Following the surprise premiere of the first episode of the third season of the animated sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty on April Fools’ Day, some have become newly obsessed with a sauce McDonald’s produced for a limited time in 1998.
McDonald’s Szechwan sauce was a promotion for the Disney animated film Mulan back before the turn of the century. Why exactly it was Szechwan sauce is a mystery given that it has little to do with a) the cuisine of the same name, which is usually spicy, or b) the setting of Mulan, beyond that of just China in general. “McDonald's Chicken McNuggets will be available with a new, limited-time special Szechwan dipping sauce to celebrate Mulan at McDonald's,” a June 15, 1998 press release reads.
Please God, I don't ask for much, please let us gain enough cultural influence to force McDonald's into bringing back that fucking sauce.
— Rick (((and Morty))) (@RickandMorty) April 2, 2017
It's unclear how popular the sauce — a tangy concoction that allegedly tasted like barbecue sauce mixed with sweet and sour — was at the time, but it's suddenly a hot item now, and Rick and Morty is responsible. Rick obsesses over the sauce in “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” the most recent episode. Without spoiling anything, he’s concocted a method to experience the stuff again, and does so with gusto.
The internet is now abuzz with attempts to recreate or reinstate the aforementioned sauce. Some have shared relatively detailed recipes on how to make the sauce, while others have just suggested it was plum sauce and nothing more. A Change.org petition requesting McDonald’s to bring back the sauce was shared by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and has over 11,000 signatures as of this writing.
Not yet. Half measure. @McDonalds#BringBackTheSaucepic.twitter.com/9ksNvTvpy4
— Szechuan @ McDs Yet? (@BringBackSesh) April 2, 2017
Additionally, a 1998 video of a TV commercial for the special promotion that was uploaded in 2009 has over 500,000 views on YouTube now with the vast majority of those coming in over the last couple days.
There is one potential wrinkle. The original sauce was part of a Disney marketing push, along with Happy Meal toys — “eight large and colorful action figures based on characters from the movie” — as well as themed packaging “including cartons shaped like Chinese restaurant takeout boxes for 6-piece and 20-piece Chicken McNuggets.” While the sauce itself did not have Disney branding, the fact that it was connected to an advertising deal could mean that Disney might need to be consulted on any sort of sauce revival.
That said, there is that live-action remake of Mulan on the horizon...
McDonald’s did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Disney.
