US vs UK McDonald's | Foreign Exchange | Food Wars | Insider Food

Joe: A Brit and an American swap countries to try each other's McDonald's. This is "Food Wars." We'll start with some things you can find in the UK, but I think they might be slightly different here. Let's start with McDonald's iconic Big Mac. So visually, it looks pretty much the same. You have pretty sad and flimsy beef burgers. Let's make a try. So I think there are actually some subtle differences. Generally speaking, if you gave it to me and said, "This is a UK Big Mac," I don't think I would doubt you. I think it's the sauce, because the Big Mac sauce in the UK almost has a strong flavor, and it's very mild.

I barely get any of it. The Big Mac. Now, this looks exactly like a Big Mac anywhere in the world. You know what I have to do. Oops and oops. Now let's give this a try. If that's not exactly the same, it's close. I mean, if I could do one side by side I would probably notice, but I don't feel any difference. I remember when we did "Fast Food Chemistry" you guys had more chemicals and things to use, but I'm here to say that the chemicals haven't made a noticeable difference. It tastes almost exactly the same.

Then we moved on to the fries and the Coca-Cola aspect of the meal. First of all, I must point out how huge they are. The size of this drink is ridiculous. This is much bigger than almost any fast

food

drink I have seen in the UK. Even the fries too. This box of chips is huge. They have sunk a little so it doesn't really show how full it was. But this box is huge. So many fries fit in here. It looks almost twice the size of a UK box of crisps. I mean, these are pretty good.

I will say that I think they have held up much better after some time out of the fryer than UK chips. McDonald's UK fries, I think maybe because they don't have as many ingredients, they don't contain preservative chemicals, they don't actually keep very well. As soon as they come out of the fryer, they get worse and worse. So you have to eat them while they are hot. I think in terms of taste there are also some slight differences. There's more to it than just salt. So, I only know this because we did that "Fast Food Chemistry" episode of McDonald's fries, but there's a kind of artificial meat flavor that's added to them, and you kind of taste it.

It's very subtle, but they have a sort of savory depth of flavor that you just don't get in the UK. I kind of like it. I can not lie. The first thing I noticed about these fries is that these guys have a pale appearance. Not the bright yellow I'm used to in America. This is all just potato, salt and oil, is that all? Yes, and I believe it, because they are dull. Man! That? Mm-mm, not with the fries. The ones in the United States are much better. And finally, this huge Coca-Cola from McDonald's. I don't know what it is about McDonald's Coca-Cola, but it always has a different effect.

That happens in the UK and, yes, it still happens here. Another iconic menu item that I thought was worth trying were the McNuggets. So visually speaking, before even trying it, these look quite different to British McNuggets. I'm pretty sure the ones in the UK are toast. Correct me if I'm wrong, editor. But these seem almost more fried in some ways, just in terms of the way the breading has puffed up and blistered a little. I will say that I think the breading maybe has a little more seasoning, a little more flavor than I'm used to. I think the chicken itself is more or less the same.

I think I would prefer the British nuggets. Sorry guys. The seeds look almost exactly the same size, smell the same, and have the same amount of crunchy texture to the skin. No, much softer. Much duller. You guys are getting a terrible deal on these nuggets, because this stuff is dry. I noticed that it says "100% chicken breast meat" on this one. I don't know if that's the case in the United States. Can we put that on screen? But I was just informed, no, the chicken they use, it's 100% chicken breast meat, but it's only 45% chicken, right? It says "100% chicken breast." The implication is that chicken is 100% chicken, or is 100% chicken meat.

It is not. Misleading! The last thing we wanted to compare in both countries was the McCrispy. Here's an American McCrispy. It looks pretty similar to ours on the surface. I think this is a potato roll rather than the more pretzel brioche version found in the UK. There is no sauce. It's just pickles and a fried chicken burger. I really like pickles. I think pickles and fried chicken are a great combination and it's not very common in the UK. I will say that I think it needs a sauce. I think they technically claim to butter the rolls and the butter is, I guess, the sauce, but it's a little dry.

The chicken is also a little thin. I feel like McCrispy in the UK tends to be a thicker, slightly juicier piece of chicken. It is a fairly thin and quite dry chicken breast. The McCrispy. Harry: Yellow box. Oh it's good! Alright. I am pleasantly surprised by the bun. Reminds me of King's Hawaiian rolls. Yes, this looks like our McChicken. It is very close to McChicken. Better bun than the McChicken, but with the crunchy texture of the chicken burger. It has a slightly different flavor. I would say the McChicken sauce is, I hate to say it, a little sweeter.

Because I love McChicken. The taste of that is in my DNA. Here are all the US menu items you won't find at a UK McDonald's. Here are all the UK McDonald's menu items that I can't get in the US. We'll start with a few chicken options, namely the McCrispy Deluxe and the McCrispy Deluxe Spicy. Let's take a look at the deluxe McCrispy and see what exactly they're adding to make it deluxe. The roll looks almost the same as the standard version. The chicken looks the same. But I think when they say fancy, it just means they added mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato.

I don't know if that's enough to qualify something as luxury. It doesn't seem super luxury to me. I also think that tomato is a bad addition to a burger. In my opinion, things have gotten worse. I'm going to take a bite of the spicy one to see if it's good and spicy. It has some heat. They weren't joking. For my miserable British palate. I think I would probably buy the regular McCrispy version and then add some sauce to it. So, you have a bacon mayonnaise chicken and a mayonnaise chicken. No, this could be exactly what the McChicken looks like.

No, it's a little weaker. Yes. Is this what you're talking about? Is it a big McNugget? Yes. Mayonnaise is weird. It has a really rancid aftertaste. I'm telling you, your guys' breaded chicken at McDonald's has no taste compared to the one in the United States. The McCrispy was crispier, there was more flavor in the sauce, and the bun was better. Yes, this is a bummer. Ugh, the same thing happens to us with bacon. Do I really have to...? No. Look how flimsy your bacon is. Now we move on to some beef options, starting with the McDouble.

I just have sort of existential questions about the McDouble. That is, why does it exist? Because we have the double cheeseburger. Let's try it. I'm really curious, like, how is this different from a simple double cheeseburger, Joe? A slice of cheese. Joe says a slice of cheese. Tell me about it. Well, what happens here is that the McDouble has one slice of cheese in the middle, whereas with the double cheese we have two slices of cheese. I think that's the only difference. I honestly think so, because this is your standard McDonald's. Yes, this seems very normal.

Good? It's just one less slice of cheese from what we can see. And the price difference is, let's put that on the screen. So if you want to save that kind of money, get a McDouble and pass the savings on to you. There you go. Regards, Joe. You heard it here first. Next up is the Quarter Pounder with Deluxe Cheese. So, similar to the McCrispy, they turned it into a deluxe burger by simply adding a little lettuce, a little mayonnaise, and a little tomato. Do you know what they've tried to do here? They tried to just make a Whopper.

This is the double quarter pounder with bacon. Now this is a hamburger. This one does what you would expect a quarter pounder to do. They're just a bunch of meat and cheese. I also want to talk more about this bacon, because it's good. One thing I think we do quite badly in the UK in fast

food

is bacon. Much of the bacon you'll find in UK restaurants is this very pale pink colour, while this stronger flavor gives it a smoky touch. The bacon on this one is much better and therefore makes it a very enjoyable burger.

Yes, I think luxury should be more meat and some bacon instead of vegetables that no one wants to eat. Come on. Oh yeah, now we're talking. Two empanadas. Although, I tell you, burger on burger with nothing in the middle is just weird. A bread hybrid with poppy and sesame seeds? Oh! Yeah, it doesn't look like barbecue sauce. The barbecue sauce is like amber brown. Hey. I think the bacon ruins it because bacon is so flimsy. I think this would work with American bacon, because the American bacon would be crispy; I mean, it's not that it needs to be crispier.

It's just that this is very rubbery. What do you think barbecue sauce is? Double burger with cheese and bacon. I'm not impressed with your bacon here, guys. Not impress me. Look. Look... everyone in America, look how strange this is. Yeah, like... I'm pretty sure we had a double bacon cheeseburger at some point at McDonald's, and we didn't. I guess our bacon is crispier and more evenly dispersed. You only have two strips that go through the middle here. That's a disaster. It's a total disaster! Very good, McPlant. Harry, come in here and explain to me what I'm doing, what this is.

This is the McPlant. It's McDonald's fake beef burger. It took them years to develop this. They tried it first in Scandinavia. It was available in Sweden for a while. They also developed their own vegan cheese because McDonald's couldn't find a commercial vegan cheese that they thought was good enough. Yes I believe it. Watch this. This looks scary. I'll leave you with that, friend. Thanks my friend. What he said. I think it was only available in a few places in the US. It came and went. So, at least the American public, was not impressed with the McPlant.

Yeah, that's not good. There is definitely some plant-based meat that tastes good, that tastes like meat. This is not everything. I want to take this moment to try your UK Coca-Cola. Man, the Coca-Cola here is so much better. You guys make it with real sugar. Screw this! Do this ... ? And these are the saucepans, right? Who do you think you are, McDonald's? Who do you think you are doing this? You just took the pots and put them... Oh, God, that's disgusting! What is this, like... what is this? Vegetables. Hey, this sucks, man. Yes, the vegetarian says he loves them.

Put an asterisk next to that. Of all the things you can eat at McDonald's, there are two, right? And this is one of them. Very good, great. I never want this. Forward. Ah, the chicken selects. This is closer to the flavor of our McChicken and our nuggets. Oh yeah. Damn, I wish we had this in America. The sour cream and chive sauce is really good. Here are all the unique wraps and salads you can find in the US that you won't find in the UK. That's not a mistake. There simply aren't any of them. It's not even that there aren't exclusives.

There are simply no wraps or salads, period, on the menu at a McDonald's in the United States. Joe: United States! I can't exactly say that British salads are good at McDonald's, but at least we have them, you know? You have a choice if you are somehow trying to eat healthy but ended up at McDonald's anyway. While in the United States the closest thing to a salad is this bag of apple slices. Oh Lord. I hate wrappers. This is a really clever way to present this. A pita. Isn't that a pita? Harry: Omelet, right? Oh yeah. I guess it's more like an omelet.

Leon: Also, the way you say it. Joe: "Peed-a." León: Yes. How do you say it? Leon: "Pit-ta." No that's bad. It's with an I. "Peed-a." Charlie: I'd say "pit-ta." Well, you'd be wrong. Ugh, what kind of dressing is this? Well, it says garlic, but it doesn't have much garlic flavor. Okay, so we have the roasted version of this. Yes. No no no no no. What could this taste like? Oh, come on. Charlie: I thought it was some bread! No. Oh man. That has no taste. Yes, you can get a grilled or crispy chicken salad, but we didn't get them because I didn't fly across the planet to eat a salad.

Hey, this is fun. Cheese wedges for nachos. Well, we're much further away from Mexico, so how good could nacho cheese be? Nothing bad. It is without a doubt the tastiest thing I have eaten today. Now it's time for signature condiments and you know what that means. Salsa talk s-s-s-s-s-s. The first talk about salsa, "Divisas". Salsa talk. We are going tobacon, egg and cheese. We used to have bagels on the menu at McDonald's in the UK and they were wonderful. Part of the breakfast menu, toasted bagels with your choice of toppings and fillings, really good. Pandemic hit, they took them off the menu and they haven't returned.

And personally, I'm furious about it. Yes. I've missed you so much, bagel. Next we have a sausage burrito. The breakfast burrito doesn't really exist in the UK. We are generally bad at Mexican food. Obviously, this is designed to be enjoyed with a mild sauce. It's actually pretty good. And finally on the breakfast menu we have these, the Great Breakfasts. The standard large breakfast consists of a piece of scrambled eggs, a sausage patty and a biscuit. And this is the Big Pancake Breakfast, which is egg, biscuit and sausage but then it also comes with two pancakes. Both come with sauces, including a little whipped butter and, of course, pancake syrup.

So, I wasn't sure what the difference was between pancakes and hotcakes. Joe just did a quick Google search and apparently pancakes tend to be a little thicker and denser than pancakes. I mean, to me, that just tastes like a pancake. I'm thinking maybe they just called them pancakes to make them sound fancier or different, but yeah, not bad. And of course McDonald's UK, I have to try the breakfast. Alright, first, the mini potato waffles, potato croquettes that are shaped like a waffle. I don't know why this specific way. Yes friend. For some reason, it tastes much better in waffle form.

I don't know why that is. These are really good. What do we have here? Breakfast sandwich. This is the bacon roll with brown sauce. It's like a hamburger bun! Watch this. There's your brown sauce. Hmm. Hey. Alright. Nothing special. It's bland. I'm starting to think you guys in the UK don't like it, their stuff isn't as intense as ours in the US. For example, this wouldn't work in the US because it's not dripping with cheese, it's eggless, and the rolls aren't super buttery. It's too simple. It is very boring. This is the same only with ketchup.

Oh. Now we are gaining more speed. This one has cheese and bacon. Oh yeah. Is that sausage? Yes, this is more like something you'd get in the US. Yes. Cheese flatbread, oh my. Cheesy... oh, come on, guys. Yeah, look, this is the bacon. This is more like the bacon we are used to. Charlie: So, that's streaky bacon. Bacon? So this is bacon and the other thing was Canadian bacon in the US. I don't know why. Or ham, I'll call it. I mean, this just looks like, I mean, this looks like whatever. Yes, this sucks. And that's why it sucks.

It's like the flatbread is too strong. I can barely taste the streaky bacon, which is what I came here for. Double sausage. Okay, so with this, you guys just ate twice as much meat in both. Oh man! Hey! Look how much sausage there is here. Check it out! Hell yeah. Now we're talking, UK. See? Although, nothing between the two sausage patties is, it has to be cheese, meat, cheese, meat. You can't just eat meat. This does not work. And possibly a sauce. No sauce is strange for this one. Your sausage is weird. I would say ours is spicier.

It's not spicy, but the sausage flavor is more pronounced in the US compared to this. So I know that in the US, our sausage is made up of, and from what I understand, UK sausage is made up of. And all of that was done in publication. I have no idea what it says. Here's the thing. I like it twice as much, but it needs more cheese, it needs to be drowned in some kind of sauce. But I guess this is double bacon. No, this is not double bacon. Wait, one, two pieces of double bacon bacon? Is this double for you?

TRUE? Guys, you are being scammed. Sorry, you made a mistake. You come back, storm in and cut your tail, and say, "Oh, you made a mistake with mine. There's only one slice of bacon in this." Then it's okay. Let's try this double bacon. I mean, it's ham. Yes, that's standard. That's not double. It's smart that they made the jam. I don't know, in the United States they have the squirtable. I mean, do I have to? I mean, I know what a muffin and jam taste like. I'm not like... Harry: Have you had a British muffin with jam?

If I eat this, will I still have eaten a British muffin with jam? I think after this, I'll still have no idea what a British muffin with jam tastes like. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Alright, everyone relax. Oh yeah, that's really good. This tastes so much better than the crap we have. Better! I was just informed that in England these are simply called muffins, not English muffins. Porridge. I'm from the US. I don't know what porridge is. I guess it's oatmeal? So from what I can tell, you can get porridge four different ways. One with golden syrup, looks a lot like honey; one with strawberry jam, straight from France; one with sugar, which they did not include; and then a simple one.

So, first I'm going to have pure porridge, without hunter. Yeah, that doesn't have any flavor. León: Put some golden syrup on the side. Yes all ok. So, I was informed that golden syrup is a good thing. I don't know what the difference is between golden syrup and I guess any other syrup. You're right, it's like it's not maple syrup, but it's pretty close. It makes it much better, obviously. Joe: Okay. Overall, Harry, from American exclusives, what were some of your likes and dislikes? Hmm. Some of the things I liked is that you have a much larger breakfast menu than we do.

I liked the McGriddles. They lived up to Joe's fairly high billing. Joe: Mm-hmm. I also think your bacon is much better than ours. So I think maybe the double quarter pounder with bacon was the highlight there. Some dislikes, there are some. I don't like cookies. Sorry guys. I think, for a Brit, they look too much like a bun. So we can't really mentally differentiate between the two, and it's pretty dry. And I also think that making fancy burgers by just adding a lot of mayonnaise, a little tomato and lettuce is a little disappointing. It's really not a luxury environment for me.

Joe: So if you could bring something unique to the UK from the US, what would it be? If I could take one of these exclusives I tried today back to the UK for our menu, I think I'll have to go with the Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddle. I think it was really good. It's a slight variation on the classic McMuffin formula. It feels a little more decadent, maybe a little sweeter. And yes, very fun. I like the emphasis they put on their breakfast menu. Joe: And what did you hate the most? Did you say, "Ugh, let that stay in the US"?

Well, what I hated the most and would like to eliminate from all possible menus is complicated. There is a pair. But I think it might have to be the sausage biscuit. It was so dry. And the idea of ​​a breakfast sandwich with biscuits and buns for a Brit is just too strange. I can not understand it. And yes, it's not the best. I have to say I really didn't like your bacon. Your bacon is weird. It ruined everything. I love bacon, but yours is just weird. The things I liked the most, obviously I like curry sauce.

I like the banana smoothie, separately, obviously. That triple chocolate chip cookie was good. Harry: Alright, Joe, you must choose one thing to take with you to the US from our menu, and you must choose one thing to remove from our menu forever. I'm going to remove the curry sauce. I've wanted to try that since we filmed the first episode. And then, take away your menu, I mean, those vegetarian dishes were pretty depressing, but I don't want to leave vegetarians in the lurch. What haunts me the most is the grilled chicken wrap. I don't even think it was grilled.

I think it was boiled. And I feel bad that that's on your menu, and it's disgusting. And I'll do the UK a favor: all roast chicken off the menu, McDonald's. You are welcome. Alright. Lamination. I'm in New York and I'm outside a McDonald's. I'm going to go in and have a look and see how it compares to the British McDonald's experience.