Alternative names | Chicken tenders, chicken strips, chicken fillets, chicken goujons |
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Course | Appetizer, main course |
Place of origin | Manchester, New Hampshire, United States |
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Chicken, breading |
Chicken fingers (also known as chicken goujons, tendies, chicken strips, chicken tenders, or chicken fillets) are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the animal. [1] These strips of white meat are located on either side of the breastbone, under the breast meat (pectoralis major). [2] They may also be made with similarly shaped pieces cut from chicken meat, usually the breast, or sometimes just pulverized chicken flesh. [3]
Chicken fingers are prepared by coating chicken meat in a breading mixture and then deep frying them, in a manner similar to the preparation of schnitzel. [4] They are a very popular snack or main course due to their convenience and have become a staple across the United States. Chicken fingers are a popular fast-food snack in the U.S. [5] Some of the most popular fast-food restaurants that sell chicken fingers include Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, Chick-fil-A, Church's Chicken, KFC, Popeyes, Zaxby's and Culver's. [6]
Chicken tenders were first made in Manchester, New Hampshire at the Puritan Backroom in 1974. [7] Restaurants in Savannah, Georgia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana have challenged this claim with later assertions to the invention of chicken tenders, although the general consensus supports the claim in Manchester. [8] In 2023, Manchester was officially declared the "Chicken Tender Capital of the World" by Mayor Joyce Craig. [9]
Chicken fingers are a mass-produced product in the United States. [10] [11] They gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s as an alternative fast food choice to chicken nuggets, since they retained more chicken meat. [12] Production can involve coating chicken meat with spices, polyphosphate and breading or crumbs, flash-frying the product to hold the breading in place, and then freezing it [10] prior to shipment for consumer, retail and commercial use. Tyson Foods is one such company that mass-produces chicken fingers. [11] Some are manufactured with a specific flavor profile, such as with a Buffalo-style hot sauce flavor. [11] They are also manufactured with flavors such as Honey BBQ and Parmesan Herb Encrusted. [13]
In recent years, chicken fingers made without chicken and with plant-based ingredients have entered the market and are called vegan chicken fingers or vegan chicken nuggets. They are made from ingredients that include pea protein, soy protein, textured vegetable protein and wheat gluten. [14]
Chicken fingers are sometimes grilled rather than fried; they may accompany salads or pasta. [15]
A chicken nugget is a food product consisting of a small piece of deboned chicken meat that is breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Developed in the 1950s by finding a way to make a coating adhere, chicken nuggets have become a very popular fast food restaurant item, and are widely sold frozen for home use.
A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef, or turkey. Schnitzel originated as wiener schnitzel and is very similar to other breaded meat dishes.
Chicharrón is a dish generally consisting of fried pork belly or fried pork rinds. Chicharrón may also be made from chicken, mutton, or beef.
Cutlet refers to:
Buttermilk Crispy Tenders were chicken strips sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's in the United States and Canada. Chicken Selects were introduced in early 1998 for a limited time and offered again in early 2002 and late 2003 and then permanently starting in 2004. In the UK, they were launched on the "Pound Saver Menu", which offers various menu items for £0.99.
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat and chicken eggs have become prevalent in numerous cuisines.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.
Gardein is a line of meat-free foods produced by Conagra Brands. In 2003, the company was founded by Yves Potvin, who remained as the CEO of Gardein until 2016. In November 2014, Pinnacle Foods purchased Gardein for $154 million. Pinnacle was acquired by Conagra in 2018.
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. McDonald's traces its origins to a 1940 restaurant in San Bernardino, California. After expanding within the United States, McDonald's became an international corporation in 1967, when it opened a location in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. By the end of the 1970s, McDonald's restaurants existed in five of the Earth's seven continents; an African location came in 1992 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior of the chicken while retaining juices in the meat. Broiler chickens are most commonly used.
A croquette is a deep-fried roll originating in French cuisine, consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling, which is then breaded. It is served as a side dish, a snack, or fast food worldwide.
Breaded cutlet or braised cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it.
Pork rind is the culinary term for the skin of a pig. It can be used in many different ways.
Fried cheese is a dish of cheese that is fried in oil. Fried cheese can be dipped in a batter before frying, and can be pan-fried or deep fried. It can be served as an appetizer or a snack. Fried cheese is a common food in Brazil and the Dominican Republic, and is typically served as a breakfast dish in Costa Rica, Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Fried cheese is served as a tapas dish in Spain; fried cheese balls are delicias de queso 'cheese delights'. Fried cheese is also found in Italian cuisine. Fried cheese is typically served hot, right after being cooked. It may be accompanied with a dipping sauce or coated with a dressing.