McNugget Autopsy; Chicken Select Dissection

[snowangel]

At least here in the Twin Cities, when you order food at McDonald's (other than fries, salads, cookies, etc.), the "meat" is pulled out of a little drawer; it is no longer cooked on site (or in view of customers) and this includes the chicken and fish products. Was this the case with the McNuggets?

[Rachel Perlow]

I specifically asked the counter person if the price had changed since the change in meat and she said no. I expressed surprise that they didn't offer it on the dollar menu (I think Wendy's has 5 nuggets as an option on their dollar menu). So anyway, the 6 piece nuggets was $2.85 (including tax). The extra value meal is $4.79 plus tax.

Jason,

You are a brave soul for your report following your recent food poisoning.

Sometimes we must make sacrifices in the name of science and cutting edge food reporting, nerissa!

We just bought 1 order of 6 nuggets to inspect & taste after having a nice healthy soup & salad type lunch at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Edited March 7, 2003 by Rachel Perlow (log)

[Peter B Wolf]

According to the McDonalds web site, here is the current ingredient list for the McNugget:

Chicken, water, salt, modified corn starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth powder [chicken broth, salt, and natural flavoring (chicken source)], seasoning (vegetable oil, extracts of rosemary, mono, di- and triglycerides, lecithin). Battered and breaded with water, enriched bleached wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, modified corn starch, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dried whey, corn starch. Batter set in vegetable shortening. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). TBHQ and citric acid added to help preserve freshness. Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent.

Should they all not be bigger in size with all these ingredients ?

How does McDonalds squeeze this stuff under that breading ?

I remember in the early 'Eighties', there was a commercial on TV for whatever chain, with an actor (who later entered real movies), (was it "Vern") always knocking the competion with the words (drawn out with a Southern accent): "Parts, they are all Parts".

Anyone know who this was, and what chain did he represent"?

To quote Jason ".... (indicating they are likely rib meat, probably not chicken breast). "

Is this the "parts" the actor implied to?

[jhlurie]

So where have the hundreds of millions of tons of dark meat formerly going into McNuggets been diverted to? Theories?

[Jason Perlow]

I've resurrected the topic because of the new Chicken Selects that Mcdonalds has recently launched:

http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/features/selects.html

Upon recommendation from JHLurie I tried these a few days ago. I wasn't expecting much, but I -really- liked these. In fact, I like them so much that at least I know that if I am near a Mcdonalds at a client and have no other good choices, I know I can depend on these. Hell, I might even go out of my way to get them just to satisfy a junk food craving.

Crispy, nicely seasoned and the chicken is of good quality. Definitely better than the "improved" McNuggets by a long shot.

They come in packs of 3, 5 or 10.

[ghostrider]

3 of those "strip fritters," as they call 'em, will give you 930 grams of sodium. That's a lot of salt. No wonder they taste good.

At least they have this info on their website so that one can make some informed decisions.

[jhlurie]

While that's certainly true (the large amount of sodium), we're probably fooling ourselves if we think that any kind of highly flavored fried chicken doesn't have a heck of a lot of sodium.

Of course the price of these things is pretty unreasonable in my book. I've seen the 10 pack averaging around $9.99, although I've also seen it as low as $5.99.

[DonRocks]

I just read through this whole topic for the first time and shook my head in disbelief and disappointment.

Basically, it's a bunch of really smart people trying their damndest to look dumb.

It reminds me of people critically analyzing the muscianship of Britney Spears or Madonna. And of course, inevitably there will be those that chime in and scream "foul" (like I'm doing now), stimulating even more conversation, adding to the free PR these vacuous charlatans receive, and getting dismissed as snobbish farts who need to get off their high horses.

Shame on everyone here.

Rocks.

[Jason Perlow]

I didn't seem to think them that expensive, although I was at a McDonalds way out in office park land in Mahwah, NJ off a major highway. I had a 5-peicer, along with a Big Mac value meal with fries and drink for just under $10.

I will add though, that I hadn't had a Big Mac in several years, and was craving one, only to be truly disappointed by it. Its not the burger it used to be. Which to say it was pretty crummy in the first place, but in a good way.

The fries are still excellent, however. As are their breakfast sandwiches. Which you can't say of BK.

[SobaAddict70]

Do Chicken Selects come with sauce?

I will say that BK's Chicken Tenders have a more addictive mouth feel than McNuggets. Maybe a taste test comparison is in order. (I've never had Selects.)

Soba

[Jason Perlow]

Do Chicken Selects come with sauce?

I will say that BK's Chicken Tenders have a more addictive mouth feel than McNuggets.  Maybe a taste test comparison is in order.    (I've never had Selects.)

Soba

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You can get them with any of the McNugget sauces or 3 "new" sauces: Tangy Low-fat Honey Mustard, Spicy Buffalo or Creamy Ranch.

[tryska]

still looks like parts is parts to me...

[Mabelline]

Actually, parts is really barrels of liquified chicken, which are loaded in places like "Chickendale, Arkansas, AKA Springdale", then trucked to the left coast, where they are re-assembled as "nuggets". Uhm..,enjoy.

[phaelon56]

Why does chicken need an anti-foaming agent?

←

To help calm down the rabid fans of Chicken McNuggets

[lesfen]

That spicy buffalo sauce is pretty addictive. I can't say that I love it, but I can't stop eating it once I've started. I have to say that I miss the dark meat, they're just not the same... not bad, but different... but then again, I don't really eat the McNugget since I found the nuggets that they have at Wendy's. Now those are some tasty little nuggets.

[reesek]

Actually, parts is really barrels of liquified chicken, which are loaded in places like "Chickendale, Arkansas, AKA Springdale", then trucked to the left coast, where they are re-assembled as "nuggets". Uhm..,enjoy.

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barrels of liquified chicken (BoLC) is a great name for a punk band. mabelline, what do you mean exactly by "loaded in...AK"? gak. maybe i don't want to know.

[tryska]

Actually, parts is really barrels of liquified chicken, which are loaded in places like "Chickendale, Arkansas, AKA Springdale", then trucked to the left coast, where they are re-assembled as "nuggets". Uhm..,enjoy.

←

wow. thanks for scarin' the bejeezus outta me, mabel!

[tommy]

the new strips don't fit very well into the existing mcnuggets dipping sauce containers.

they're also pretty pricey, and dry.

i prefer mcnuggets overall, although it's probably not fair to compare the two. i guess i prefer chopped up chicken product mixed with other stuff to make it taste better. kind of like a hot dog, or pate.

[ghostrider]

The traditional McNug has approx 1/2 the salt of these newfangled Strip Fritters (I did the math in my head, comparing the relative weights of the 2 products).

Do fans of the new product feel an increased urge to supersize their drinks?

[jhlurie]

A new Chicken Select promotion is being discussed here.

This current thread, however, would probably be a better place to discuss actual reactions to the product itself, as opposed to the details of the current offer.