Getting Sauced at Mickey D’s

by Nafeisa Shukair-Farley

Our society has always been obsessed with “sauce.”  Dallas Cowboys Cole Beasley is the “sauce” on the field, Beyoncé has “hot sauce” in her bag, and good “sauce” will take a meal to the next level, and the most important… good liquor is the “sauce.”  So it should be no surprise that when McDonald’s announced they were bottling up their “special sauce” to give away, the public ate it up!  Society has waited since 1967 to get their hands on the special sauce and now they have the opportunity to grab one of the limited 10,000 bottles.  

CraveDFW was invited to a sauce giveaway event at the McDonalds at 75 and Royal and this reporter jumped all over it!  I joined about 100 people, most of whom arrived at McDonalds around 8am to get in line for the sauce.  Along with the bottled special sauce, I was granted exclusive access to the McDonald’s kitchen to create the famous “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun,” masterpiece.

Before I go into the Big Mac making process, let me tell you that the kitchen was one of the cleanest I had ever been in and the cleanliness process is rigid. The handwashing process alone impressed me.  Once I washed my hands and arms while singing Happy Birthday twice, I put on the “clear” burger-making gloves and the Big Mac making was on!

First, I had to grab the buns and drop them in the toaster which alone was nerve-racking. You have to put the bottom and top bun in one toaster and the middle bun in another toaster – I didn’t follow the directions (more on that in a moment).  Next was putting the meat on the griddle, but first, I had to put on blue gloves over the clear gloves so that I was not grabbing raw meat with the burger-making gloves (another testament to how clean this McDonalds is).  While the burgers were sizzling, I removed the blue gloves, went back over to the toasting area and could not find my middle bun (remember I put it in the wrong toaster).  Thankfully, an employee handed me a middle toasted bun with a smile.  Lesson learned…one wrong move in this process can mess up the whole burger.

Next, was putting the sauce on the buns, this was the most intense part.  One wrong squeeze of the trigger could send sauce flying all over.  I learned to hold the sauce gun upright and squeeze the trigger. Viola, rich creamy sauce was beautifully placed on the buns. I felt empowered and cool.

Taking the burgers off the griddle was not as easy as you think it would be.  Using a spatula and scrapper, you have to angle the tools to make sure the burger slides off without sticking to the grill.  The first burger stuck, but I mastered the second burger off the grill like a Big Mac pro.  

Once the burgers were on the buns, I aced the assembly process…cheese, onions, pickles lettuce and when I thought I was pro, reality quickly hit.  You have to take the middle bun and put it on top of the bottom bun with precision.  When I picked it up, lettuce went flying as if it was escaping from torture.  Once I recovered, all buns were placed correctly, the Big Mac assembled and the lid of the box closed.  As I finally exhaled, my masterpiece was completed and I was like a kid during show-n-tell.  My son said it was the best Big Mac he ever had.  I am sure he meant it and not because “I almost died giving birth to him.”  I left McDonalds with a sense of accomplishment and bottles of the special sauce.

Researching the Special Sauce I discovered that these bottles are being sold on eBay anywhere from $100 to $100,000!  If my son had not eaten the Big Mac, I could have sold the exclusive, one-of-a-kind Big Mac with bottle 9,110 for an unknown amount of money.  Oh well, riches come and riches go but my experience lives on forever and “I’m Lovin’ it!”

Nafeisa Shukair-Farley is a contributor to craveDFW and enjoys both cooking and (fine) dining. For those unfamiliar, the special sauce is more of a remoulade that 1,000 Island dressing. Thank you McDonalds for opening your kitchen up to us.