. Here's the text of their original, much of which holds up over 25 years later:

http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/factsheet.html

 

[User482]

That's a good question. I don't know the answer, but some thoughts:
It's forequarter beef from good quality cattle, ground, formed and frozen nothing added, nothing at all, zilch. (I don't think there are special McCows, the rest goes to steaks and joints etc in Retailers/resteraunts etc.). It's likely that it's not aged for long but that would be true for most 'industrially' ground beef. I've never made homemade burgers from forequarter(or even industrial ones for that matter) without some seasoning, so I can't compare, though I've no reason to believe they should taste any different.
Ground beef you buy already in the supermarket might also contain different parts of the animal from purely Forequarter and that might affect the flavour (which is primarily from fat).
Of course if you use ground steak or Angus or grain-fed cows or dry-aged etc etc you might expect a different result.
But most burgers have something added to them, usually flavouring or salt and pepper at the minimum.
McD's burgers also have quite an open structure too, and so that might help cook-out fat and hence some of the flavour too and the method of cooking has an impact too in meat flavour..

I use the butcher's best steak mince, add salt and pepper, and cook on a very high heat (BBQ preferably) until the middle of the burger is pink. So thinking about it, I probably use meat from a different part of the animal, and I cook it for less time, so there's two differences.