- We made a
Big Mac Using all 54Mcdonald's Ingredients. - The resulting Big Mac cost over $100 but wasn't as far off as you might expect.
- The Big Mac Sauce was hard to replicate, as was the pillowiness of the bun.
Following is a transcript of the
Harry: This is a Big Mac. And this is everything that's in a Big Mac. Welcome to
Now, I've been desperate to try an authentic American Big Mac, but unfortunately there's no way I can get my hands on one in the UK. The simple solution was to get ahold of every ingredient which goes into one -- there are over 50 -- and then to build one myself.
Joe: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not making a US Big Mac without me. I'm going to oversee this whole operation to see how close you actually get. What I love about this show is that it combines all the things I love about making
Harry: I've always wanted to say this, but please do not try this one at home.
This one right here is alum. This is potassium aluminium sulfate, and it's primarily used in things like leather tanning and dyeing and in fireproofing textiles. It's pretty strong stuff. For example, if you boil some of this, it can actually dissolve steel in just a few hours.
Joe: OK, we're one chemical in and already we're talking about dissolving steel, did he say? Um, no. Harry, please be careful. Put on some gloves for God's sakes.
Harry: This one right here is soy lecithin. You've probably heard my Food Wars cohost, Joe, mispronounce this one a million times.
Joe: Lechithin. Leckithin. Lecithin. Leckithin. Lechithin. Leechithin. Soy lecithin.
Harry: It's a lubricant and an emulsifier. It's considered safe for consumption, but there have been some preliminary studies to suggest that overconsumption may promote depression, which is kind of the last thing I need. But what exactly do we mean by emulsifier?
Well, as we all know, oil and water don't usually mix. An emulsifier is something which helps you get around that problem. In the Big Mac it's used in the cheese and the sauce, just to kind of help everything stay together. And finally we have polysorbate 80, otherwise known as polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate, or the more catchy "tween."
Now this might come in a handy applesauce-style pouch, but it's probably our most controversial chemical here. Studies have shown that it can lead to an increase in colon cancer and infertility in mice. It's not a guarantee to say that it will do the same to humans, but it's probably not the best sign.
Joe: OK, oh Jesus. Slice, ugh. Pasteurized American cheese. Ingredients are milk, cream, water, sodium citrate, salt, cheese cultures, citric acid, enzymes, soy lecithin, and colors added. Get a load of this guy right here.
Harry: This one's a little tricky. We don't have an exact recipe for the pasteurized processed American cheese which McDonald's uses in the States. What we did find are the FDA requirements for processed cheese. Now to meet the legal definition of American cheese, it must be made of cheddar, colby, granular, or washed curd cheese. We're choosing to go with a mild cheddar because it already kind of tastes similar to the Big Mac cheeses that I've had in the past.
From the ingredients list, we can see the ones that belong to the cheese and the ones which are added at a later stage. The cheese itself is basically just made of milk, salt, cultures, and enzymes. Whereas later on, you will add the sodium citrate as an emulsifying agent, the citric acid as an acidifying agent, and the soy lecithin as an anti-sticking agent.
The FDA requirements also specify how much of each of these you're allowed to have in the finished cheese. For example, we know that the soy lecithin can only be 0.03% of the finished weight. I think it's chemical time. The chemicals have changed the consistency of the cheese almost immediately. It's gone from what was a very liquidy melted cheddar with some cream in it to like, a very shiny-looking, almost like a squeezy cheese. And last but not least, the color. That's good. So in a relatively short space of time we've turned this cheddar, which is quite a firm, inflexible, very pale cheese, into this classic American cheese.
It's amazing how little sodium citrate it took and how quickly the change took effect. Honestly, it was a tiny amount, and as soon as it was sprinkled in, made a whole world of difference.
Joe: Obviously it looks like American cheese, but this is how we test if this is real, authentic American cheese. Ready? Let's check it out. Damn it, I was hoping it would stick.
The pickle slices at an American McDonald's contain cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, potassium sorbate as a preservative, natural flavors, polysorbate 80, extractives of turmeric for color. Ugh.
Harry: Now some of these chemicals can actually be quite dangerous. Calcium chloride can lead to burns in the mouth and throat, excess thirst, vomiting, stomach pain, and low blood pressure. So I'm going to put some gloves on. Now, despite its potential dangers, calcium chloride is actually a great way to improve the saltiness in food without increasing the sodium content.
Alum is one that we've mentioned before. And apparently this improves the crunchiness of pickles. Potassium sorbate, as it says on the label, is a mold inhibitor, which will get the pickles a longer shelf life. And finally, we have polysorbate 80. Now this is an emulsifier which will thicken liquids. However, it is also the one that gives mice cancer.
It's forming like, can you see this? It's forming crystals, like stalactites.
Joe: Oh, it's like, solidifying or something right now. What is happening? Get away from it. I feel like I'm watching someone making an explosive. I just, the way he's shaking it, it's like, gah, it's going to explode. Looks like this is the first time Harry's ever cut a cucumber.
The Big Mac bun in the US contains the following ingredients: enriched flour, which is ... and diglycerides, enzymes, and vinegar.
Harry: We'll start with the flour. This is British white bread flour, which contains wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, and thiamin. So we're missing the malted barley flour, the riboflavin, and the folic acid. None of these are too suspect. Malted barley flour contains enzymes that break down starch to sugar, and riboflavin and folic acid are actually just vitamins B2 and B9. So let's fortify our flour.
The only way to actually get the extra ingredients that we needed was in vitamin form. So we've got some folic acid and some riboflavin tablets here. It's like a pregnancy supplement. You're supposed to take them when you're trying to get pregnant. Now that we have our fortified flour, the next few ingredients are fairly simple: water, sugar, yeast, and soybean oil.
Now these might seem fairly normal, but we actually had some difficulty finding soybean oil here in the UK. In the US, apparently it's one of the most common cooking oils. But in the UK, it's used for two things, massage oil and as a horse supplement.
Joe: So I'm going to need clarity on this. When you say a horse supplement, you're giving it as a supplement to a horse? Or you take it as a supplement instead of eating horse? Which is it? Both are really weird.
Harry: Nailed it. We looked up soybean oil in the USA, and it was a much lighter color than this. So this might not be as refined as the soybean oil that you get in the US, but fingers crossed, it should still be edible. And finally, the extra ingredients. Now the ingredients list has these as less than 2%, so we have some idea of how much of each of these we should be adding.
Joe: Oh, is that how chemistry works? Just eyeballing it? What are you doing? We have just a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Again, there's nothing too surprising until we get to this one, which is DATEM. Now, DATEM is diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides.
Harry: Now, if you ever wondered how McDonald's gets their buns so kind of soft, but also quite springy, this might be the difference maker. It improves the strength of the gluten network.
Joe: It's like, really soft, right? I know it's not supposed to be that way, but it's kind of like, it's got a bounce to it, right?
Harry: So our buns have risen. We're going to put them into some ring molds, top them with sesame seeds, and then bake.
Joe: It appears that Harry has raided someone's dorm room and stolen their microwave-hot plate combo. I don't know how this is going to turn out.
Harry: OK, here we go. So here is the bun we made today, and here is a bun we made earlier. Now the differences between these two are that this one has all the chemicals McDonald's uses, whereas this one is literally just water, flour, and yeast.
Visually, the one we've made today looks like a much better color. It's a nice, even golden brown all around. As you see with the one on the left, without the chemicals, it's actually got this big tear around the side as well. Now it's unclear exactly why this happened, but it could be because this one has some chemicals which help the gluten stay strong and withstand the expansion in the oven.
Joe: But that looks, actually looks pretty good. I'm very surprised by that.
The Big Mac big sauce is made -- Our American Big Mac sauce contains soybean oil, from before, remember that? Sweet relish, which is diced pickles, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, spices, onion powder, salt, extractives of paprika, and soy lecithin.
Harry: Now, kind of like the soybean oil, we had some real difficulties getting hold of high-fructose corn syrup in the UK. It's just really not used at all. We were able to track down some regular corn syrup, but only as a kind of specialty imported product. But the only difference is that high-fructose corn syrup goes through a process which converts some of its glucose into fructose, which makes it even sweeter.
Joe: Yup, corn syrup is very common in the United States. You can get it in the baking aisle. I've gotten it before. It's good for when you're making barbecue sauces, like pulled pork. I could not get high-fructose corn syrup. I looked it up, and sure enough, you can only get it at industrial-level, five-gallon drums. It's pretty cheap.
Harry: Now we've already talked about what some of these chemicals do, but we haven't talked about xanthan gum yet. Xanthan gum is a thickener. And I can understand why you might want to put it into a sauce to thicken it up. But just before we do that, we're going to test it out on some water to see how effective it is.
Joe: Harry, my friend, you just invented thick water, which we've got here in the States. So this is for people with swallowing issues. It actually makes it easier. I mean, is it really like -- It doesn't -- Hmm. Ooh, that's weird. It's like a gel. Where have you been all my life, thick water? Silky, smooth. Props to the people over at Thick-It. They're not a sponsor. You make a hell of a thick water.
Harry: Just about a half a teaspoon of it turned about 100 milliliters of water into this. So now we've made our sweet relish, but that's just one of the ingredients in the Big Mac sauce. Now we have to make the rest. Now it's worth pointing out, a couple of the chemicals in there are noting what they do. So we'll start with the propylene glycol alginate. Now this is usually used in the beer-making process, and it will also give our sauce a nice glossy finish. As for the hydrolyzed vegetable protein, we have this small bottle of it here.
Now what this is is primarily a flavor enhancer. But it's also a not-too-distant cousin of MSG. The main component of this is glutamate, which is the same as the G in MSG. And last but not least, we have this, which is caramel color. Now caramel color is worth pointing out because one of the by-products it can contain is on the state of California's list of chemicals known to cause cancer. What we don't know is if McDonald's uses the specific type of caramel color that contains that by-product.
Joe: That chemical that is on California's list of cancer-causing chemicals, just pick a different color. I don't, I mean -- I know you eat with your eyes, but it's OK if the color is a little different.
Harry: Aren't you supposed to like stream in the oil very gently? Oh, God. More than that? Loads more, just like, oh, gosh, that's a bit aggressive. Oh, God. Feel free to get involved. I'm hearing lots of criticism from you guys. Not many solutions.
Joe: It's like when you first started living on your own, and you had a roommate. And you like, tried cooking something, and you're both like, I don't, you hold it, I'll mix it, having no idea, having no skill on how to do this. Just watching you guys do this is just like, oh, my God.
Harry: Wow. Look at that. Nailed it, guys. And with that, we have our Big Mac sauce. The color looks pretty good. The consistency is pretty good. It was very hard work trying to emulsify that by hand, but honestly, not too disappointed with the result.
Joe: Wow. That looks like Big Mac sauce, I have to say. I'm very surprised by that. That actually looks just like the sauce. In the US, our Big Mac beef patty is made up of 100% beef patty. It is prepared with grill seasoning, which is salt and black pepper.
Harry, get a spatula, man. You knew you were going to do this. Why are you using a spoon? I've got to say, this is a very sad sight to watch you try and make this burger, on this hot plate, with a spoon, in an office.
Harry: So after all that, we've made all of the components of a Big Mac. The only things we've added are some freshly diced onion and some shredded lettuce. These, thankfully, are just made of onion and lettuce. There's no additional chemicals.
Joe: OK, he hasn't even put it together yet, and I, honestly, am pleasantly surprised. At this point before assembly, my hat's off to you, Harry. That actually looks pretty good.
Harry: So there you have it. Can you tell which one is ours?
Joe: Visually, Harry, I'll give you a 6. If I got a Big Mac at McDonald's and that's what was in the box, I'd be like, what the hell's going on back there? But it looks a lot closer than I thought it was going to be. The fact that that bread, and that sauce, and that cheese looks the way it did is very impressive.
Harry: The last thing to do is taste our burger to see how it stacks up against an actual Big Mac. I think the bun is good. It's a great homemade bread. I just don't think I've ever made bread this good at home without those chemicals. However, it doesn't quite have that real soft pillowiness that the McDonald's one does.
There's not a huge amount to say about the beef. The lettuce and the pickles are also pretty good, honestly. No real difference noted. And I think I actually almost prefer the cheese that we've made. I don't know if that's because we used better cheddar, but I actually like our cheese.
We've got a nice thick slice, kind of holds up. It also has a good flavor. I think the sauce on ours is not quite as good as the original Big Mac sauce. While we followed the ingredients list as exactly as we could, there are still some herbs and spices which they keep as a closely guarded secret.