6 ms·

Iceland livestreams 10-year-old McDonald's cheeseburger

25 points by porterde 7y ago

wvenable 7y ago
Luckily it was well cooked. Now it's dry. Without moisture it will not grow mold, etc. This doesn't say anything interesting about the composition of the burger, just a misunderstanding of food science and biology.
- thefounder 7y ago
  I thought cheeseburgers have cheese and are juicy?
  - berkut 7y ago
    McDonald's ones have yellow "stuff", although I'm not sure if that can be construed as "cheese".
    - rhino369 7y ago
      It's processed cheese, but its still pretty much cheese. And its better on a burger than any other type of cheese because it melts well. Putting good cheese on a burger is a waste of good cheese and makes a worse burger.
      - beatgammit 7y ago
        What are you talking about? I put Swiss, cheddar, havarti, etc on my burgers all the time without any issues. Just put it on when you flip the burger and cover it so the cheese melts. I've been to several restaurants that put decent cheeses on their burgers and it's fantastic.
      - AstralStorm 7y ago
        Cheeses generally keep for ages of they don't go rancid due to added oils, and this one is even more dehydrated by melting...
      - balfirevic 7y ago
        Here is what you need to do if you want regular cheese to melt similar to the ones that are usually put on a burger: https://aht.seriouseats.com/2011/09/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-super-melty-cheese-slices-like-american.html https://aht.seriouseats.com/2011/09/the-burger-lab-how-to-ma... It's questionable if it's worth it :)
        mikekchar 7y ago
        A video showing how to do this in a way that's closer to the actual process of making processed cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGKiWQnMJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGKiWQnMJc Essentially, you grate cheese, add an emulsifier, heat it up to release the oils and then cool it down again. The fat in the cheese breaks down due to the high heat and the oils get emulsified so it doesn't "break" -- a bit like making mayonnaise. The original patents for this are from the late 60's early 70's, so if you look around you can find out the exact industrial process (I've read a couple, but I'm a bit too lazy to look them up at the moment -- they are surprisingly clear... I wonder if patents back then where better than they are now...) Edit: Just for those that believe that processed cheese is not cheese: Quite a lot of processed cheese and processed cheese spread contains a high percentage of "milk solids" or "milk protein". This is essentially cheese. They buy it in bulk, mostly from Ireland. The reason that they can't call it cheese is because they are avoiding tax/duty on the imported cheese curds.
      - rootusrootus 7y ago
        It was a heck of an epiphany when I stopped putting cheddar on burgers and went back to gold old Kraft singles. It makes a better burger. The fact that it doesn't meet the strict definition of cheese is of little consequence. A lot of people have strange ideas of what American Cheese is actually made from. Turns out it's pretty much cheddar and milk. I've heard people claim it's made mostly of oil. Nope! In fact, that's part of why it's such a good choice for burgers.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  It’s like people don’t learn a single thing from all the science classes in middle and high school.
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  "Behold our abjectly mummified burger! Why does it look like that?"
- sjg007 7y ago
  It was in a plastic bag in the guys garage for 3 years and it still didn't go moldy... I mean there is moisture in the air.
- m0xte 7y ago
  Yep. We used to regularly buy old British army MRE packs when we were kids that were 10-15 years out of date. And we ate the contents and they were fine! It’s all about storage.
- caymanjim 7y ago
  A fully-cooked fatty burger isn't going to change much over time, and deep-friend french fries are unlikely to change, but that bun is certainly unnatural.
  - beatgammit 7y ago
    I don't know about you, but I've certainly had mold grow on ground beef I've forgotten in the fridge.
- YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
  OK, I have to confess I didn't know it's that easy to preserve food, that's really cool. So what do I do if I want to preserve some boiled potatoes, say? I cook them well, let them dry and that's it? I can just eat them whenever or do I have to re-hydrate them? And won't they grow mold while I'm letting them dry? Will that work with spaghetti or rice? What about my home-made mayonnaise? Somehow I can never pasteurise eggs right at home so when I make mayonnaise I have to eat it all in days. How do I preserve mayonnaise like this? Do I have to hang it out to dry? Can I preserve some salad like this also? This is so exciting!
brenden2 7y ago
Here's the actual link: https://snotrahouse.com/last-mcdonalds/ https://snotrahouse.com/last-mcdonalds/
AlphaWeaver 7y ago
> The hostel claims that people come from around the world to visit the burger, and the website receives up to 400,000 hits daily. Wait, what? No way that website receives four hundred THOUSAND visitors a day.

25 points by porterde 7y ago

Luckily it was well cooked. Now it's dry. Without moisture it will not grow mold, etc. This doesn't say anything interesting about the composition of the burger, just a misunderstanding of food science and biology.

thefounder 7y ago
I thought cheeseburgers have cheese and are juicy?
- berkut 7y ago
  McDonald's ones have yellow "stuff", although I'm not sure if that can be construed as "cheese".
  - rhino369 7y ago
    It's processed cheese, but its still pretty much cheese. And its better on a burger than any other type of cheese because it melts well. Putting good cheese on a burger is a waste of good cheese and makes a worse burger.
    - beatgammit 7y ago
      What are you talking about? I put Swiss, cheddar, havarti, etc on my burgers all the time without any issues. Just put it on when you flip the burger and cover it so the cheese melts. I've been to several restaurants that put decent cheeses on their burgers and it's fantastic.
    - AstralStorm 7y ago
      Cheeses generally keep for ages of they don't go rancid due to added oils, and this one is even more dehydrated by melting...
    - balfirevic 7y ago
      Here is what you need to do if you want regular cheese to melt similar to the ones that are usually put on a burger: https://aht.seriouseats.com/2011/09/the-burger-lab-how-to-make-super-melty-cheese-slices-like-american.html https://aht.seriouseats.com/2011/09/the-burger-lab-how-to-ma... It's questionable if it's worth it :)
      - mikekchar 7y ago
        A video showing how to do this in a way that's closer to the actual process of making processed cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGKiWQnMJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGKiWQnMJc Essentially, you grate cheese, add an emulsifier, heat it up to release the oils and then cool it down again. The fat in the cheese breaks down due to the high heat and the oils get emulsified so it doesn't "break" -- a bit like making mayonnaise. The original patents for this are from the late 60's early 70's, so if you look around you can find out the exact industrial process (I've read a couple, but I'm a bit too lazy to look them up at the moment -- they are surprisingly clear... I wonder if patents back then where better than they are now...) Edit: Just for those that believe that processed cheese is not cheese: Quite a lot of processed cheese and processed cheese spread contains a high percentage of "milk solids" or "milk protein". This is essentially cheese. They buy it in bulk, mostly from Ireland. The reason that they can't call it cheese is because they are avoiding tax/duty on the imported cheese curds.
    - rootusrootus 7y ago
      It was a heck of an epiphany when I stopped putting cheddar on burgers and went back to gold old Kraft singles. It makes a better burger. The fact that it doesn't meet the strict definition of cheese is of little consequence. A lot of people have strange ideas of what American Cheese is actually made from. Turns out it's pretty much cheddar and milk. I've heard people claim it's made mostly of oil. Nope! In fact, that's part of why it's such a good choice for burgers.
lotsofpulp 7y ago
It’s like people don’t learn a single thing from all the science classes in middle and high school.
ASalazarMX 7y ago
"Behold our abjectly mummified burger! Why does it look like that?"
sjg007 7y ago
It was in a plastic bag in the guys garage for 3 years and it still didn't go moldy... I mean there is moisture in the air.
m0xte 7y ago
Yep. We used to regularly buy old British army MRE packs when we were kids that were 10-15 years out of date. And we ate the contents and they were fine! It’s all about storage.
caymanjim 7y ago
A fully-cooked fatty burger isn't going to change much over time, and deep-friend french fries are unlikely to change, but that bun is certainly unnatural.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  I don't know about you, but I've certainly had mold grow on ground beef I've forgotten in the fridge.
YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
OK, I have to confess I didn't know it's that easy to preserve food, that's really cool. So what do I do if I want to preserve some boiled potatoes, say? I cook them well, let them dry and that's it? I can just eat them whenever or do I have to re-hydrate them? And won't they grow mold while I'm letting them dry? Will that work with spaghetti or rice? What about my home-made mayonnaise? Somehow I can never pasteurise eggs right at home so when I make mayonnaise I have to eat it all in days. How do I preserve mayonnaise like this? Do I have to hang it out to dry? Can I preserve some salad like this also? This is so exciting!

brenden2 7y ago

Here's the actual link: https://snotrahouse.com/last-mcdonalds/ https://snotrahouse.com/last-mcdonalds/

AlphaWeaver 7y ago

> The hostel claims that people come from around the world to visit the burger, and the website receives up to 400,000 hits daily. Wait, what? No way that website receives four hundred THOUSAND visitors a day.