Making A US Big Mac Using All 54 McDonald's Ingredients | Fast Food Chemistry

This is a big Mac. And that's all there is to a Big Mac. Welcome to Fast Food Chemistry. Now, I was desperate to try a real American Big Mac, but unfortunately there's no way to get one in the UK. The simple solution was to get all the

ingredients

that make up one (there are over 50) and then build one myself. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're not

making

an American Big Mac without me. I'm going to monitor this entire operation to see how close you really are. What I love about this show is that it combines all the things I love about doing Food Wars and also doing literally nothing.

So I'm a fan of this format. I always wanted to say this, but please don't try this one at home. This one here is alum. It is potassium aluminum sulfate and is mainly used in things like tanning and dyeing leather and in flame retardant textiles. It's something quite strong. For example, if you boil some of this, you can dissolve the steel in just a few hours. Well, we already have a chemical product and we are already talking about dissolving steel, you said? Mmm no. Harry, please be careful. Put on some gloves for the love of God.

This one here is soy lecithin. You've probably heard my Food Wars co-host Joe mispronounce this a million times. Lechitin. Leckithin. Lecithin. Leckithin. Lechitin. Leechitina. soy lecithin. It is a lubricant and an emulsifier. It is considered safe for consumption, but there have been some preliminary studies that suggest that excessive consumption can promote depression, which is 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 that helps you solve that problem. In the Big Mac it is used in the cheese and sauce, just to help everything hold together.

And finally we have polysorbate 80, also known as polyoxyethylenesorbitan monooleate, or the catchier "tween." Now this might come in a handy applesauce-style bag, but it's probably our most controversial chemical here. Studies have shown that it can cause an increase in colon cancer and infertility in mice. It's no guarantee to say it will do the same to humans, but it's probably not the best sign. Okay, oh Jesus. Slice, ugh. Pasteurized American cheese. The

ingredients

are milk, cream, water, sodium citrate, salt, cheese cultures, citric acid, enzymes, soy lecithin and added colors. Get a sneak peek of this guy right here.

This one is a bit complicated. We don't have an exact recipe for the pasteurized processed American cheese that McDonald's uses in the United 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 from cheddar, colby, granulated, or washed cottage cheese. We chose a mild cheddar because it already tastes similar to the Big Mac cheeses I've had in the past. In the list of ingredients we can see those that belong to the cheese and those that are added later. Cheese itself is basically made from milk, salt, cultures and enzymes.

While later you will add sodium citrate as an emulsifying agent, citric acid as an acidifying agent and soy lecithin as a non-stick agent. FDA requirements also specify how much of each of these is allowed to be in the finished cheese. For example, we know that soy lecithin can only represent 0.03% of the final weight. I think it's time for

chemistry

. The chemicals have changed the consistency of the cheese almost immediately. It has gone from what was a very runny melted cheddar with a bit of cream to looking very shiny, almost like a squeezed cheese. And last but not least, the color.

That's good. So in a relatively short space of time we have turned this cheddar, which is a fairly firm, inflexible, very pale cheese, into this classic American cheese. It is surprising how little sodium citrate was needed and how quickly the change took effect. Honestly, it was a small amount and as soon as it was sprayed, it made a huge difference. It obviously looks like American cheese, but that's how we check if it's real, authentic American cheese. Ready? We'll see. Damn, I hoped it would stick. Let's see if our cheese passes the test. American McDonald's pickle slices contain cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, potassium sorbate as a preservative, natural flavors, polysorbate 80, and turmeric extracts for color.

Yuck. Now, some of these chemicals can be quite dangerous. Calcium chloride can cause burns to the mouth and throat, excessive thirst, vomiting, stomach pain, and low blood pressure. So I'm going to put on some gloves. Now, despite its potential dangers, calcium chloride is actually a great way to improve the saltiness of

food

s without increasing the sodium content. Alum is one we've mentioned before. And apparently this improves the crunch of the pickles. Potassium sorbate, as it says on the label, is a mold inhibitor, which will extend the shelf life of your pickles. And finally, we have polysorbate 80.

This is an emulsifier that will thicken liquids. However, it is also what causes cancer in mice. It's forming like, can you see this? It is forming crystals, like stalactites. Oh, it's like solidifying or something right now. What's happening? Stay away from that. I feel like I'm watching someone

making

an explosive. Just the way he shakes it, it's like, gah, it's going to explode. It looks like this is the first time Harry has cut a cucumber. Still quite lumpy. Big Mac bread in the US contains the following ingredients: enriched flour, which is... and diglycerides, enzymes, and vinegar.

We will start with the flour. This is British white bread flour, which contains wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin and thiamine. So we are missing malted barley flour, riboflavin and folic acid. None of these are too suspicious. Malted barley flour contains enzymes that break down starch into sugar, and riboflavin and folic acid are actually just vitamins B2 and B9. So let's strengthen our flour. The only way to get the extra ingredients we needed was in the form of vitamins. Here we have some folic acid and riboflavin tablets. 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 ingredients are pretty simple: water, sugar, yeast, and soybean oil. Now this may seem pretty normal, but we actually had some difficulty finding soy oil here in the UK. In the United States, it is apparently one of the most common cooking oils. But in the UK it is used for two things: massage oil and as a horse supplement. So I'm going to need clarity on this. When you say horse supplement, are you giving it as a supplement to a horse? Or do you take it as a supplement instead of eating horse?

Which is it? They are both really strange. He got over it. We looked for soybean oil in the US and it was a much lighter color than this. So it may not be as refined as the soybean oil you get in the US, but, fingers crossed, it should still be edible. And finally, the extra ingredients. Now the ingredients list is less than 2%, so we have an idea of ​​how much of each of these we should add. Oh, is that how

chemistry

works? Just looking at it? What are you doing? We have just a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Again, nothing too surprising until we get to this one, which is DATEM. Now, DATEM is diacetyltartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides. Now, if you've ever wondered how McDonald's gets their buns so soft, but also quite springy, this could make all the difference. Improves the strength of the gluten network. It's very soft, right? I know it's not supposed to be like that, but it's like I have a rebound, right? So our buns have risen. We are going to put them in some ring molds, cover them with sesame seeds and then bake them. It looks like Harry broke into someone's bedroom and stole their microwave hot plate combo.

I don't know how this is going to turn out. Okay, here we go. Here is the muffin we made today and here is the muffin we made earlier. Now the difference between these two is that this one has all the chemicals that McDonald's uses, while this one is literally just water, flour, and yeast. Visually, the one we made today looks like a much better color. It has a nice uniform golden brown color all over. As you can see with the one on the left, without the chemicals, it actually has this big tear on the side as well.

Now it's not clear exactly why this happened, but it could be because it has some chemicals that help the gluten stay strong and resist expansion in the oven. But that looks, actually looks pretty good. I'm very surprised by that. Big Mac sauce big Mac is made -- Our American Big Mac sauce contains soybean oil, from back in the day, remember? Sweet relish, consisting of diced pickles, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, spices, onion powder, salt, paprika extracts, and soy lecithin. Now, like soybean oil, we had real difficulty getting high fructose corn syrup in the UK.

It's not really used at all. We were able to locate some regular corn syrup, but only as a kind of specialized imported product. But the only difference is that high fructose corn syrup goes through a process that converts some of its glucose into fructose, making it even sweeter. Yes, corn syrup is very common in the United States. You can get it in the baking aisle. I've gotten it before. It is good for making barbecue sauces, such as pulled pork. I couldn't get high fructose corn syrup. I looked it up and sure enough, you can only get it in industrial grade five gallon drums.

It is quite cheap. 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 would want to put it in a sauce to thicken it. But just before we do that, let's test it in water to see how effective it is. Harry, my friend, you just invented thick water, which we have here in the United States. This is for people with swallowing problems. In fact, it makes it easier. I mean, is it really like...? No... Hmm. Oh, that's weird.

It's like a gel. Where have you been all my life, thick water? Smooth as silk. Congratulations to the folks at Thick-Its. They are not sponsors. You make tremendously thick water. About half a teaspoon turned about 100 milliliters of water into this. Now we have prepared our sweet sauce, but that is just one of the ingredients in Big Mac sauce. Now we need to do the rest. Now, it's worth noting that some of the chemicals in it indicate what they do. So we'll start with propylene glycol alginate. This is usually used in the brewing process and will also give our sauce a nice glossy finish.

As for hydrolyzed vegetable protein, here we have this little jar. Now this is primarily a flavor enhancer. But it is also a not-too-distant cousin of monosodium glutamate. The main component of this is glutamate, which is the same as the G of MSG. And last but not least, we have this one, which is caramel colored. Now, the caramel color is worth noting because one of the byproducts it may contain is on the state of California's list of chemicals known to cause cancer. What we don't know is whether McDonald's uses the specific type of caramel color that contains that byproduct.

That chemical that's on California's list of cancer-ca

using

chemicals, just choose a different color. I don't, I mean, I know you eat with your eyes, but it's okay if the color is a little different. Aren't you supposed to like pouring the oil very gently? Oh God. More than that? A lot more, like, oh, God, that's a little aggressive. Oh God. Feel free to get involved. I'm hearing a lot of criticism from you. There are not many solutions. It's like when you started living alone and you had a roommate. And you like, you tried to cook something, and you both say, not me, you hold it, I'll mix it, having no idea, no skill how to do this.

Just watching them do this is like, oh my gosh. Wow. Check it out. You did it, guys. And with that we have our Big Mac sauce. The color looks pretty good. The consistency is pretty good. It was a lot of hard work trying to emulsify it by hand, but I honestly wasn't too disappointed with the result. Wow. I must say it looks like Big Mac sauce. I'm very surprised by that. It actually looks like sauce. In the US, our Big Mac beef burger is made up of 100% beef. 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 must say it is very sad to see youtrying to make this burger, on this hot plate, with a spoon, in an office. After all that, we've created all the components of a Big Mac. The only thing we've added is some freshly chopped onion and some shredded lettuce. Luckily, these are made from just onion and lettuce. There are no additional chemicals. Okay, he hasn't even put it together yet and honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised. At this point before the assembly, I take my hat off to you, Harry.

That actually seems pretty good. That's so stretchy. There you have it. Can you tell which one is ours? Visually, Harry, I'll give you a 6. If I bought a Big Mac at McDonald's and that's what was in the box, I'd be like, what the hell is going on back there? But it seems a lot closer than I thought it would be. The fact that that bread, that sauce, and that cheese look like that is very impressive. The last thing left is to try our burger to see how it compares to a real Big Mac. I think the bread is good.

It is a wonderful homemade bread. I just don't think I would have made bread as good at home without those chemicals. However, it doesn't have that real smoothness that McDonald's has. There's not much to say about the meat. The lettuce and pickles are also pretty good, honestly. No real difference was observed. And I think I almost prefer the cheese we made. I don't know if it was because we used better cheddar cheese, but I actually like our cheese. We have a fairly thick slice, which holds up. It also has good flavor. I think our sauce is not as good as the original Big Mac sauce.

While we followed the ingredient list as exactly as we could, there are still some herbs and spices that we keep as a closely guarded secret.