
The late ‘90s were a simpler time.
Restaurants introduced movie tie-ins which were treated with excitement rather than broad cynicism, and Disney animations were still thriving in an era where Pixar was only just getting started.
It was during that period when McDonald’s introduced its Szechuan dipping sauce, released to commemorate Disney’s 1998 film Mulan.
The sauce was delicious and the film was just as well-received, but both have – to varying degrees – fallen off the radar over the course of the last two decades.
Or at least they had, until Rick and Morty reintroduced us to the sauce this year, and there might be some very good news just around the corner.
Fans of the Adult Swim show will remember its Season 3 premiere ‘The Rickshank Rickdemption’, where Rick travels to a memory from 1998 so he can get his hands on the discontinued sauce.
That clearly flicked a switch in a lot of ‘90s kids’ memories, and there has been clamour ever since for McDonald’s to bring back the delicacy.
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Now, we’ve already seen KFC pledge to bring the Double Down to the UK after people made a lot of noise about the sandwich, so it’s clear that bullying works.
There has been talk about a similar move from McDonald’s since back in April, when they (and their corporate chef) seemed to respond positively to calls for a comeback.
And, true to form, Maccy D’s will be bringing back the Szechuan sauce this month… for a limited time only.
According to McDonalds’ ‘Buttermilk Crispy Tenders’ micro-site, the restaurant chain is launching what it has described as a “really, really limited” run of the sauce.
On 7 October, you will be able to get a portion of Szechuan sauce with a four-piece, six-piece or 10-piece serving of buttermilk chicken tenders, as part of a wider promotion to mark the launch of a new Signature Sauce from the chain.
Unfortunately, however, the launch appears to be US-only. A number of locations around the country will have the Szechuan sauce on offer, including three branches near Adult Swim’s Atlanta home. You can check the Buttermilk Crispy Tenders site for a full list of participating locations.
We’ll have to cross our fingers and hope a successful American launch encourages McDonald’s to introduce the sauce in the UK.
Either that or we’ll have to master interdimensional travel a la Rick and Morty to make it easier for us to travel to a time or a dimension where the 1998 promotion is still ongoing.
(Images: Adult Swim)
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