THE TAKEOUT – McDonald’s decision to make changes to its burgers seems like a pretty big deal, yeah? I mean, this is an iconic product with a pretty singular flavor in the fast food world.
McD’s elicits fond childhood memories in just about everyone, and its menu has even influenced a lot of chefs (check out the Le Pig Mac at Cochon Butcher in New Orleans).
To make any alterations to such a recognizable stable of burgers seems risky, and I applaud it.
Instead of growing complacent, McDonald’s has declared, “If it ain’t broke, well, we’re making some tweaks anyways.” Or, maybe McDonald’s burgers have always been a little bit mediocre, able to be improved upon and changed this entire time.
All in all, McDonald’s has outlined four changes to its burgers:
- The Big Mac will have more sauce.
- The cheese will be melty.
- The onions will be added to the patties on the grill, rather than being added after cooking (I don’t know if this means they’ll be cooked more or not, but we’ll get into that). The onions will allegedly have “juicer, caramelized flavor.”
- The burger buns are changing to become softer, and each will be toasted lightly brown.
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These tweaks have already been rolled out to numerous McDonald’s locations on the West Coast.
And while all of them are welcome changes, reading through the list made me stop and say, “Wait, what? McDonald’s hasn’t been melting its cheese, caramelizing its onions, and toasting its burger buns for 68 years?”
These three very basic techniques are paramount to creating a good burger. Honestly, it’s surprising that the brand was able to grow into such a global juggernaut without them. Per the press release:
“I’ll always remember my first burger from McDonald’s. And now my culinary team and I have the best job in the world … ”
