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Malcolm Gladwell Takes Surprising Stance Against McDonald’s Beloved French Fries (Beef Tallow)
New York Magazine ^ | August 11, 2017

Posted on 08/13/2017 10:57:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest contrarian position could go over worse than the time he defended Lance Armstrong’s doping: McDonald’s fries suck, he declares on the latest episode of his Revisionist History podcast.

Before you rush out and declare him un-American, though, realize he means well. Gladwell opens the podcast by telling listeners that “McDonald’s betrayed me so many years ago” when it stopped frying potatoes in beef tallow, so his ultimate goal is to help the fries return to their former glory. But his personal vendetta is woven into the far more interesting story of Phil Sokolof, the drywall magnate who spent millions crusading against saturated fat and cholesterol, and convinced McDonald’s to swap the beef fat for vegetable oil.

Megaphone ‎@MegaphonePods Follow Malcolm Gladwell ✔ @Gladwell Episode 9 of Revisionist History is out! In which I take aim at the Golden Arches. McDonalds: You broke my heart. https://megaphone.link/PPY8679820909 9:14 AM - Aug 10, 2017 91 91 Replies 112 112 Retweets 483 483 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy Gladwell talks about how, at Sokolof’s insistence, the chain moved to a canola-corn-soy oil mix on July 23, 1990, the day McDonald’s “changed the recipe of their fries forever, and turned their backs on everything I once held dear.” He argues texture and taste suffered, and to prove there’s general consensus about this, Gladwell interviews people his age who get nostalgic about the old fries, then feeds a facsimile of them to millennials who are too young to have tried the pre-1990 version. They all agree he’s right.

In typical Gladwellian style, the podcast goes to great lengths to explain the dire consequences of McDonald’s switch: Fryers started spewing a mist that left McDonald’s chairs and tables sticky; workers’ protective overalls had the propensity to spontaneously combust; the new oil contained a mixture of scary-sounding, possibly unsafe compounds (carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and whatnot).

Yet Gladwell’s goal is a noble one: This is really just to get his beef-fat fries back. His parents didn’t let him eat fast food, so he didn’t try McDonald’s fries until he was 13. “Have you ever seen a puppy encounter snow for the first time? He burrows his nose into it with this look of perplexity and sheer delight because he can’t understand where this white thing came from,” he says. “It was like that for me.”

McDonald’s, please just do the guy a solid and mail him an old Super Size box of beef-tallow fries Rick and Morty–style.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: beeftallow; fries; mickyds; tallow
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1 posted on 08/13/2017 10:57:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Hear, hear! They were SO MUCH BETTER than today’s.


2 posted on 08/13/2017 10:58:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: nickcarraway
Phil Sokolof, the drywall magnate who spent millions crusading against saturated fat

And he was wrong. When frying at high heat, it's healthier to use fully saturated fats in order to avoid the formation of transfats from polyunsaturated fats like with canola oil.

It's like how 40 years ago we were told that margarine is healthier than butter and to eat a low fat high processed carb diet. Wrong.

3 posted on 08/13/2017 11:16:58 PM PDT by Meet the New Boss
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To: nickcarraway

Gladwell is an American hero. Canola oil and GMO soy are poisons we have been lied into embracing.


4 posted on 08/13/2017 11:20:12 PM PDT by montag813 (ue)
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To: montag813
Gladwell is an American hero.

He is British.

5 posted on 08/13/2017 11:21:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

When I make french fries at home, I grind a beef bullion and add it to a shaker of salt. After frying my fries in peanut oil, I shake my mix over the hot fries. It saves me from having to look all over for beef tallow.


6 posted on 08/13/2017 11:31:28 PM PDT by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental illness: A totalitarian psyche.)
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To: nickcarraway

Well... English born but he grew up in Canada after age 6.


7 posted on 08/14/2017 12:00:23 AM PDT by Enchante (Searching throughout the country for one honest Democrat....)
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To: nickcarraway

I’d be shocked if McD’s ever brought back beef-tallow fries, but, yes, the old fries were way better. The article says July 1990, but I’m not sure if all locations switched right away. I kind of remember my local McD’s switching in 1991. The difference in taste was immediately noticeable. The texture was different too, as the beef-tallow fries were a bit soggier. Now, if you don’t eat McD’s fries right away when they’re still hot, they become hard, almost potato chip-like.


8 posted on 08/14/2017 12:01:07 AM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: jonrick46
I love stuff fried in tallow, lard is even better.

Homemade cornbread with lard spread on it and a shake of salt..yummy!

You can make some very nice bars of soap if you have access to cheap or free lard.

Hogfat and ashes soap is wonderful!

Granny Clampett was right :-)


9 posted on 08/14/2017 12:01:23 AM PDT by Bobalu (Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be freeloaders.)
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To: nickcarraway

Beef tallow is healthier than the trans fat veg oils (ie hydrogenated veg oils) they currently use.


10 posted on 08/14/2017 12:15:17 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Agreed!


11 posted on 08/14/2017 12:44:01 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (I love Bull Markets!)
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To: Meet the New Boss

FADScience is everywhere. There are popular food agendas such as:

Dietary Fiber
Cholesterol
Omega 3
Calcium
Caffeine
Sugar
Salt
Preservatives

One day the advertisers get in a frenzy for about a year or two and they “push” a food substance saying it’s unhealthy.
A few months or years later they say it’s OK, then there is counter research to the contrary of the contrary. Sound confusing?

Suddenly you’re buying processed foods that have a long list of “No X”, no cholesterol, no sugar, no blah, blah, blah.

Suddenly you see products like Tums with Calcium added or fish sticks with Omega 3.
They’re trying to convince us that what is very unhealthy is indeed healthy and we buy into it.

When you see a product that has a long list of “Does not contain...” you know it’s a farce already.

Buy butter instead of margarine.
Use sugar (in small quantities) instead of an artificial sweetener, eat healthier foods and more importantly, REDUCE the quantities.


12 posted on 08/14/2017 12:53:42 AM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: nickcarraway

Oh no, not carboxylic acids!
You mean things like vinegar or citric acid?


13 posted on 08/14/2017 1:31:40 AM PDT by teal4two
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To: nickcarraway

I saw beef tallow in the health food store yesterday and it was expensive! Of course, it was made from grass-fed beef, so that’s probably why.


14 posted on 08/14/2017 2:45:56 AM PDT by FrdmLvr ("A is A. A thing is what it is." Ayn Rand)
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To: Meet the New Boss

Margarine. Yech. Whoever thought it was a good idea to feed people a product bacteria can’t eat?


15 posted on 08/14/2017 3:06:07 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He mentions the drywall guy. Anyone remember the problem some 10 years or so with the Chinese drywall? Is this the guy that was involved in all that? I’m wondering if someone made millions importing toxic crap and then offloaded the problem on the taxpayer.


16 posted on 08/14/2017 3:09:34 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: nickcarraway

The drywall magnate threatened to quit supplying McDonald’s with their hamburger “meat.”


17 posted on 08/14/2017 3:57:35 AM PDT by dangus
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To: FrdmLvr

Lard makes the best fries...Coconut oil the best popcorn.


18 posted on 08/14/2017 4:06:27 AM PDT by Russ
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To: nickcarraway

Seriously, the reason McDonald’s french fries don’t taste like they used to is because they use far less salt. And adding the salt yourself after they’ve cooled down doesn’t work; the salt has to dissolve into the hot oil to deliver the flavor the same way.

A long, long time ago, I tried using bacon fat instead of oil to fry food one time. I was very disappointed. It tasted EXACTLY the same. Turns out, beef tallow or bacon fat has no flavor on its own. None. Nada. Beef tallow is, however, extremely high in saturated fats.

Modern Twinkies suck because the less-saturated fat formulation they use no longer forms a frosting-like “cream” in the Twinkie, but instead, a mere sweet goo. That’s not a flavor issue, though: that’s a consistency issue. And saturated fats do have a very different consistency than oils and unsaturated fats.

If you think I’m making this up: which tastes better, the fat on the edge of a steak, or the fat on the edge of bacon? NOthing tastes better than a well-marbled steak, but a fatty edge of steak doesn’t taste like all that. The fatty edge of bacon or a pork chop: YUM! Here’s the thing: pork fat is LOWER in saturated fat than beef fat. It’s much more similar to chicken fat or even vegetable oil. That’s why pork gets away with calling itself the other white meat, in spite of being much fattier than chicken breast. The bacon fat tastes better simply because the bacon itself has a stronger flavor.


19 posted on 08/14/2017 4:09:59 AM PDT by dangus
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To: nickcarraway

Of course, he’s British. Americans would’ve named him Happygood.


20 posted on 08/14/2017 4:11:52 AM PDT by dangus
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