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  • Harry Kersh: From calorie count to portion sizes,

  • we wanted to find out the biggest differences

  • between the UK and US McDonald's.

  • This is what a small drink looks like in the UK.

  • Joe Avella: This is a US small.

  • Harry: This is what a medium drink looks like.

  • Joe: This is a US medium.

  • Harry: And this is a large.

  • Joe: [grunts] And this is a US large.

  • Harry: So, with our McNuggets in the UK,

  • the default adult sizes on the menu

  • are a box of six,

  • a box of nine,

  • or a share box of 20.

  • Joe: Nuggets. You can get a box of four,

  • or you can get a six piece,

  • or 10.

  • 20, for "sharing."

  • Or...ahh.

  • 40.

  • And according to the three McDonald's in the area,

  • they don't have 20 or 40 boxes,

  • they just do them in increments of 10,

  • but this is on the menu.

  • Harry: In the UK, we got three sizes of fries.

  • These are our small fries in the paper bag.

  • Joe: Here is the small fry.

  • Harry: These are our medium fries in the iconic carton.

  • Joe: Here is the medium fry.

  • Harry: And then these are our large fries.

  • Joe: And here is the large fry.

  • Harry: So, we couldn't find the exact weight measurement

  • for these fries online,

  • so what we're gonna do is weigh them ourselves.

  • Just out of curiosity,

  • gonna bring our trusty friend, the scales, back,

  • and we're gonna weigh the Big Mac

  • and see if there is any difference in size.

  • I'm not sure there will be, but let's find out.

  • Joe: Hang on, hang on, hang on.

  • Harry: So, while McDonald's fries might look and taste

  • pretty similar in the UK and the US,

  • in the UK we only have three ingredients,

  • which is oil, salt, and potatoes.

  • Joe: The McDonald's french fries in America

  • have way more ingredients.

  • These fries are made from potatoes, obviously;

  • a vegetable oil, which has canola oil, corn oil,

  • soybean oil, hydrogeni...

  • hydrogenitated...genitated?

  • Producer: Hydrogenated.

  • Joe: Ha! Thank you.

  • Hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor,

  • dextrose, sodium aspid...phosphitate?

  • Phosphifi...phos...phiupp...pyrophosphate,

  • pyrophosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate,

  • which is used to maintain the color.

  • Are they that much of a different

  • color than the ones in the UK?

  • Is it worth it?

  • Can we get a side-by-side comparison?

  • Are they that much more bright yellow

  • we need to put sodium acid pyrophosphate

  • or whatever it's called in it?

  • Salt, and I should mention that a natural beef flavor

  • contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk

  • as a starting ingredient, and of course

  • I have no idea what that means.

  • Harry: So, the biggest calorie difference in a Big Mac

  • actually comes from the sauce.

  • In the US they've got about

  • 40 more calories than we do in the UK.

  • We're not sure if this is because there's more sauce

  • or because the ingredients list in the UK

  • is just a little bit more simple.

  • Joe: Our sauce is made of soybean oil,

  • sweet relish, which is made of diced pickles,

  • sugar, high-fructose corn syrup,

  • distilled vinegar, salt, corn syrup,

  • all right, two types of corn syrup,

  • xanthan gum,

  • hang on.

  • Calcium chloride, spice extractives?

  • Water. All right, I've heard of that.

  • Egg yolks, distilled vinegar,

  • spices, onion powder, salt,

  • propylene glycol alginate?

  • Garlic powder; vegetable protein,

  • which has hydrolyzed corn, soy, and wheat;

  • sugar; caramel color; turmeric;

  • extractives of paprika; and, of course,

  • soy...lechithen.

  • Leechithen.

  • Lecithin.

  • I don't know which one it is.

  • Harry: So, if you are trying to eat healthily

  • at McDonald's, it might actually be

  • the drinks that you have to look out for.

  • Joe: That's nothing, guys.

  • Our chocolate shake? 840 calories.

  • That's as many calories as

  • two cheeseburgers and one hamburger.

  • Harry: So, what does that all mean?

  • If you were to walk into a UK McDonald's

  • and order yourself a large Big Mac meal with a milkshake,

  • it would be around 1,400 calories.

  • Joe: And if you were to get the large Big Mac meal

  • with a chocolate shake in America,

  • the total here is 1,870 calories.

  • So that's 1,870 calories,

  • the daily calorie allowance for an American dude

  • is 2,500, OK.

  • So you have 630 left.

  • One McNugget is 55 calories, right?

  • So you could also have 11 more nuggets,

  • and there you go, that's all you need for the day.

  • Harry: Here's everything you can only get

  • at a UK McDonald's.

  • So, here we've got the Veggie Deluxe burger,

  • which is a veggie burger that's served

  • with some mayo and some lettuce.

  • Here we've got a Chicken Legend,

  • which is a chicken burger,

  • again served with mayo and lettuce.

  • Joe: Chicken Legend, I don't even know what that is.

  • Not gonna catch on. That can stay in the UK.

  • Harry: We have a range of wraps that you can get in the UK.

  • We have a wrap of the day.

  • Here we've got the fajita crisp, which is some chicken,

  • along with some veg and some spicy fajita sauce.

  • Here we've got some Veggie Dippers.

  • These were actually introduced at part of Veganuary

  • in 2020 in the UK, but they're stuck on the menu.

  • So, these are Vegan Society-approved,

  • and they're sort of like a fried-bean-patty sort of thing.

  • Joe: [sighs] Like, pick a more

  • unappetizing thing to get at McDonald's.

  • Veggie Dippers.

  • Harry: And then finally we've got some Mozzarella Dippers,

  • which are just kind of mozzarella sticks, really.

  • Joe: Well, sucks to be in the UK,

  • 'cause everything you see right here is USA only, baby.

  • Haha, USA only!

  • So, I'm gonna talk about the coffee drinks real fast.

  • Here in the US, we have all the same coffee drinks

  • they do in the UK, but every coffee drink

  • has an iced version and also a caramel

  • and/or French vanilla and/or mocha version,

  • depending on what you're getting.

  • So, we in the US, of course, have more variety.

  • Shamrock Shake.

  • The Shamrock Shake is, like,

  • it's like vanilla and mint shake.

  • Strawberry Sundae.

  • This has recently been discontinued in the UK.

  • Sorry, guys.

  • Still got it in the US.

  • My favorite as a kid, the Caramel Sundae.

  • Fruit and Yogurt Parfait, maybe it's healthy,

  • I have no idea, probably not.

  • Those were the cold items I wanted to get out of the way

  • as they slowly melt under these lights.

  • Got a lot more to go through.

  • Harry, bear with me here, buddy.

  • Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich.

  • Yo, I think this was introduced

  • when the chicken-sandwich wars were really heating up

  • when Chick-fil-A started taking over.

  • Let's see what's under the hood.

  • Look at that. Look at this.

  • Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe.

  • This is your fancy Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

  • This is for Sunday dinner. When you have company over.

  • Ah, there's so much.

  • Sausage Breakfast Burrito.

  • Even after it's, for a while, it's, like,

  • still, like, glowing yellow. [laughs]

  • Now, these are the Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Tenders.

  • These smell amazing. I wanna just bite into these so bad.

  • I wanna just take a big bite.

  • Wanna talk about sauces real quick.

  • OK, I'm at McDonald's, and I go get me one of everything.

  • I've heard from Harry and the team over in the UK

  • that some of these they don't have,

  • including sweet 'n sour, honey mustard,

  • what else don't you guys have?

  • I don't think you guys have ranch either, or buffalo.

  • I gotta say, though, the sauces are everything.

  • Harry: We've got a couple of sauces that

  • are kind of unique to the UK as well.

  • We've got a sweet curry dipping sauce,

  • and then we've also got a salsa dip as well,

  • which I didn't know existed until today.

  • Joe: Oh, yes, Donut Sticks.

  • These Donut Sticks also come with a chocolate dipping sauce.

  • Another thing I'm certain they don't have in the UK.

  • Yo ho ho ho ho ho ho!

  • Breakfast is served!

  • Look at this. Oh, yeah.

  • Who's ready to start the day?

  • [claps] It's McGriddle talk.

  • [audience applause] [jazzy music]

  • So, for those of you in the UK

  • who don't know what a McGriddle is,

  • the United States McDonald's had this genius idea:

  • What if we took breakfast sandwiches,

  • replaced the buns,

  • and made them pancakes and somehow injected

  • some sort of syrup flavor into the pancakes?

  • And the McGriddle was born.

  • And, I have to say, they're fantastic.

  • This one right here, the bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddle.

  • This is the sausage.

  • Yeah? Hi!

  • Hey, hey.

  • This is the sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle.

  • American food engineering at its finest.

  • Look at that.

  • In the UK, you guys call biscuits cookies. Here...no.

  • So, in the UK, biscuits are cookies,

  • what we call cookies.

  • In the US, biscuits are what we call...

  • uh...

  • I don't know what else you can call them.

  • Like, you bake them, and they're from the South,

  • and they're dry, and I don't know what they are.

  • Much like the McGriddles,

  • we have a version of every breakfast sandwich

  • that instead of the regular bun bread, it's biscuits.

  • Not the cookie biscuits like you guys have.

  • These biscuits.

  • Harry: Joe, you were so close on the whole

  • cookie-biscuit thing.

  • What you guys call biscuits,

  • we would actually kind of call scones,

  • or scones, depending on where you're from,

  • and the thought of putting breakfast food

  • in between them is kinda weird.

  • They're usually reserved for

  • cream and jam for an afternoon tea.

  • Joe: Last, and,

  • in my opinion, least,

  • is this thing.

  • The Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad.

  • Producer: Yeah.

  • Joe: Oh ho ho ho ho.

  • Harry: Can I eat now?

  • Yeah? Yeah? K, cool.

  • I don't care how many calories, it's just really good.

  • Mm-hmm.

Harry Kersh: From calorie count to portion sizes,

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