One of America's Favorites - McDonald's Egg McMuffin (Now served all day)

The McMuffin is a family of breakfast sandwiches in various sizes and configurations, sold by the

McDonald's Egg McMuffin

fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. The Egg McMuffin is the signature breakfast sandwich. It was invented by retired Coastguard Veteran Marion Taylor Tilghman (1929 - 2011) and brought into stores in 1972.







In the US and Canada the standard McMuffin consists of a slice of Canadian bacon, a griddle-fried egg, and a slice of American cheese on a toasted and buttered English muffin. The round shape of the egg is made by cooking it in a white plastic ring surrounded by an outer metal structure.


Variants

* Sausage McMuffin - A sausage patty is substituted for both the egg and the ham. Introduced in 1984.
* McMuffin Sausage TS - sausage patty, lettuce, tomato, a special sauce and a slice of Cheddar cheese in an English muffin. Available in Germany
* Sausage McMuffin with Egg - A sausage patty is substituted for the ham and the cheese side of the muffin is switched. Introduced in 1984. In India, chicken is used for the sausage patty.
* Chicken McMuffin - A breaded chicken patty, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a slice of Cheddar cheese in an English muffin. There is no egg in this McMuffin variant. Available in Hungary and Germany as part of McDonald's regular breakfast menu.
* Bacon and Egg McMuffin - Pieces of bacon are substituted for the ham.
* Massive McMuffin - Ketchup, bacon, egg, American cheese and two sausage patties.
* Available in New Zealand.
* Mega Muffin - Egg, double sausage, bacon, cheese, and ketchup. Available periodically in Japan as a promotion.
* Western Omelette McMuffin - Was available in 1990 and 1992; featured a Western omelette (Egg filled with ham, diced onions, and green bell peppers) and American cheese on a toasted English muffin. This variant was sold in Canada from 1984 until 2007 as the "Omelette McMuffin".
* Veg McMuffin - Available in India to cater to the substantial part of the population in India that doesn't consume egg.
* Egg McMuffin - 300 calories per serving with 12 grams of fat.
* McMuffin Chicken & Bacon: A breaded chicken patty, egg, bacon, ketchup, a special sauce and a slice of Cheddar cheese in an English muffin. Available in Germany.
* Egg White Delight - A variant substituting a round egg white for the normal round egg, and pasteurized process white Cheddar for the American cheese.





The McDonald's egg sandwich was invented in 1972. Former McDonald's President Ray Kroc wrote

The Sausage McMuffin with Egg

that Taylor Tilghman and his assistant, Donald Greadel, the operator of a Santa Barbara, California, franchise, asked Kroc to look at something, without giving details because it was:

“ ...a crazy idea — a breakfast sandwich. It consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, and was dressed with a slice of cheese and a slice of grilled ham. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin.... something Tilghman made in his Coast Guard days. The advent of the Egg McMuffin opened up a whole new area of potential business for McDonald's, the breakfast trade. ”
Tilghman had first presented the Egg McMuffin at the Santa Barbara franchise without the knowledge of McDonald's Corporate, which at the time served only lunch and dinner at all their locations. When Corporate discovered Mr.Tilghman's unauthorized breakfast offerings, it initially reprimanded him and threatened him with a number of penalties for breaking the franchise agreement.

The first McDonald's Corporate authorized Egg McMuffin was served at the Belleville, New Jersey McDonald's in 1972.

In the 1970s, some McDonald's restaurants served Egg McMuffins all day as a promotion.

In several cities, such as Hong Kong, Sausage & Egg McMuffins are served around the clock, because of the prominent use of the egg in meals other than breakfast in those countries; the muffins and sausage patty there are softer than the usual variant to suit local customers. US restaurants usually restrict the item to the breakfast menu. This is mainly because the grill temperature required to cook beef patties is significantly different from the temperature at which eggs are cooked, according to Herb Peterson in a special episode of Unwrapped. Because of this, beef patties and Egg McMuffins cannot be cooked on the same grill, meaning that to keep Egg McMuffins available all day, a store would have to have a separate grill dedicated specifically to Egg McMuffins; this would either mean sacrificing a grill that could have been used for beef patties or buying an additional grill.