After promising to make up for last October’s Szechuan Sauce disaster, it looks like McDonald’s is staying true to its word: On Thursday, the company announced it’s bringing back 20 million packets of the stuff.
That’s good news for the army of Rick and Morty fans who demanded a chance to try the tangy goo after Rick sang its praises on an episode of the show, and finally got their wish—then rioted when McD’s ran out. Unlike the last time the burger chain brought it back, it looks like fans won’t have to wait in a long-ass line to try it: Starting February 26, a boatload of it will be available for purchase at every McDonald’s in the US.
Videos by VICE
To explain exactly how and why they fucked up the first go-round, the international corporation also released a podcast about the sauce fiasco—which host Catherine LeClaire describes as a show “all about what happens when the best of intentions go wrong.”
On the first episode, LeClaire explains that McDonald’s didn’t understand just how much demand there would be for an obscure, decades-old dip. She interviews McDonald’s employees—like the social media face of the company, Chef Mike—along with Rick and Morty fans like Deadmau5 and sauce lotto winner David Wozman, who describes what it’s like to actually try the stuff.
“I absolutely remember it from way back in 1998,” Wozman says. “Initially you get a taste of the soy, and then it leads into the sesame and a lot of the other spices.”
The strange world of branded podcasts aside, some Rick and Morty superfans are flipping out at the chance to finally taste a culinary product their hero called his “one-armed man,” with folks who have actually tried the sauce dominating the show’s subreddit. Already, a picture of an open packet and a box of chicken tenders has garnered almost 1,000 comments.
Others have deemed Szechuan Sauce a tired meme or “the new bitcoin.” One user posted a beleaguered request for an end to all the sauce posts. “Been looking for discussion of the upcoming season 4 and just see the same sauce packets over and over again,” wrote steveberry05.
There’s no way to know if demand will rise to the fever pitch of October 7, 2017, but given what happened last time, things could get pretty wild. Anyone who decides to hit up Mickey D’s next week should probably bring a helmet.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.
Follow Beckett Mufson on Twitter.
Related: How to Make Fast Food Nuggets
