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