FOOD SPOILER: How chicken nuggets are made.

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Okay, I hope that this helps some people who see this. People have been so completely disconnected from their food supply, that the average person will likely never personally encounter an actual chicken or a cow. Many will never see an apple tree or an orange tree or a potato plant. This is a BIG problem! It means that when people think of "food", the image of a fast food joint or a market pops into their heads. Perhaps even a specific food item like a Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets. People get thirsty, and they pop open a soda or perhaps they have a slight awareness so they pour some (equally unhealthy) "juice" from a carton emblazoned with "Healthy" and "100% Juice" on the label.

Eating processed foods is unnatural.

So how to re-connect people with their food? Show them where it comes from. Here is a good example...the ubiquitous apple. Here are some apples:

apples.jpg
This is what they look like on the tree they come from:

appletree.jpg

If you buy whole apples, you are buying an unprocessed food. The only processes are picking the apple from the tree, then transporting them to wherever you buy them. If you buy them in any other form, you are buying a processed food. This includes slicing the apples, dicing or making them into a puree or applesauce, or adding them to other fruits in a packaged fruit salad. You are better off doing any processing yourself and not buying any pre-processed fruit products.

With meat, here is a good example, the chicken. The chicken in the picture is more like the ones we eat. It is easy to see in the picture how the live chicken could become the baked chicken in the other picture. That means the chicken is killed, the head is cut off and the feathers are plucked and the insides scooped out (or not) then baked. Provided this chicken was healthy when killed, then you are getting an unprocessed food when the chicken is raw (after the preparation described above). Cooking is the only process you do after buying the chicken. Adding seasonings and such is also processing, but if you are doing it that makes the difference. It gives you multiple opportunities to examine the chicken parts and the chicken itself for tumors, bad parts, etc.

chicken4.jpg

This is a chicken

Rosemary Roasted Chicken.ashx.jpg

Not too hard to imagine how the live chicken became the baked one by looking at it.

Now, lets look at a widely eaten processed food: The "chicken nugget". What the hell is a chicken nugget? Well, its not chicken pieces which are breaded and baked. Its actually made from "mechanically separated chicken parts". This process takes the parts of the chicken we normally throw away when we are eating whole chicken parts. This would include tendons, pieces of tough meat left on bones after the more tender parts are eaten, gristle, internal organs, etc. Here is a short YouTube video on the process:


:puke:

When was the last time you thought about where your food comes from? Most people just say "Well, today it comes from McDonalds, but tomorrow from Taco Bell". :facepalm:.
 
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Rac80

The Belle of the Ball
It's like making sausage! Ever read The Jungle? a definite must read if you eat sausages or really any meat that goes through a packing plant! :P
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Actually I make Chicken Nuggets for people pretty routinely. I start with a couple of fresh chicken breasts and use some fine cornmeal, pepper and 2 eggs. Eggs, pepper and cornmeal make the batter which is also chilled almost to freezing as is the chicken. The oil (I like to use sunflower or also olive on occasion) is heated HOT (close to its flashpoint) and the cold chicken is battered then deep fried. The temperature difference creates vapor lock which keeps oil out ofr the chicken and thus (combined with the type of oil) radically cuts the cholesterol/calorie equation.

Serve with mustard or BBQ - pretty tasty.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Actually I make Chicken Nuggets for people pretty routinely. I start with a couple of fresh chicken breasts and use some fine cornmeal, pepper and 2 eggs. Eggs, pepper and cornmeal make the batter which is also chilled almost to freezing as is the chicken. The oil (I like to use sunflower or also olive on occasion) is heated HOT (close to its flashpoint) and the cold chicken is battered then deep fried. The temperature difference creates vapor lock which keeps oil out ofr the chicken and thus (combined with the type of oil) radically cuts the cholesterol/calorie equation.

Serve with mustard or BBQ - pretty tasty.

That is an entirely different thing you are making! You are creating what fast food places call "premium chicken nuggets" or "chicken strips" made with actual chicken meat which has not been processed. The fact that you cook and prepare it is EXCELLENT! I almost feel nauseous when I imagine people eating those fast food nuggets. Also made from that mechanically separated "meat goo" are those spicy chicken sandwiches made at Jack in the Box, Carls Jr and other places. They usually cost a dollar or less but are essentially a large nugget made from the same pink goop, made into a patty and spiced up (to hide the horrible taste).

KUDOS for preparing your own food! :joy:
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
I haven't had fast food in years and I can't remember the last time I ate "chicken" nuggets. It was probably during the holiday rush at work years ago when the company would have stuff to eat in the break room so we didn't have to leave the premises for our lunches. But it's been so long that I can't remember the actual last time I ate those things. I love meat but the fast food version of "meat" is disgusting.
 
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Graybrew1

Guest
There is a place near my house that makes their own. They don't taste anything like the Mickey D's junk. Completely made on the premises, they even make their own BBQ dipping sauce. This sauce is not heavy and the breading very light. A favorite splurge to indulge in depending upon my mood. Throw them over a bed of field greens and they make a great meal. :biggrin:
 
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Stonelesscutter

Guest
Does this thing also apply to the "filet bites" they serve at KFC? Coz those things seem like normal chicken to me.
 
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Graybrew1

Guest
Does this thing also apply to the "filet bites" they serve at KFC? Coz those things seem like normal chicken to me.

Maybe not to the same extent, but it is still much more filler chicken than I would ever want in my body.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Does this thing also apply to the "filet bites" they serve at KFC? Coz those things seem like normal chicken to me.

Actually no. The KFC "filet bites" are not made with mechanically separated chicken meat. They are pieces of breast filet, similar to what Joelist prepares. :). But They are fried, hence I will not eat them.
 
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Stonelesscutter

Guest
Actually no. The KFC "filet bites" are not made with mechanically separated chicken meat. They are pieces of breast filet, similar to what Joelist prepares. :). But They are fried, hence I will not eat them.

Phew. I was afraid I couldn't eat those any longer either. :P They taste so goooood. :)
 
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