BS: Happy Meal

Subject: Twelve-String Tangerine, anyone?
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 01:41 PM

The local McDonald's sees a lot of me, and I of them. Just came from eating there. The big advertisement display for the Happy Meal caught my attention.

The latest Happy Meal gimmick is fresh tangerines. They are a particular brand: not Chiquita, that's bananas, but similar.

The display has this poster with images of crates and crates of brand-name tangerines. On top of this stack of crates, sits the Happy Meal thingie, playing a twelve-string tangerine....

anybody else see this image? Or am I the only one who goes inside a McDonald's around here?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 01:51 PM

I come originally from the town which was the first in The UK to have a McShit close through lack of business.

I did once have one of their burgers, and to be honest, it wasn't a happy meal for me.

I'm making burgers for Mrs Musket tonight coincidentally. I had the butcher mince some fillet steak. I will add a small amount of finely chopped onion, a little salt and an egg to bind it, press it into burger shaped patties and on a very hot skillet, fifteen seconds each side to sear the outside, leaving a nice rare inside. Rest it in the aga bottom oven for five minutes and serve with a Stilton sauce, salad and a few home cooked chips.

The cost? About the same as McShit for the two of us.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 01:58 PM

I heard of a location in Barbados that closed down. The on-site managers wanted to be a little flexible and creative with the how-tos. No, I don't have details. But this is an example that the McD people use as a cautionary tale: stick to the system and don't deviate. Right.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 02:20 PM

I have not been in one for a very long time and as there is not one within miles, I don,t expect to be in one any time soon. We make lamb burgers at home, topped with onion and cucumber riata, very good indeed. The best store bought burger I ever had was at In and Out Burger in New York but at 14.00 us, I figured I could do just as well on me own, and I think I do,
I can,t figure out why people go to fast food places for burgers when you can do them yourself for a fraction of the cost, as for the chips, well they all taste like sawdust.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,#
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 03:15 PM

"On top of this stack of crates, sits the Happy Meal thingie, playing a twelve-string tangerine . . ."

Did you notice the name on the headstock?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: michaelr
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 03:16 PM

Saw a thing on facebook where a woman kept a Happy Meal unopened for six years. When opened, the "food" proved to be unspoiled. That gives me the willies.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 04:06 PM

...yeah the experiment with the fries is well documented and is now probably the stuff of Internet lore...remember the documentary several years back called "Super-Size Me"? That guy lived in New York City where walking a lot throughout the day is part of getting around and a steady diet of McD's for a month damned near ruined his health...scary stuff indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 04:22 PM

My wife calls them 'Crappy Meals'.
It's rubbish, period.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 04:47 PM

Haven't been in the States for a while now, but I recall In-&-Out burgers as good ones. Best ever burger I recall was at the Junior Hot Shop near Dulles Airport, DC; but that was in 1971, my first Stateside visit, and I don't know if they have kept up the standard since.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 04:58 PM

poundsign,
the twelve-string tangerine had a no-name headstock. The tangerine itself had a "Cuties" label like all the string-free tangerines.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 06:10 PM

"I'm making burgers for Mrs Musket tonight coincidentally. I had the butcher mince some fillet steak. I will add a small amount of finely chopped onion, a little salt and an egg to bind it, press it into burger shaped patties and on a very hot skillet, fifteen seconds each side to sear the outside, leaving a nice rare inside."

Way too complicated, Musket. I buy Donald Russell minced steak when it's six 400g lots for £22 on offer. You need nothing except the meat. Form 400g of the mince into six patties. Add nothing else whatsoever. Make a dimple in the centre of each. One minute each side in your best scarcely oiled pan. Griddle is good. If your kitchen doesn't stink for the next 24 hours, the pan wasn't hot enough. At least five or ten minutes' rest. Eat that with your chips and some baked cherry tomatoes done with olive oil, garlic and basil, washed down with a couple of bottles of Nero d'Avola, and you'll be making love non-stop for 48 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 06:21 PM

Oh Steve, I'm making that for Valentine's Day for sure.... Do you do the baked tomatoes on the burger or on the side with the chips? can't wait !

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 07:58 PM

Damn, now I going to have to tell you about my chips!

I always use what the supermarkets call "salad potatoes" for my chips. The best variety is Nicola, closely followed by Charlotte. Organic are definitely the best, as they are higher in dry matter and keep their texture, but use whatever you have.

First, whack your oven up to almost as hot as it will go. Get a big, shallow oven tray ready with two or three tablespoons of groundnut oil. Do not peel the spuds. Scrub well, then cut them into wedges or whatever chip shapes you like. Par-boil for ten minutes in well-salted water. Drain in a sieve and allow to dry out for a few minutes. Throw them back into the pan, put the lid on and shake them all about until they go all rough and frayed round the edges. Tip them on to the tray with the groundnut oil and toss the spuds around to coat them. Put the tray in the hot oven. Your chips will take about twenty minutes. It's a good idea to loosen them from the tray after about five minutes, otherwise ignore them.

For the tomatoes, just use whole cherry toms. Put them in a shallow oven tray with some olive oil, seasoning and some fresh basil leaves. Garlic if you like. Stick them in the oven with your chips. They take only about five minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Feb 16 - 08:11 PM

I must say, that's my preferred accompaniment for a good steak. My favourite is a ribeye done rare, but Mrs Steve, who never ate steak before I met her, is struggling a bit. I eat every bloody scrap with relish, but she examines and trims. She's better with a sirloin as the lean bit is more of a piece. I think ribeye tastes better then sirloin, but, dammit all, it's all doing me good.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 03:31 AM

Par-boil for ten minutes in well-salted water. Drain in a sieve... and shake them all about until they go all rough and frayed round the edges. Tip them on to the tray with the groundnut oil and toss the spuds around to coat them. Put the tray in the hot oven.

So, roast potatoes, basically?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 04:36 AM

Guest's comment reminds of a story Andre Previn used to tell about one occasion he was unhappy with how an orchestra was playing and he stopped them to five a ten minute lecture on playing with spirit, depth and commitment. At the end there was a pause then one of the old hands said "So you mean you want us to play louder."

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 04:58 AM

For the record, Cuties® is a trade name for California mandarins, not tangerines. They are easy to peel and very sweet. Here where they're grown, they cost about a buck a pound, but farmers will charge 7 dollars for a ten-pound bag.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 05:24 AM

Steve: Love the idea (12 Feb 0610) of burger as ultra·potent aphrodisiac. Pity I'm probably too old now to take real advantage of it!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 08:41 AM

Confession time.

Decided to make it into steak tartare instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 12:05 PM

I eat at McDonald's sometimes. The restaurants are clean and so are the restrooms.* The food is clean, and I can't say that for a lot of fancier, more expensive places, believe me.

I like the new buttermilk chicken sandwich. And when heading off on long trip, there's nothing like breakfast at Mac's, with no cooking and no dishes to wash before embarking.

When I'm tired and hungry at four in the afternoon, there's nothing like one of their small hamburgers.

However, you have to be careful with kids. You need to watch and see if the kids are actually eating the food. Many small kids are enamoured with the idea of McDonald's because of the clever advertising. However, when the get the food, it looks different and feels different from what they are used to, and they don't want to eat it.

You will notice that they don't call it a "Tasty Meal," they call it a "Happy Meal." McDonald's markets happiness. (I think a lot of families today ought to be asking, "How often is my kid actually happy?" I think the answer would shock them.)
=============
* Always remember Erma Bombach's deathless advice on world travel. "Never pass up the chance to use a clean restroom."

Subject: Twelve-string mandarin orange, anyone?
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 12:37 PM

Thank you Joe Offer very kindly! Even I can tell the difference between a tangerine and a mandarin orange....when I eat them. Obviously I have yet to eat a Cutie because your correction is news to me.

Yes, when opening this thread, I presumed that twelve-string citrus fruit belonged in BS and not above the line with the music, lyrics, and poetry.

I think the advertising poster with the Happy Meal biped playing a twelve-string "Cutie" is a way to pull in the customers who are too old to actually eat the Happy Meals, that is to say, the customers who generally pay the money to buy the children the Happy Meals. Because, really, how many little kids look at the poster and go: "Ooooh! A Twelve-String Mandarin Orange, everybody!!"

Nope, my guess is that that is a subtle appeal to the grown-up with the wallet full of cash.

PS along with leeneia: Erma Bombeck RULES.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,wysiwyg minus cookie
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 08:20 PM

AFAIK a mandarin orange is just a fancy name for a tangerine, and Cuties, etc. (in mini fruit crates often) are just small, seedless tangerines-- rebranded.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 08:23 PM

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_orange

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 16 - 08:32 PM

They would be roast potatoes if I'd cut them like roast potatoes, but I didn't. I cut them into chips. Not only that, I used groundnut oil. When I roast potatoes, I use the fat from the meat. Failing that, I use goose fat. So, guest, back to school for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 01:31 PM

Got some roast spuds on the go right now.

Spuds cut into 4 / 6 depending on size. Boiled for five mins, then tossed in the pan to fluff them, spread out on a tray till they stop steaming.

Goose fat so hot till it spits back. Toss the spuds in it then in the aga top oven (approx 260 C,) for forty mins.

Got some cut carrots and parsnips in the same tray.

Anyway, must dash. Got to rest the cow, make a gravy and do a similar goose fat trick with the yorkshires.

McShit? The mind boggles.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 02:30 PM

BBBUUURRRPPPPP


FFFAAARRRTTT

Time to loosen the old belt eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 03:02 PM

We, here in the US, tend to call it peanut oil.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,#
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 03:32 PM

Goober grease.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 03:49 PM

Our valentine meal is a proper Italian Lasagna. Sorry yanks, but none of that cottage cheese and pre cooked lasagna stuff, ( where did that recipe come from). proper Volga see and white sauce, Caesar salad and garlic bread and a few bottles of Italian red !
Can,t wait, it is now in the oven, the wine is open and we are listening to Cecilia Bartoli... How good does life get?
Tomorow we are doing Steves burgers and hoping for the best! We hope not to surface until at least Wedensday
Thanks all for hints and advise. Great thread!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 04:33 PM

Volga see... Meant to be bolongese sauce!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 04:51 PM

The best view in Luxor, Egypt, is from the third floor of McDonald's, looking straight down at the Luxor Temple across the street. I thought the McKofta sandwiches were really good. Wikipedia refers to them as McArabia, so maybe the name has changed.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 04:56 PM

What is in the kofta sandwich Joe ? Is it lamb on Pita?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 10:45 PM

Hi, HiLo -it tasted like lamb to me, but it could have been beef (or who-knows-what). It had kofta seasoning, and came on pita bread. The current menu (click) calls it a McArabia, and offers the sandwich in Kofta or Chicken. The Kofta sandwich costs 22.72 Egyptian pounds, or $2.89 US. The coffee there was pretty good, too. Since I was spending three weeks with a bunch of vegetarians, I loved the kofta sandwich.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: DMcG
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 03:28 AM

I was saddened when I visited the Pyramids that there is so little respect for the site that there is a fast food chain restaurant a few tens of metre from the forelegs of the Sphinx. I am afraid, Joe, you have put me off visiting Luxor now!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 03:55 AM

It is interesting. I was in Azerbaijan when the first McShit was opened. I recall walking past on the opening day and they had bouncers holding back the huge queues to get in.

Now.. Were people flocking there for the taste of the rancid semi cow and E number gunk on a chewy flaccid bun? Perhaps they like milk shakes thickened by potato and the bits left over after you render down chickens?

No. McShit is seen as the American Dream as sold by Hollywood and fast food advertising. It isn't popular for what it is, but the dreams it is associated with.

The dream is Hollywood. The nightmare is coronary heart disease, lower life length expectation and a lower quality of health in the meantime.

It occurred to me last week whilst skiing in France. We were skiing two large resorts, linked together (Tignes and Val D'Isere) and to my knowledge, there is no fast food outlet of that type anywhere at the resorts. All proper food and skiers tend to be fit people anyway. I don't recall such things in American ski resorts for that matter but I could be wrong. I may have walked past them but I doubt it.

The thought of traditional North African food, as I recall from my own travels in Egypt means that rather than walk into a McShit in such places, I'd take an ironic photo to show what is going wrong with the world. (Then find somewhere to eat.)

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 04:56 AM

Seriously, I think there is a lot of overstatement on this thread [& indeed on this topic in general]. I don't think McDonalds furnish the finest food in The History Of The Universe. But I don't think either that parrotting "McShit", as if it were somehow original or witty or whatever, is fair dealings. A useful quickbyte to allay hunger; nothing Xtra, & Burger·King probably has the edge these days: but hardly deserving of some of the OTT animadversions it's been getting around here either.

...& double fries & a rootbeer with that please

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 05:00 AM

... except that it was one of the disappointments of my life when they stopped serving root beer, of which I became fond when in the States; and I haven't found anywhere else in the UK where one can get it.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: DMcG
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 05:03 AM

Quite so, M. I remember a food scientist some decades ago saying that the whole 'junk food' label is nonsense scientifically: in essence it is bread and meat, which has been staple for a looooong time. Of course, if you are talking aesthetics it might be a different matter, but nutritionally calling it junk food is simply wrong.


No, he wasn't funded by the burger industry!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 06:04 AM

A Mandarin is Citrus Reticulata. A Tangerine is Citrus Tangerina. A Satsuma is Citrus Unshiu, and a Clementine is a hybrid involving Mandarin, Pomelo and Sweet Orange.

Of these in my view the Tangerine has the distinctive and the best flavour.

As far as burgers go, in mine I put some garlic, onion, diced capsicum, a little chopped chili and a pinch of cumin powder, and ground black pepper. But if you don't have time to make your own, I recommend ALDI Wagyu burgers.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 08:38 AM

Michael, have you tried filling up your glass from a stagnant pond? Its not quite the same, but pretty close.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 08:57 AM

Nah Dave, rootbeer's not that good...

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 09:25 AM

'stagnant pond? Its not quite the same, but pretty close.'
.,,.
Out of interest, Dave ---- how you know this, hmmmm....?

Sassafras 2U!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 09:30 AM

For real junk food go to some of the big chain restaurants in America, they make MacDonalds look (and taste) like Gourmet Dining. The worst meals I have eaten in the us has been at Places like Pizza Hut, East Side Marios and worst of all, by Far , Olive Garden. I have no idea why anyone would eat there.The Alfredo was foul, fake white sauce, overcooked pasta and soggy bread, not to mention about five times the calories of a big mac.
   I find that the best food is often in small local places or in Street trucks where the food is freshly prepared.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: michaelr
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 12:21 PM

I'll never be able to stomach root beer because it smells like the public urinal cubes of my youth. Sassafras my ass!

Subject: twelve-string anything?
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 02:36 PM

Just visited a different McD branch. Cuties everywhere, but none with twelve strings. Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 04:37 PM

I think we should fill the pyramids with happy meals [not grain] just to freak out our descendants 5,000 from now.

still fresh!


















Mickey D's can be good with a scrupulous manager.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Feb 16 - 05:01 PM

Thumbs up Donuel! You are right, it's all about the people who keep the place going. There can be a really wide variation from one branch to the next.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 16 Feb 16 - 03:24 AM

A wide variation in quality between one McShit and another?

I take it there aren't many other food outlets where you live?

Each to their own I suppose, but I thought Mudcat didn't attract teenagers to the ranks. Aren't you supposed to grow out of junk food as you get older and more discerning? If you like the taste then whatever floats your boat but to bring qualify into the debate is odd to say the least.

The only positive thing anyone could say is that greasy fat is now playing second fiddle to sugar in the morbidity stakes, although I assume they sell fizzy pop in huge paper cups?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST,Musket
Date: 16 Feb 16 - 04:54 AM

Quality not qualify.

Although it may be Freudian.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy Meal
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 16 Feb 16 - 09:42 AM

My local Indian corner shop has root beer. I haven't tried it but if anyone is looking for it in the UK then local corner shops might be the place to go.

Best burger I ever had was at Brett's Burgers in Guildford in the 1980s (with a Richard Thompson track playing in the background).