This Discontinued McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Featured An Iconic Seasoning

The thing that makes McDonald's Filet-O-Fish special is that it's always been about ingenuity. When franchisee Lou Groen first presented the idea to corporate in 1961, it was to cater to locals in his predominantly Catholic area. Every Friday during Lent, they'd abstain from eating meat, and so Groen responded to this challenge by coming up with a simple fish sandwich. Since then, the Filet-O-Fish with its fish patty, cheese, and tartar sauce on a soft, steamed bun has remained on the menu with relatively few changes – at least until a Baltimore franchisee had a similar lightbulb moment five decades later and suggested a Filet-O-Fish involving the city's famous Old Bay seasoning.

Back in February 2015, McDonald's rolled out a limited-edition Filet-O-Fish with an Old Bay-infused tartar sauce at more than 700 locations across Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. A collaboration with the seasoning's parent company, McCormick & Co., this unexpected way of using Old Bay was originally pitched to McDonald's by franchise owner Mark Furr, who operated stores in both Baltimore and D.C. At the time, he told The Baltimore Sun that the Old Bay Filet-O-Fish was a way to bring a "true, local taste" to customers, adding that "Old Bay is as popular as salt and pepper on our tables here in Baltimore." And it's clear that he was onto something, seeing as how the fast food giant ended up selling over a million sandwiches during its initial run.

While the exact reasons why McDonald's ran with Furr's idea are unclear, its decision to introduce the product a couple of days before Lent was likely influenced by the fact that 25% of Filet-O-Fish sales were during that period. There's also the way that limited-time offerings attract fresh customers and capitalize on the fear of missing out, with the Old Bay Filet-O-Fish particularly appealing to the seasoning's Mid-Atlantic cult following.

After all, the 18-spice blend is more than just a staple at crab boils. Over the course of Old Bay's eight-decade history, the seasoning has also become deeply associated with the Chesapeake Bay region, and McDonald's was smart to add it to the Filet-O-Fish tartar sauce. But this move also worked from a taste perspective, because the Old Bay lent the rich and tangy tartar sauce a savory, peppery complexity alongside a slightly spicy kick that elevated the entire sandwich. It was the perfect condiment to complement the fried fish patty, and it's no wonder the Old Bay Filet-O-Fish returned to menus the following year.

It also didn't hurt that customers were impressed by the Old Bay Filet-O-Fish, with one Redditor even reminiscing several years later about the "divine" sandwich and saying, "Nothing tops the Old Bay [Filet-O-Fish] McDonald's had a while back." But even though the sandwich was a popular enough offering, the Old Bay Filet-O-Fish's run would eventually come to an end just a few years later, with its last season appearing to be in 2017.