The past few days there have been receipt-confirmed sightings of McRib sales in El Paso Texas.

So it looks like...

McRIB IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!  8)

funny you're excited... I'm hoping it stays in TX  8-P


;D

funny you're excited... I'm hoping it stays in TX  8-P
;D


I'm with you, I didn't like the McRib either.

funny you're excited... I'm hoping it stays in TX  8-P


;D


They have now been seen in Mission, KS and The Woodlands, TX.  :P

I hope we see them up here in the Burgh SOON.  :)

They have now been seen in Mission, KS and The Woodlands, TX.  :P

I hope we see them up here in the Burgh SOON.  :)


are ya following a McRib twitter feed or something?  lol

are ya following a McRib twitter feed or something?  lol


The McRib Locator

Here and here

On these sites you can track on a map where the no-bones barbeque is being served.  8)

There's also a site where you can buy McRib swag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIaown6Wpw&feature=related

The last time I ate a McRib, I got the sauce all over my hands, my face and my shirt.  I was sitting in my car and only had 1 napkin.

EPIC FAIL!

If I want to have Ribs, I won't be going to McDonalds

The last time I ate a McRib, I got the sauce all over my hands, my face and my shirt.  I was sitting in my car and only had 1 napkin.

EPIC FAIL!

If I want to have Ribs, I won't be going to McDonalds


You're a poseur.  True McRib customers don't worry about napkins!
8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSUPWNOrsNA

This is why I miss the Osbornes.  Jack was always my favorite.  He's so funny.  ;D

McRib is not for everyone. Personally, I cherish it. So tender and delicious. They had it where I live a year or two back.

Why have a McRib when you can have Oklahoma Joes?  8)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3502352841_639f6d6f72.jpg

Why have a McRib when you can have Oklahoma Joes?  8)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3502352841_639f6d6f72.jpg


Now you're talking my language!!!! That looks fantastic!

Why have a McRib when you can have Oklahoma Joes?  8)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3502352841_639f6d6f72.jpg


mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Now THAT'S A RIB!

Now you're talking my language!!!! That looks fantastic!



mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Now THAT'S A RIB!



13 Places To Eat Before You Die
by Anthony Bourdain

Any seasoned traveler can tell you that the "best" meals on the planet are the result of an ephemeral confluence of circumstances. A table at the most expensive restaurant in the world does not guarantee a truly great meal. That said, if you're planning on dying in the near future and want to knock off a list of final, glorious dining experiences, these places would make a very respectable binge. Start with one. Make a reservation today. Go on an empty stomach. Trust me: This is livin'.

1) St. John (London) If I had to die with half a bite of anything hanging out of my mouth, it would probably be the roast bone marrow in Fergus Henderson's plain-white dining room at St. John. Scooped out and slathered onto a crust of toasted bread and sprinkled with sea salt, it's simple yet luxurious. The menu is proudly English, a rebuke to anyone still laboring under the impression that English food sucks. Famously pork-centric and focused on traditional offal and game dishes, St. John is as wonderful for what it does as for what it doesn't do: compromise. It specializes in good ingredients from "happy" animals that are treated with love and respect. Henderson has become a reluctant spiritual leader to a whole generation of chefs—and even the old-guard guys love to stop by for crispy pig tails, ham in hay, or a properly roasted bird. This is one of the truly bullsheesh-free zones on the culinary landscape.

2) elBulli (Girona, Spain) It's the hardest reservation in the world. And everything they say is true: It's an adventure, a challenge, a delicious and always fun acid trip to the farthest reaches of creativity. Brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià and their team are the most influential and creative people working in food—and this surprisingly casual restaurant on a sleepy cove on Spain's Costa Brava is probably the most important restaurant of our time. Love it or hate it, if you have the opportunity to wangle a reservation, do it. It's like seeing Jimi Hendrix's first show. Forget any preconceptions you might have. Is it good? Yes. More important—is it fun? Yes. Yes. Yes.

3) The French Laundry (Napa Valley, California)

4) Per Se (New York City) The best sit-down, multicourse, white-tablecloth meal of my life was at the French Laundry. And subsequent meals at Per Se, also run by chef Thomas Keller, were no less wonderful. There's no better way to go than the full-on tasting menu, a once-in-a-lifetime marriage of the best ingredients, creative thinking, and high standards, along with the personal imprint of the most respected chef in the world. How can Keller be at both restaurants at once? It doesn't matter. Pick one. Fast for 2 days, stretch your stomach with water the day of, and then see how they do it at the very top. It's a level of perfection in food and service that few even try to approach.

5) Sin Huat Eating House (Singapore) It's grimy looking, the service can be less than warm, the beer is served in a bottle (often with ice), and the tables sit halfway into the streets of Geylang, Singapore's red-light district. But the crab bee hoon—giant Sri Lankan beasts cooked with a spicy mystery sauce and noodles—is pure messy indulgence. The whelks, steamed spotted cod, prawns, scallops (in fact, any seafood available that day) are all worth having. Warning: It looks cheap, but it's not.

6) Le Bernardin (New York City) This is the best fish joint...anywhere. And it's relevant and fun, despite its formal service and fine-dining ambience. The grand tasting menu is a stripped-down thing of relatively austere beauty. And whatever they're doing this year or this month is always, always interesting.

7) Salumi (Seattle) It's a sandwich shop with a couple of tables, and a true mom-and-pop—even if they're the mom and pop of famous chef Mario Batali. Anything cured, anything braised, any of the limited hot specials...in fact, anything the Batalis make is worth grabbing with both hands.

8.) Russ & Daughters (New York City)

9) Katz's Delicatessen (New York City) Russ & Daughters started as a pushcart nearly a century ago, and it now serves some of the last traditional Eastern European Jewish-style herring and smoked belly lox, sable, and sturgeon. And since you're close, walk down a few doors to Katz's to remind yourself how pastrami is done right. This is what New Yorkers do better than anybody else. And here's where they do it.

10) Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain) Victor Arguinzoniz grills unlikely ingredients over homemade charcoal: baby eels, imperial beluga caviar, oysters. (The fresh chorizo and prawns work, too.) Theoretically you can't grill a lot of this stuff, but a handcrafted series of pulleys that raise and lower each item makes it possible. Eat here, and no one is eating better.

11) Sukiyabashi Jiro (Tokyo) The best sushi on earth? Maybe. Jiro Ono is more than 80 years old, and he's been doing old-school Edo-style sushi his whole life. Every piece of fish is served at precisely the right temperature and the rice and seaweed alone are blackout good. Ono will ruin sushi for you from anywhere else.

12) Hot Doug's (Chicago) This place convinced me the Chicago red hot is, in fact, superior to the New York hot dog. And it's home to two great innovations in American gastronomy: the "foie gras dog" and the weekends-only practice of cooking French fries in duck fat. It's proof that food doesn't have to be expensive to be great.

13) Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue (Kansas City, Kansas) People may disagree on who has the best BBQ. Here, the brisket (particularly the burnt ends), pulled pork, and ribs are all of a quality that meet the high standards even of Kansas City natives. It's the best BBQ in Kansas City, which makes it the best BBQ in the world.

;)

^ elBulli is no more.  They closed in 2011, I think.

This is what happens when McRib rolls around. We salivate about it, dream about it, finally go down and indulge in one, then regret it for the rest of the year.  Like a Shamrock Shake. ;D

McRib is not for everyone. Personally, I cherish it. So tender and delicious. They had it where I live a year or two back.


To be honest, McRib is one of the worst burgers you could get at McDonald's. If it's the same which we have over here in Germany, the sauce is disgusting.

To be honest, McRib is one of the worst burgers you could get at McDonald's. If it's the same which we have over here in Germany, the sauce is disgusting.


Yeah, but at least you can get a Royale with Cheese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtwFugudZE

:D

Why have a McRib when you can have Oklahoma Joes?  8)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3502352841_639f6d6f72.jpg


http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/attachments/world-affairs-board-pub/16781d1256163220-texts-last-night-drooling-homer-simpson.jpg

Need to go to Oklahoma Joes....must make effort...must make effort...must stop watching 12 consecutive hours of "Saskatchewan mudpile senior midget wrestling" on TV. Must get ribs...will sell Flanders Air-conditioner and Flanders power chainsaw to pay for trip...

I don't think I've ever had a McRib before. If you can rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, what would you give it?

I don't think I've ever had a McRib before. If you can rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, what would you give it?


Negative 4 but then again I don't like them  ;D

I don't think I've ever had a McRib before. If you can rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, what would you give it?


I'd give it an 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI

I'd give it an 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI


Spinal Tap. Excellent film. O0

I've never had the desire to eat a McRib.  Ribs do not belong in a sandwich.  They belong in my hands. 

It's not even real rib and tastes like BBQ cardboard. Real ribs are better.  ::)

I've never had the desire to eat a McRib.  Ribs do not belong in a sandwich.  They belong in my hands. 


The McRib is real ribs like I'm skinny. ;D

I must be the only person that doesn't really like ribs.

*hides*

The McRib is real ribs like I'm skinny. ;D

I must be the only person that doesn't really like ribs.

*hides*


Ribs are not my first choice but if they're there ima eat em!!!

The McRib is real ribs like I'm skinny. ;D

I must be the only person that doesn't really like ribs.

*hides*


My dad only likes them sauceless.  I think that is ridiculous.  I don't consider my meal complete until I've ruined my shirt.

My dad only likes them sauceless.  I think that is ridiculous.  I don't consider my meal complete until I've ruined my shirt.


That seems rather pointless....I'm talking about sauce less ribs not staining your shirt  :D

That seems rather pointless....I'm talking about sauce less ribs not staining your shirt  :D


You know how it is, girl. 

I'd give it an 11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI


;D

I've had that movie on my Netflix instant queue for a while. Think it's time to finally check it out.

11 Amazing Facts about the McDonald's McRib

Business Insider By Dina Spector and Kim Bhasin | Business Insider – 8 hours ago


The McDonald's McRib is back, hitting restaurants nationwide today. The legendary boneless pork sandwich, famously molded to resemble a rack of ribs, is both a feat of modern engineering and shrewd marketing.

It garners almost as much attention for its pseudo-meat shape as its impermanence on restaurant menus.

The barbecue-sauce-smothered sandwich was supposed to return at the end of October, but was pushed back to help boost end-of-the-year sales.

Better late than never.

1. The McRib came about because of a shortage of chickens.

In a 2009 interview with Maxim, Rene Arend, McDonald's first executive chef and inventor of the Chicken McNugget, explains that the McNugget was so popular when it was first introduced in 1979 that demand quickly outstripped chicken supply.

The legendary pork sandwich was developed out of necessity. Franchises that didn't have the Chicken McNugget needed a new hot-selling product — and that's when Arend scrambled back to the test kitchen.

2. The McRib was inspired by Southern BBQ.

Rene Arend modeled the McRib after the barbecue-sauce-slathered pork sandwiches he ate during a visit to Charleston, South Carolina.

The decorated French-trained chef, who once whipped up fancy culinary creations for the Drake Hotel, is also credited with coming up the unique shape of the sandwich.

Although the McRib doesn't contain a single bone, Arend suggested the meat be patterned after a slab of ribs instead of the classic round patty.

3. The McRib is a product of "restructured meat technology."

Rene Arend came up with the idea and design of the McRib, but it's a professor from the University of Nebraska named Richard Mandigo who developed the "restructured meat product" that the McRib is actually made of.

According to an article from Chicago magazine, which cites a 1995 article by Mandigo, "restructured meat product" contains a mixture of tripe, heart, and scalded stomach, which is then mixed with salt and water to extract proteins from the muscle. The proteins bind all the pork trimmings together so that it can be re-molded into any specific shape — in this case, a fake slab of ribs.

4. The whole process from fresh pork to frozen McRib takes about 45 minutes.

Director of McDonald's U.S. supply chain Rob Cannell explained how regular pig gets transformed into the famed McRib in an interview with Maxim: "The McRib is made in large processing plants—lots of stainless steel, a number of production lines, and these long cryogenic freezers. The pork meat is chopped up, then seasoned, then formed into that shape that looks like a rib back. Then we flash-freeze it. The whole process from fresh pork to frozen McRib takes about 45 minutes."

5. The entire McRib sandwich contains about 70 ingredients — including a flour-bleaching agent used in yoga mats.

As it appears out of the box, the McRib sandwich consists of just five basic components: a pork patty, barbecue sauce, pickle slices, onions, and a sesame bun.

But, as recently reported by Time magazine, a closer inspection of McDonald's own ingredient list reveals that the pork sandwich contains a total of 70 ingredients. This includes azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent often used in the production of foamed plastics.

The entire sandwich packs a whopping 500 calories, 26 grams of fat, 44 grams of carbs, and 980 milligrams of sodium.

6. The McRib debuted in 1981, disappeared in 1985, and has resurfaced from time-to-time since 1994.

Depending on where you read, McDonald's introduced the boneless pork sandwich sometime between 1981 and 1982. The fast-food concoction vanished in 1985, only to reappear as a limited-edition item in 1994.

The McRib has become something of a legend for its on-and-off appearances on McDonald's menus. The fleeting nature of the sandwich has generated a cult-like following.

7. Individual restaurants can actually order the ingredients for the McRib at any time.

The McRib pops up at McDonald's locations across the country sporadically. It's so random because the individual restaurants are able to offer the McRib whenever they feel like it. The practice has even inspired websites devoted to tracking McRib availability across the nation.

8. McDonald's keeps the McRib scarce because the sandwich's entire brand relies on it.

McDonald's has always known about its customers' weird obsession for the sandwich, and its marketing completely leverages the McRib's scarcity. Take its "Save The McRib" campaign in 2010, where it encouraged McRib fans to go online and sign a petition to keep the sandwich around for a while longer.

But a strategy like that only works with something that's as popular as the McRib is. If you make an unknown item scarce, nobody's going to care.

9. It'd be incredibly difficult for McDonald's to create more McRib-esque products, because that cult-like following is so hard to replicate.

McRib lovers are fanatical, but it wouldn't be this way if the phenomenon hadn't had decades to marinate in the hearts and minds of its fans. A wholly devoted fanbase for a new product would take years to develop, and even then, there's no guarantee that it would work.

McDonald's struck gold with the McRib, and it doesn't want to do anything to affect its brand. Even now, by offering the McRib nationwide twice just a year apart, it's walking a fine line. At what point will consumers get sick of it?

10. There's also speculation that the McRib is really just a big commodity trade by McDonald's.

The Awl's Willey Staley argues that whenever the sandwich springs up, hog prices are almost always in a trough.

Here's more of his argument on why McDonald's behaves like a trader: "Fast food involves both hideously violent economies of scale and sad, sad end users who volunteer to be taken advantage of. What makes the McRib different from this everyday horror is that a) McDonald’s is huge to the point that it’s more useful to think of it as a company trading in commodities than it is to think of it as a chain of restaurants b) it is made of pork, which makes it a unique product in the QSR world and c) it is only available sometimes, but refuses to go away entirely."

11. Animal rights group sues McRib meat supplier over inhumane treatment of pigs.

Not everyone is ecstatic about the return of the McRib. Last November, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Smithfield Foods, the pork supplier of McDonald's McRib meat, claiming the meat distributor houses its pigs in unethical farm conditions.

A 2010 undercover investigation by the animal rights group shows pigs crammed into gestation crates covered in blood and baby pigs being tossed into carts like rag dolls (WARNING: the video contains some pretty graphic content).




On a personal note: In Fact #3, I highlighted in red a couple sentences about a University of Nebraska professor who developed the process for making the McRib. No lie, I went to school with his son. I didn't know him that well since he was kind of quiet, but he also got into the meat business and opened up Greta's Gourmet Butcher Shop and Deli in Lincoln, NE, and which serves up what might possibly be the best hamburgers in the entire state.





Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/11-amazing-facts-about-the-mcdonald-s-mcrib-170212930.html