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 Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | February 2007 
Big Macs Offer Bigger Heat Choices in Mexico
 Dane Schiller - San Antonio Express-News
| | (George Widman/Associated Press) |
Think you're getting really Mexican when you splash on hot sauce or jalapeños at McDonald's?
Think again.
In order to make its food more exciting south of the border, America's best-known chain is pushing an array of spicy Mexican salsas, including chile chipotle, chile cascabel and chile de arbol.
They offer a Latino twist with Aztec roots to recipes that have made McDonald's popular enough to have 352 stores in this country.
"We are tropicalizing the flavor," Karen Sabido, a spokeswoman for McDonald's in Mexico, said of the condiments. "Mexicans eat a lot of salsa."
Just like ketchup in the United States, the sauces are free and considered vital to some diners.
"It is not about coming up with ways to get new customers, but keeping the ones they already have," said Nestor Gallegos, 22, a university student who is partial to chipotle.
To the tune of 450 tons a year, the sauces — along with jalapeño relish and the classic red mexicana hot sauce — are brewed in the Monterrey industrial kitchens of Griffith Laboratories and sealed into protective plastic packets stamped with the golden arches.
"The Mexican market demands it," said Aníbal De La Cruz, marketing director for Griffith in Mexico.
De La Cruz said he's seen customers put the sauces on just about everything as well as mix them with ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise.
The sauces are not available in the United States but are distributed throughout Mexico.
A campaign is under way promoting breakfast uses of the newest sauces, chile de arbol and chile cascabel.
McDonald's versions of the sauces — both from dried peppers grown in Mexico — were created last year by Patricia Quintana, a well-known chef, whose signature is printed on packets.
"You've got to have the flavor come out just right each time. It has got to be the same color, acidity, texture and flavor," said Quintana, who added she conducts quality checks by posing as a customer.
Speaking from her upscale Mexico City restaurant, Quintana said whether sauces are being prepared for four people or 4,000, they are all about properly measuring and mixing quality ingredients.
Quintana's creations for McDonald's have a following but are still behind the top two: jalapeño, which has long been available in San Antonio, and chipotle — a traditional Mexican favorite on sandwiches.
"It is great with the (Big) Mac — double meat," Guillermo Ortega, 60, a government employee taking a break at a McDonald's, said of the chipotle.
He was joined by his brother Pedro Ortega, 56, who ticked off the types of sauces and peppers Mexicans like best.
"A hot sauce gives it that special flavor," Pedro Ortega said. "There is no doubt of its appeal."
Not everyone is convinced, even if they'd have reason to hold a grudge.
An employee at a nearby Burger King didn't give his name but said he'd worked at McDonald's recently and was familiar with the new sauces.
"They are not working out real well," he said. "We would throw them out boxes at a time when they would spoil."
dschiller@express-news.net - Editorial Assistant Minea Nieto contributed to this report. |
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