Ever since McDonald's switched its Chicken McNuggets to all "white chicken meat", patrons have yet another excuse to eat them. That is, besides the subtle balance they maintain between crispy coating and tender chicken.

Recently, I decided to try my hand at making chicken nuggets. Like other foodies, I feel that one of the better ways to appreciate food is figuring out how to make it. After some research, I dug up two recipes that I later amalgamated into one of my own.

The first, comes from the "For the Love of Food" blog. It produces the following nearly authentic mouth-watering results:

Nearly Authentic McDonald's-Style Chicken Nuggets

The second, comes from the linked instructional video from the UK VideoJug website:


My results were passable, but my amalgamated recipe needs some tweaking.

Amalgamated Recipe Chicken Nugget

Recently, the entry, featuring For the Love of Food's recipe, added some tips to address issues raised by people who have attempted the recipe. These, and some suggestions of my own follow:

Recipe:

Seasoning

Minced Chicken, Seasoned

Nuggets, Shaped, and Floured

Close-up of Nuggets, Ready for Shallow Frying

Shallow Frying a Batch in a Cast Iron Skillet

Frying One Side

Then, the other

Fried Nuggets Cooling

What You'll Need:

Mis En Place

• 2-3 whole boneless skinless chicken breast pieces (thawed if from frozen)
• heavy pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (with chicken nuggets, I'm not too inclined to use freshly ground)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano flakes
• 2 beaten eggs
• all-purpose flour to dredge

Method:

1. Fill a cast iron or another heavy bottomed skillet with a half inch of oil. Set aside
2. Cube the chicken breast into pieces and place into a food processor with the seasonings.
3. Pulse until the chicken forms a fine paste. I actually minced the chicken breast with a pair of vegetable cleavers, channeling my inner Martin Yan. However, the resultant nuggets were too dense, so I surmise that mechanical processing may aerate the meat, creating a lighter mixture. According to wikipedia.net, McNuggets are made from "mechanically separated meat."
4. Shape the chicken into balls, 1.5-2 inches in diameter. According to the For the Love of Food blog, smaller portions (ping-pong ball size)make lighter nuggets.
5. Dip each ball into egg and then dredge lightly in flour.
6. Place each onto a tray and put the skillet on medium-heat
7. Once the oil shimmers, fry the meat balls into the skillet in batches, gently flattening each into "nuggets"
8. Fry each batch, approximately 3-4 minutes per side, until each nugget takes on a golden colour.
9. Remove to an inverted cake rack on paper towel or a sheet of newsprint to drain.
10. Let cool 2-3 minutes and serve warm.

More lessons learned:
According to the McDonald's website, Chicken McNugget ingredients include water, starch, and "chicken flavor." They are also "battered and breaded" with water, enriched flour, corn flour, starch, chemical leavening and spices. This has me wondering if the chicken mixture includes a starch slurry to keep it moist and the shaped nuggets are breaded with a seasoned flour then battered. At the moment, I'm not ready to add a slurry to the mixture. I also think the beaten egg and flour are sufficient. Though, I am tempted to add some baking powder to the flour.

Now, what do you do when you perfect your own recipe for making McDonald's-style chicken nuggets? Besides out of hand eating, there's the "McNuggetini"!

McNuggetini
Source: Curiology Blog c/o the former Curiology Blog

This concoction was the brainchild of Ms. Allie Ward (of the Curiosology blog) and Ms. Georgia Hardstark (of the State of Georgia blog). It was posted on the This Recording blog. There, it gained significant exposure, eventually ending up on the Huffington Post website.

Why? As Ms. Hardstark observes, Chicken McNuggets make great food after "last call" and her friend Ms. Ward loves White Russians.

How? The Mcnuggetini consists of a martini glass, rimmed with McDonald's brand barbecue sauce, a mixture of 4:1 McDonald's brand chocolate milkshake and Absolut Vanilla Vodka, and a Chicken McNugget to garnish.

While I have yet to develop a taste for martinis, I'm awed by the creativity. Cheers to you both!



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