Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren of ok obamb Here. It's a mick rib world
Speaker 1: and we're all just living in it. Much like the
Speaker 1: first snow of the season or spring break, McDonald's release
Speaker 1: of the cult favorite mic rib sandwich is something that
Speaker 1: a lot of people get behind. In case you don't know,
Speaker 1: the mic rib consists of seasoned, boneless pork shaped into
Speaker 1: a rib meat style patty and coated and tangy barbecue sauce,
Speaker 1: then topped with sliced onions and pickles on a long bun.
Speaker 1: And now it's back nationwide for the first time since
Speaker 1: just what needs right. The McRib was created by McDonald's
Speaker 1: first executive chef, Renee Rand, who also developed those famous
Speaker 1: chicken McNuggets as a means to combat the chicken shortage
Speaker 1: the curd. When those McNuggets debuted, apparently every franchise wanted
Speaker 1: McNuggets and there wasn't a system in place to supply
Speaker 1: McDonald's corporate with enough chicken to meet demand. So a
Speaker 1: Rand developed the mcribb for the franchises that got left
Speaker 1: out to debut. After a year of test marketing, that
Speaker 1: first McRib appeared in McDonald's stores in two. Despite the
Speaker 1: cult like appreciation for the sandwich, mcribb was actually considered
Speaker 1: a failure, even with support throughout the Midwest. McDonald's discontinued
Speaker 1: the micrib in five, citing a lack of dedicated pork
Speaker 1: eaters in the United States, and then it made a
Speaker 1: major comeback in as a promotional tie in to the
Speaker 1: Flintstones movie. The sudden popularity and support for the McRib
Speaker 1: sparked a movement to restock it select stores across the
Speaker 1: United States and Canada, but the McRib disappeared again in
Speaker 1: two thousand five. McDonald's even planned the micrib Farewell Tour,
Speaker 1: featuring an online save the McRib campaign. So this all
Speaker 1: begs the question, what exact is the McRib. Well, it's
Speaker 1: not pork rib meat. It's mostly meat from the pork shoulder.
Speaker 1: It's called restructured meat, and this food processing technique was
Speaker 1: created by the US Army in the nineteen sixties to
Speaker 1: lower its food costs. These new meats were added to
Speaker 1: m r e s for troops and so essentially the
Speaker 1: McRib is made of pig meat, including boneless pork picnic
Speaker 1: shoulder pressed into the iconic micrib shape with some barbecue
Speaker 1: sauce added for flavor. McDonald's did allow the late Grant Immahara,
Speaker 1: former co host of MythBusters, behind the scenes in with
Speaker 1: West Bellamy, then a teacher and now a department chair
Speaker 1: at Virginia State University and vice mayor of Charlottesville. Bellamy's
Speaker 1: tweeked about how an appetizing the meat looked had caught
Speaker 1: McDonald's attention. The two watched as the pork meat was
Speaker 1: processed and pressed into shape, and then flash frozen to
Speaker 1: be shipped to restaurants. In the video, the vice president
Speaker 1: of McDonald's u S pork supplier Lopez Foods, says the
Speaker 1: only ingredients in a McRib are pork, water, dextros, and preservatives.
Speaker 1: So if you are one of those who's been waiting
Speaker 1: anxiously for the mac rib heads up, it's available at
Speaker 1: participating restaurants as of December two, but who knows how
Speaker 1: long it'll be there. Today's episode was written by Jeremy
Speaker 1: Glass and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other restructured topics, visit House to Forks
Speaker 1: dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart
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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.