- Show me the meat.
Probably should leave it to the professionals, I think.
Hey, guys, it's Doug.
As some of you might remember last year,
to celebrate reaching 100,000 subscribers,
I attempted to eat 10 McDonald's cheeseburgers
in 10 minutes and kind of failed.
It was one of my most popular videos with you guys
but amongst a lot of the comments,
some of you were questioning the quality
of McDonald's beef and whether or not
it's 100% beef or whether they add some nasty ingredients.
McDonald's in the UK invited me here
to a MdDonald's farm and then tomorrow we're going
to a butcher's and then to a McDonald's restaurant
to find out the truth whether McDonald's burgers
are really made with 100% British and Irish beef.
So, let's go check out the farm.
(upbeat music)
This is Sam, thanks very much
for showing us around the farm.
You've been looking after these cattle
for quite a few years, right?
- Yeah, I've seen these since they were born,
so I know all about them.
- [Doug] Do any of them have a name or do you--
- [Sam] Only the bull has a name.
- Which one's the bull?
- Oh, yeah, with the - [Sam] The black one
- [Doug] ring in it. - with the ring in his nose,
the biggest one.
- [Doug] Yeah, what's his name?
- [Sam] He's called Bulldozer.
- Bulldozer. (laughs) - [Sam] Yeah.
- Oh, no, I just ran into some cow pat.
What is my luck?
Can I feed it some grass?
So, if I was a cow and I was born at this farm,
what would be my life in like my day to day?
- Life's easy as a cow really.
You're out in grass, enjoying the sun,
eating grass, drinking water, and that's it.
We check them everyday.
- Can you actually show us which part of the cow
will end up being in the burger that we eat at McDonald's?
- Yeah, it's the front half.
The back half has got your roasting joints and your steaks.
Your front half has got your prime cuts
that go into your burger at McDonald's
which is the stuff over the shoulders and the ribs
and the brisket which is the bit underneath
the front legs there.
- Bye, guys. (Doug laughing)
If I get this right, then in about November
when it's too wet outside, then you bring them in here.
- Yup.
- And what do they eat when they come in here?
- They eat silage which is fermented grass.
That's all they're fed until they get on the finishing diet
where they eat maize which is sweet corn,
barley and beans.
- Then, it's off to the butcher's.
- Off to the butcher's.
- Well, I've enjoyed my visit to the farm,
so let's go check out the butcher's.
It is day two of my McDonald's adventure
and I'm told that later I get to make
my very own McDonald's burger,
so I'm super excited for that.
But for now, we're going into this massive factory
where they take the big chunks of meat
that would've come from farms like the one
we were in before and they grind them up
and turn them into the patties that are
in the McDonald's burgers.
Let's go see how that all works.
Hairnets coming back in fashion.
Steve, where are we? What are we doing?
What is this place?
- We're here at OSI, to see today how our McDonald's
hamburgers are made.
This is the start of the hamburger production process.
- Sounds good. Show me the meat.
It's very cold. I think we're in a fridge.
Steve, what are they doing here?
- These gentlemen here are inspecting the quality
of all the individual cuts of four quarter and flank meat.
- What happens next? Where does the meat go next?
- Once we're satisfied that all of the meat is
at the optimum quality, we then take it
into the main production hole.
- We saw those bits of meat getting checked
and now here they are, what's happening to them next?
- As each container of meat leaves the chiller.
We track them all the way through production
to maintain traceability.
The fresh meat is tipped into the hoppers
ready to be ground down and to be made
into fresh beef mince.
- Can I press the button to put the grinder on?
About to make some McDonald's burgers right here.
Like a big meat monster breathing.
That's pretty cool.
- [Steve] Approximately 30% of every batch is frozen meat.
- So, the burgers will stick together, right?
And, that's it.
- Right. - [Doug] Pretty simple.
- Yup
I wouldn't want to fall into that.
This is what comes out of the other end
once it's all ground up.
This is it, this is where the patties are made.
- Yup, these are the patty forming machines.
The meat is being compressed into a forming plate
which can be designed to whatever shape
and weight we want.
Whether you want to make a quarter pounder
or a hamburger patty.
- Regular hamburgers.
Two of them, please, for my Big Mac.
I guess this is the super mega freezer
where they're all just frozen really quickly.
- As soon as the burgers are made fresh,
they travel in the freezing tunnel.
- A minute later, they come out frozen and that's it.
- There's nothing else but just 100% beef frozen,
formed into patties, they fall it in, pack it into a box.
- Real question is can I take a box home?
- We can perhaps sort something out.
- Yeah, nice.
It's so very interesting, but I'm kind of quite hungry.
Do you reckon we can go and try one of the burgers?
- I think the next stop should be
the test kitchen, don't you?
- Yes. Sounds awesome, let's go.
- We bring the product in here to make sure it cooks
and more importantly tastes as good as it looks.
- Well, I think we should try then.
Can I dig in?
- [Steve] Yeah, absolutely.
- I'm very exquisite eating a burger with a knife and fork.
That's good. I'm liking it.
I'm lovin' it, eh.
(humming McDonald's theme song)
Well, thank very much for that Steve.
It's been really interesting seeing how the patties form.
They taste really good as well.
But I'm feeling like a Big Mac now,
so we're gonna go to a restaurant
and I'm gonna get to make my very own Big Mac
and eat it, the best part.
(dance music)
Never been behind the barrier before.
It's finally time to make a Big Mac,
I'm so excited for this.
Scott, thanks so much for welcoming us
into your restaurant and showing us how it's done.
It'd be great if you could show us how
to make a Big Mac, please, 'cause I wanna make
one of my own.
- I'm just gonna plate the meat for the Big Mac
I'm about to cook.
A trot of the Big Mac sauce on each piece of the bun.
A little pinch of the onion
and the same for the shred of lettuce.
Then, two pickles, a piece of cheese.
Pretty much it and then if you crown them.
Yeah, that's your finished Big Mac right there.
You can do it yourself.
Do you think you can give it a go?
- Yeah, let's do it. Let's give it a go.
Got my buns, so you take the sauce, Big Mac sauce.
I've just dribbled it all over myself already.
Squeeze of each. Pickle and then cheese.
Lettuce.
- [Scott] It's your onion, then lettuce--
- Onion, lettuce, pickles, cheese.
- [Scott] Then pickles. - Got it.
Sprinkle of onion on both sides.
Lettuce like that. A bit more.
I'm making a mess.
Pickle. One, two of them.
I'm gonna have an extra one because I like pickles.
This is the Big Mac a la Doug and then the cheese.
Boom, done. Cool, looks terrible.
Let's bring it over here.
Let's get my patties out.
One, two. There they go.
Now we got 42 seconds, this is it.
Takes to cook a patty.
Come on, patties. Cook a bit quicker.
Going in for a shake.
That good? - [Scott] Looks good.
- Roughly.
Almost there and then finally the bun.
That goes that side?
- [Scott] On top. - On top.
We put this on that one.
I think yours looks a little bit better actually.
I've got to say. But there it is.
Big Mac a la Doug, you will see this
on the restaurant menu soon, maybe or maybe not.
Probably leave it to the professionals, I think.
So, there we go. There's the Big Mac a la Doug.
I've been through this whole process.
Seeing the cows in the farm, right the way through
to the butcher's and then making the burger patties
and I got to make my own Big Mac
which I'm so excited about.
Here it is!
Mmm, I think I've got a future within McDonald's
making burgers because this is pretty damn good.
I've done a good job if I say so myself.
I definitely have more appreciation for what goes
into the whole burger making process
now that I've done it all myself.
If you want to find out more about the ingredients
that they use across the menu, then head on over
to What Makes McDonald's, there's a link in the description,
to find out more.
But otherwise, thanks very much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed this video and coming along
on this burger adventure with me
and I'll see you again soon, bye.