Name: 麥當勞為何贏得薯條 (Why McDonald's won fries)
Uploaded: 2023-11-21T07:35:19.000Z
Duration: 11 min 4 s

These are McDonald's fries, but this is  not some video about how they taste.

這些是麥當勞的薯條，但這不是關於它們味道如何的影片。

程度副詞

I don't really care about them as a food.

"Only specially selected whole russet potatoes can make the world's most famous fries."

「只有經過特別挑選的全赤褐色馬鈴薯才能製作出世界上最有名的薯條。」

This is not how McDonald's fries won because they're crispy and salty.

麥當勞的薯條不是因為又脆又鹹而獲勝的。

麥當勞就是這樣贏得薯條爭霸戰的。

How can I prove  this to you? I could throw stats and polls at you, but I just want to show you all the times that Burger King has panicked.

我怎麼能向你證明這一點？ 我可以向你扔統計數據和民意調查，但我只是想一直向你展示漢堡王已經驚慌失措。

2023. Uh, half onion rings, half fries. McDonald's is the same. 

2023，一半洋蔥圈，一半薯條。 麥當勞也是一樣。

There have been changes to the McDonald's fry, more on that later, but look at this ad from 1971. These are the same fries.

麥當勞的薯條發生了變化，稍後會詳細介紹，但看看這則 1971 年的廣告。這些是相同的薯條。

How did McDonald's become the definitive fry? How did they win?  

麥當勞是如何成為權威的炸薯條的？ 他們是如何獲勝的？

My research led me to a fry computer, a potato billionaire's mansion on a hill, and explained why McDonald's won fries.

我的研究引導我找到了一台炸薯條計算機，一位馬鈴薯億萬富翁在山上的豪宅，並解釋了為什麼麥當勞贏得了炸薯條。

"Chemistry is the study of matter, but I prefer to see it as the study of French fries (Phil's voice)."

「化學是對物質的研究，但我更願意將其視為對炸薯條的研究（菲爾的聲音）。」

Oh, that's right, we're dragging Breaking Bad into this, but I think that this metaphor is actually pretty key.

哦，沒錯，我們把《絕命毒師》也拖下水，但我認為這個比喻其實非常關鍵。

The fry at scale is better thought of as a  chemical caloric product than as a cooked  piece of food.

大規模的魚苗更適合被視為化學熱量產品，而不是煮熟的食物。

This isn't some fries  are addictive joke.

一塊食物。這可不是什麼薯條會上癮的笑話。從頭開始

From the beginning, McDonald's made this food science.

從一開始，麥當勞就創造了食品科學。

Basic background: McDonald's was founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald in its burger incarnation in the 1950s in San Bernardino, California.

基本背景： 麥當勞由理查德和莫里斯·麥克唐納(Richard McDonald) 和莫里斯·麥克唐納(Maurice McDonald) 於20 世紀50 年代在加利福尼亞州聖貝納迪諾創立，其漢堡的前身是麥當勞。

I've looked at tons of pictures of these  guys and I will not be able to tell them apart.

我看過這些人的大量照片，但我無法區分他們。

Just want to be transparent about  that.

A milkshake mixer salesman named Ray Kroc came in and invented the system that  helped McDonald's take over the world.

一位名叫雷·克羅克（Ray Kroc）的奶昔攪拌機銷售員發明了幫助麥當勞佔領世界的系統。

Now,   if you've seen the movie The Founder, you might have an idea of the McDonald brothers as these efficiency gourmands, and Kroc as a real estate operator.

現在，如果你看過電影《創始人》，您可能會將麥當勞兄弟視為效率美食家，並將克羅克視為房地產經營者。

But the history of the french fries shows that they were all single minded, food logistics obsessives.

但炸薯條的歷史表明，他們都是一心一意的食品物流痴迷者。

In his memoir, Grinding It Out — best title for a memoir ever— Kroc wrote…let's change the music. 

在他的回憶錄《Grinding It Out》（有史以來最好的回憶錄標題）中，克羅克寫道…讓我們改變音樂。

"The French fry would become almost sacrosanct for me. Its preparation a ritual to be followed religiously."

「炸薯條對我來說幾乎是神聖不可侵犯的。它的準備是一種需要虔誠遵循的儀式。」

So, come with me. Let's go ahead and make a McDonald's Brothers Checklist.

那麼，跟我來吧。 讓我們繼續製作一份麥當勞兄弟清單。

They stored Idaho potatoes in a chicken wire bin in their warehouse.

他們將愛達荷州的馬鈴薯存放在倉庫的鐵絲網箱中。

Potatoes got drained, rinsed, and fried in fresh fry-only oil.

將馬鈴薯瀝乾、沖洗，然後用新鮮的煎炸油煎炸。

The  fries were great, and brought people in at just 10 cents.

薯條很棒，只要 10 美分就可以吸引顧客。

But that clip that I showed from The Founder, I think it kind of gives you the wrong  impression.

但是我展示的《創始人》的那個片段，我認為它給了你錯誤的印象。

Because Kroc and the team he hired, they were huge fry nerds.

因為克羅克和他僱用的團隊都是巨大的油炸書呆子。

Kroc left the location in California, he goes back to Chicago to open up his first McDonald's in 1955.

1955 年，克羅克離開加州，回到芝加哥開設了他的第一家麥當勞。

He couldn't make the fries work, but this is key — he doesn't call, like, a chef to give him some help.

他無法讓薯條發揮作用，但這很關鍵——他不會打電話給廚師來給他一些幫助。

He contacted the experts at the Potato and Onion Association. He goes food science  mode.

他聯繫了馬鈴薯和洋蔥協會的專家。 他進入食品科學模式。

I'm sorry, I have to put another clip here.

抱歉，我必須在這裡放另一個片段。

"This is art, Mr. White." "Actually, it's just basic chemistry, but thank you, Jesse."

「這就是藝術，懷特先生。」「實際上，這只是基礎化學，但謝謝你，傑西。」

The Association tells him, see, potatoes start off kind of sugary, and over time,  those sugars turn into starches.

該協會告訴他，看，馬鈴薯一開始是含糖的，隨著時間的推移，這些糖會變成澱粉。

Sugar browns more quickly, so if you don't cure the potato, let it turn starchy, the outside will cook too fast, and the inside won't get cooked.

糖變色得更快，所以如果你不醃製土豆，讓它變成澱粉，外面會煮得太快，而裡面不會煮熟。

The McDonald's brothers had kind of been curing their potatoes in those chicken wire storage bins.

麥當勞兄弟一直在那些鐵絲儲物箱裡醃馬鈴薯。

Kroc crucially realized this, and he devised a curing system of his own.

克羅克至關重要地意識到了這一點，並設計了自己的固化系統。

This guy is a fry nerd. He also started  "the blanching process the potato people had recommended we try."

這傢伙是個油炸書呆子。 他也開始了「馬鈴薯人建議我們嘗試的熱燙過程」。

And in 1961, he started a lab — a food lab! — in nearby Addison, Illinois to study stuff like this.

1961 年，他創辦了一個實驗室—食品實驗室！ - 在伊利諾州附近的艾迪森研究這樣的東西。

They actually developed a computer to time French frying.

他們實際上開發了一台計算機來計時法式油炸食品。

The old  system, where employees just kind of eyed the color of the fries, got replaced by an exact temperature cutoff.

舊的系統，員工只是關注薯條的顏色，已被精確的溫度截止值所取代。

But now it's time for a recurring segment that I like to call:

但現在是時候進行我喜歡稱之為的循環部分了：

Burger King franchise co-founder Jim McLamore recalled in his memoir that the Flame Broiler was a breakthrough for Insta Burger King. 

漢堡王特許經營權聯合創始人吉姆·麥克拉莫爾在他的回憶錄中回憶道，火​​焰烤雞是 Insta 漢堡王的突破。

Ao, they started on that same efficiency technology path.

噢，他們開始走同樣的效率技術道路。

But their breakthrough really  was the Whopper, a relatively pricey big burger, 39 cents.

但他們真正的突破是華堡，一種相對昂貴的大漢堡，39 美分。

But it was a hit, and Burger King became the home of the Whopper.

但它很受歡迎，漢堡王成為了華堡的故鄉。

McDonald's had perfected their own chemical caloric delivery product, and what do you do once you've perfected the manufacturing  process?

麥當勞已經完善了自己的化學熱量輸送產品，一旦完善了製造工藝，您會做什麼？

Here's a 1979 McDonald's ad. Aside from the weird phrasing, notice the focus on the russet burbank potato. 

這是 1979 年的麥當勞廣告。 除了奇怪的措辭之外，請注意對赤褐色伯班克馬鈴薯的關注。

By the 1960s, McDonald's started getting massive scale. That let them negotiate with suppliers.

到 1960 年代，麥當勞開始大規模發展。 這讓他們可以與供應商進行談判。

The russet burbank was the dream. It was pretty long, which is obviously good for fries, and over time, it had a good starch sugar balance. 

赤褐色的伯班克是我的夢想。 它很長，這顯然對薯條有好處，而且隨著時間的推移，它具有良好的澱粉糖平衡。

But even once they identified the best potato, there were still lots of problems.

但即使他們找到了最好的馬鈴薯，仍然存在許多問題。

Potatoes were expensive to ship from Idaho.

從愛達荷州運送馬鈴薯價格昂貴。

Peeling   potatoes is hard and messy. And in summer, it was hard to keep them cool enough.

給馬鈴薯削皮既困難又麻煩。 在夏天，很難讓它們保持足夠涼爽。

For months, McDonald's had to switch to  the inferior California white potato.   

幾個月來，麥當勞不得不改用劣質的加州白薯。

I just pulled this up on my phone, and I am disgusted looking at it.

我剛剛在手機上調出了這個，我看著它就感到噁心。

Enter an Idaho potato genius named J. R. Simplot. Okay.  

一位名叫 J. R. Simplot 的愛達荷州馬鈴薯天才登場了。 好的。

He is the subject of perhaps the weirdest biography that I now own.

他可能是我現在擁有的最奇怪的傳記的主題。

Simplot pitched Kroc on frozen french fries. This was a product that he'd developed in the 1940s.

辛普勞向克羅克推銷冷凍薯條。 這是他在 1940 年代開發的產品。

This solved the shipment, preservation, and consistency problems.

這解決了運輸、保存和一致性問題。

McDonald's had already  influenced russet potato growing patterns.  

麥當勞已經影響了赤褐色馬鈴薯的種植模式。

Now it was going to change the market entirely. 

Simplot also promised to move potato curing out of primitive and subpar root cellars to  a big warehouse to help cure the potatoes.

Simplot 還承諾將馬鈴薯的醃製從原始且低於標準的根窖轉移到一個大倉庫，以幫助醃製馬鈴薯。

Listen, I could show way more clips than that, so be glad that I'm kind of restraining myself.  

聽著，我可以展示比這更多的片段，所以很高興我能克制自己。

McDonald's could deal with one big supplier for consistent russet burbank potatoes.

麥當勞可以與一家大型供應商合作，提供一致的赤褐色伯班克馬鈴薯。

Simplot and McDonald's developed a patent process for preparing frozen french fry potato segments.

Simplot 和麥當勞開發了一種製備冷凍炸薯條馬鈴薯片的專利製程。

They're like pre-fried the fry before freezing to save flavor.

它們就像在冷凍之前預先油炸的炸薯條以保存風味。

They were inventing incredible techniques to maintain purity.

他們發明了令人難以置信的技術來保持純度。

Years later, abroad, like at the Moscow McDonald's, they showed the same obsession with supply.

多年後，在國外，例如莫斯科麥當勞，他們表現出了同樣的對供應的執著。

Well, this potato, although it has an excellent taste, you cannot make french fries out of this.  

嗯，這個馬鈴薯雖然味道很好，但你不能用它來做炸薯條。

So we have to bring in our own variety and grow this type, this, this type of potatoes.

所以我們必須引進自己的品種並種植這種、這種、這種類型的馬鈴薯。

In 1967, Burger King sold to Pillsbury. This  hart shows the growth of McDonald's and Pillsbury.

1967 年，漢堡王出售給 Pillsbury。 這隻雄鹿展示了麥當勞和皮爾斯伯里的成長。

You can see that Pillsbury doesn't push on the gas like McDonald's, so it's hard for them to push suppliers. 

您可以看到，Pillsbury 不像麥當勞那樣大力推動汽油，因此他們很難推動供應商。

McDonald's just focused on honing its fancy longs.

麥當勞只是專注於磨練其奇特的長處。

This hill overlooks all of Boise, and if you go back in time, it used to house the Simplot mansion.

這座山俯瞰著整個博伊西，如果你回到過去，它曾經是辛普勞宅邸的所在地。

You could say that J. R. Simplot won fries.

你可以說 J. R. Simplot 贏得了薯條。

I mean, his company supplies most big fry makers with frozen fries today. If they don't,  then somebody else freezes them.

我的意思是，他的公司如今為大多數大型薯條製造商提供冷凍薯條。 如果他們不這樣做，那麼其他人就會凍結他們。

So I don't want to act like McDonald's had an insurmountable lead here just because of the technology.

所以我不想表現得好像麥當勞僅僅因為科技就在這方面擁有不可逾越的領先優勢。

In 1972, at a potato conference, Pillsbury said that Burger King was a major user of frozen french fries.

1972 年，在一次馬鈴薯會議上，皮爾斯伯里表示漢堡王是冷凍薯條的主要使用者。

And in his memoir, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas says that everybody kind of learned the McDonald's  fry secrets.

溫蒂創辦人戴夫·托馬斯在他的回憶錄中表示，每個人都了解了麥當勞炸薯條的秘密。

But the short life of BK's Satisfries makes it clear that Burger  King has the soul of a marketing company.

但 BK Satisfries 的短暫生命表明漢堡王擁有行銷公司的靈魂。

McDonald's was, from founding, to the Kroc era, to today, a food logistics system that wanted to be the same, coast to coast.

麥當勞從成立到克羅克時代，再到今天，它都是一個食品物流系統，希望從東海岸到西海岸都保持一致。

Their fries may not be the best, but because of their obsession  with preparation, with sourcing,  with manufacturing, their fries definitely  are the most.

他們的薯條可能不是最好的，但由於他們對準備、採購和製造的痴迷，他們的薯條絕對是最好的。