Milkshakes are an essential part offast food culture.
All three still whip up various rotating flavors of the slurpable treat today.
In 1911, the drink mixer was invented which made them possible.
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In 1922, the invention of the electric blender furthered the proliferation of the delicious creamy beverage.
What many people don’t know is it also had anInsta-Shake machinethat was marketed as foolproof.
Speed, efficiency, and uniformity were just as important for milkshakes as they were for burgers.
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
It could produce four shakes per minute in four different flavors.
The recipe was based on thefrosted malts at a famous racetrack in Cleveland.
We Tried McDonald’s, Burger King, & Wendy’s Signature Burgersand This One Is Still the Winner!
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
It felt full of air and didn’t have the craveable creamy consistency.
Wendy’s Vanilla Frosty
Wendy’s vanilla Frostyamazingly didn’t come into existence until 2006.
Since then, any special flavor is built on this base.
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
The look:The vanilla frosty had the same very, very light golden tinge as the others.
The little bubbles were even more apparent in the vanilla Frosty, however.
The taste:Despite the bubbles, the Vanilla Frosty seemed much thicker than the chocolate one.
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
Like the chocolate, the flavor was a bit light and the texture was icy and not creamy.
Thevanilla is hand-spunand made with the chain’s vanilla soft serve.
(Guess they aren’t using that Insta-Shake machine anymore!)
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
We ordered a small of all the shakes and Burger King’s towered over the others.
The shake was a uniform, creamy-looking super-pale gold.
It was definitely thicker than the McDonald’s shake and a bit cloying on the palate.
Meaghan Cameron/Eat This, Not That!
The look:This shake had a pale golden tan color with little striations that make it look homemade.
A little whip and a dome top to keep that whipped cream in good shape.
The taste:This thick shake had a lovely pure vanilla flavor that was borderline custardy.
It’s not heavy like Burger King’s and it’s not icy like Wendy’s Frosty.
This is the Goldilocks of vanilla milkshakes with the flavor, texture, and amount being just right.
This shake tasted like childhood to one tasterMcDonald’s always seems to hit all the right nostalgic notes.
If you go for vanilla over chocolate, this is the perfect shake for you.
If you’re a chocoholic, read on.
The shake didn’t look completely mixed and was striated with vanilla.
One thought it had an overpowering chocolate flavor and wasn’t as nuanced in flavor as McDonald’s version.
The other gave this shake the highest rating because of the powerful chocolate flavor.
If you are a chocolate lover, this could be the perfect milkshake for you.
Again be aware that this has a gut-busting 83 grams of added sugar.
The look:The shake was well-blended with a little cloud of whipped cream on top.
Little striations throughout the shake show it was well blended by not completely uniform.
It is smaller than the Burger King version and a bit larger than the Wendy’s Frosty.
The taste:This shake was smooth with just the right amount of chocolate.
The chocolate doesn’t overwhelm the palate.
It had almost coffee-like undertones.
