By David G Firestone
Welcome back, this week, a script on McDonald’s is up this week.
I’m a fan of McDonald’s. I especially loves me some Chicken McNuggets. I’ve loved Chicken McNuggets since I was a wee young lad. Up until recently, I would always opt for the BBQ sauce, but I’ve branched out into other sauces.
Well recently, I stumbled across this McNugget training video from 1983.
This was from when Chicken McNuggets were being introduced nationwide. It’s a rather lengthy production featuring puppets, and goes through the entire process of cooking this new delicacy. The video cannot stress enough how Chicken McNuggets can’t stick together.
Chicken McNuggets were released nationally in 1983, even though they were created in 1979. They were conceived by Herb Lotman founder of Keystone Foods in the late 1970s. Keystone Foods was McDonald’s supplier at the time. Keystone Foods was sold to Marfrig, a Brazilian company, in 2010, and was then sold to Tyson Foods in 2018.
While Herb Lotman came up with the concept of Chicken McNuggets, René Arend, McDonald’s executive chef brought the idea to life. Though chicken nuggets had been around before, this was their introduction into the fast food world. René Arend is a native of Luxembourg. Arend was a first-in-the-class graduate of the College Technique de Strasbourg, a former chef at Chicago’s Drake Hotel, and chef at the Whitehall Club, also in Chicago.
While Arend was responsible for Chicken McNuggets and the McRib, many of McDonald’s most well-known creations were developed by franchisees. According to the McDonald’s wiki:
The Filet-O-Fish was created by Cincinnati franchisee Lou Groen.
The Egg McMuffin developed by Herb Peterson of Santa Barbara, California.
The iconic Big Mac, McDonald’s most iconic burger, was developed by Pittsburgh franchisee Jim Delligatti
The reason that McNuggets weren’t available nationwide until 1983 was because the supply chains needed to supply the product simply weren’t available. Chicken McNuggets proved to be a hit, and 45 years later, they are still going on strong.
Now for some random McNugget trivia.
According to McDonald’s themselves, the names of the four shapes of Chicken McNuggets are The Ball, The Bell, The Boot and, The Bow-Tie.
Chicken McNuggets are credited with killing off Onion Nuggets, though the onion nuggets weren’t really selling to begin with.
Finally, Halal version of the McNuggets are sold at two McDonald’s franchises in Dearborn, Michigan. These new versions are very successful making double the average of McNuggets sales.
The most interesting historical aspect of McNuggets are the sauces. It starts with the training video from 1983. The videos states that there are four sauces that come with McNuggets. If you had to guess, what are the four sauces?
First, and most obvious, is Barbecue sauce, now called Tangy Barbecue Sauce.
Second is honey. Now these two sauces are such stalwarts that, 41 years later, they are still available, having never been removed.
The third sauce is Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce, not a bad choice.
The fourth sauce, is the oddest sauce out of the bunch. Keep in mind that chicken nuggets as a whole are geared towards, and marketed to kids. With that in mind, what was the fourth sauce? Hot Mustard. Hot Mustard. I’m guessing that this was geared towards adults, but I can’t prove that.
The list of discontinued McDonald’s dipping sauces gets really interesting. Before we get to the discontinued sauces, I’ll talk about the current line-up first.
Currently, McDonald’s offers the following sauces:
Creamy Ranch Sauce, Honey, Honey Mustard Sauce, Spicy Buffalo Sauce, Sweet ‘N Sour Sauce, and Tangy Barbecue Sauce.
Now we get to the discontinued sauces. I’m going to group them in segments.
First, the Asian Themed Sauces
The Hot Mustard Sauce was discontinued in 2015, though it can still be found in some locations, provided you know where to look. Next we have the Szechuan Teriyaki Sauce, released as part of a Mulan tie-in from 1998, though reintroduced thanks to Rick and Morty. McDonald’s also released a Teriyaki Sauce that was discontinued in 1986.
Next, the Barbecue Sauce variants. There were only two variants outside of the standard Barbecue sauce. First was a Chipotle Barbecue Sauce, that didn’t last past 2014. Second was the Mesquite Barbecue Sauce that briefly appeared but didn’t last past 1988.
Third, are the Spicy Sauces. Super spicy sauces, and peppers are a more recent thing. McDonald’s tried a Cajun Sauce in 2021, a Mighty Hot Sauce in 2020,a Habanero Ranch Sauce, and a Sriracha Mac Sauce in 2017.
Fourth are the sauces that can be placed in the other category.
*Mambo Sauce from 2023,
*Sweet & Spicy Jam Sauce also from 2023,
*Signature Sauce from 2022,
*Tartar Sauce Sauce from 2013, though these were meant for use with the ill-fated Fish McBites.
*Zesty Italian Sauce from 1989,
*and Green Chili Salsa from 1988.
Finally we get into the two holiday sauces. These are two of the strangest fast-food sauces I have ever heard of. These were only around for Christmas. Sauce number one is Apple and Cinnamon Sauce, which only existed in 1998. Second, and even more bizarre is Cranberry-Orange Sauce from 1987. Neither of these sauces sound appetising. Every other sauce I have either tried or would try, but these two sauces just straight up sound gross.
So that’s a bit of a history of my favorite fast food meals of all time.
Next week, a piece on a random piece of lost media.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_NpmOo7XtM
https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-menu-changes-over-years-history-2019-4
https://www.mashed.com/1295097/discontinued-mcdonalds-dipping-sauces/
https://www.eatthis.com/discontinued-fast-food-sauces/
https://www.delish.com/restaurants/a52505/retired-mcdonalds-dipping-sauces/
https://soyummy.com/entertaining/discontinued-mcdonalds-menu-items/
https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Arend
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_McNuggets
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