Chicken tenders
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Chicken tenders (also known as chicken goujons, chicken strips, chicken fingers, chicken tendies, or chicken fillets)Template:Cn are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the bird.<ref>"The History of Chicken Fingers" (Template:Webarchive). Leite's Culinaria.</ref><ref name="NYT Conquered America"/> These strips of white meat are located on either side of the breastbone, under the breast meat (pectoralis major).<ref>"Chicken – Description of Parts" (Template:Webarchive). RecipeTips.</ref> They may also be made with similarly shaped pieces cut from chicken meat, usually the breast, or sometimes just pulverized chicken flesh.<ref>"Give a hand for homemade chicken fingers".</ref>
Chicken tenders are prepared by coating chicken meat in a breading mixture and then deep frying them, in a manner similar to the preparation of schnitzel.<ref>Ellie Krieger. Crispy Chicken Fingers Recipe (Template:Webarchive). Food Network.</ref> They are a very popular fast-food snack or main course due to their convenience and have become a staple across the United States.<ref>How can I make Chinese chicken fingers like in the northeast? (Template:Webarchive). Cooking.stackexchange.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-19.</ref> Some of the most popular fast-food restaurants that sell chicken tenders include Guthrie's, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, Chick-fil-A, Church's Chicken, KFC, Popeyes, Zaxby's and Culver's.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
History
Chicken tenders were first made at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1974.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Charlie Pappas salvaged chicken pieces that had been trimmed from larger cuts of chicken, marinating and frying them to create chicken tenders.<ref name="NYT Conquered America">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Other restaurants in Savannah, Georgia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have challenged this claim with later assertions to the invention of chicken tenders, although the consensus supports the claim in Manchester.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2023, Manchester was officially declared the "Chicken Tender Capital of the World" by Mayor Joyce Craig.<ref>"Reviewing culinary history in Manchester, the Chicken Tender Capital of the World". Liu, Michelle and Furukawa, Julia. New Hampshire Public Radio. Published August 18, 2023. Accessed December 20, 2023.</ref>
Mass production
Chicken tenders are a mass-produced product in the United States.<ref name="Booth 2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bangura 2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s as an alternative fast food choice to chicken nuggets, since they retained more chicken meat.Template:Sfn 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<ref name="Booth 2012"/> prior to shipment for consumer, retail and commercial use. Tyson Foods is one such company that mass-produces chicken fingers.<ref name="Bangura 2019"/> Some are manufactured with a specific flavor profile, such as with a Buffalo-style hot sauce flavor.<ref name="Bangura 2019"/> They are also manufactured with flavors such as Honey BBQ and Parmesan Herb Encrusted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Variants
Chicken tenders are sometimes grilled rather than fried; they may accompany salads or pasta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The chicken tenders invented at the Puritan Backroom in 1974 were marinated in duck sauce, and marinated "Manchester chicken tenders" can be found at other restaurants in the Manchester area.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
- Chicken as food
- Chicken nuggets
- Fish fingers
- List of chicken dishes
- List of fried chicken dishes
- List of hors d'oeuvre
References
Works cited
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