Sauce – Is Mulan-themed Szechuan McNugget Sauce really just a blend of BBQ and S&S

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Regarding the limited-time Mulan-themed Szechuan McNugget sauce from McDonald's in 1998, I do remember it being tasty, but I don't recall the exact flavor to properly judge recreating it. Some internet rumors have inferred that is it really just a simple blend of the pre-existing McNugget Barbecue and McNugget Sweet & Sour sauces in varying proportions.

Is this true, or is there more to it than that?

Best Answer

Put simply (and based on the previous answer), no, it's not.

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From Flickr

Recently, images have finally appeared of the real Szechwan Sauce packets on Flickr, as well as a video on YouTube, both of which clearly show the original ingredients list as:

Water, high fructose corn syrup, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt), sucrose, modified food starch, distilled vinegar, corn vinegar, apple cider vinegar, ginger, soybean oil, roasted sesame seed oil, natural flavor (salt, hydrolized corn gluten, wheat gluten, soy protein, sugar, chicken fat, corn starch, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, tapioca, maltodextrin, dehydrated onion, autolyzed yeast extract, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, turmeric, thiamine hydrochloride, lactic acid), xanthan gum, spices, salt, caramel color, sodium benzoate (preservative), garlic, citric acid, natural flavor, onion powder, succinic acid, garlic powder, phosphoric acid

And following the "one day limited release," photos of the modern recipe have been posted online, showing the ingredients as:

Water, sugar, distilled vinegar, wheat, soybeans, corn starch, salt, contains 2% or less: corn vinegar, apple cider vinegar, ginger, soybean oil, sesame seed oil, xanthan gum, preservatives (sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate), spices, yeast extract, garlic, wheat starch, natural flavor, citric acid, sunflower oil, dextrose

Ignoring the ubiquitous water, salt, and HCFS, we're still left with a number of "missing ingredients" that are present in the BBQ (tomato paste, grape vinegar, dried chili peppers) and the S&S (apricot/peach puree, dried chili peppers). The first of each of these missing ingredients contributes the primary flavor of the sauce. Meanwhile, both the BBQ and S&S sauces are missing Szechwan's ginger and (roasted) sesame seed oil, as well as the larger amount of vinegar, the key flavor components for that sauce.

Based purely on the ingredient lists for all three sauces, even taking into account what may be a "modernized" recipe for any of the three, Szechwan sauce cannot be a blend of BBQ and Sweet and Sour sauces.