Tastes like chicken

October 21, 2009 7:10 PM

Where can I find more info about the horrible processed chicken product I just ate?

I ate at an Indian restaurant tonight and am fairly certain the chicken I ate was some sort of processed "chicken product". I'm now very curious to learn exactly what it was.

The "chicken" was covered in sauce and resembled large cuts of breast meat, but closer inspection yielded some unappetizing details. There was an outer layer of pressed, formed, light-colored meat that seemed to be wrapped around an inner layer of darker, funkier stuff.

Assuming this product is commercially produced, are there manufacturer web sites where I can learn more about it? I won't be surprised to learn how it's made or what it contains, but I'd like very much to see how it's marketed.

posted by subpixel to food & drink (7 comments total)

Sometimes that stuff is called "formed" or "reformed" meat, in case that helps.
posted by twistofrhyme at 7:13 PM on October 21

It could be mechanically separated chicken molded into chicken product. Here's a picture. It's shaped using molds like the one described in this patent application. This process produces chicken nuggets and chicken fingers, chicken patties and chicken croquettes, chicken franks, "boneless wings" and more.

Mechanically separated poultry is a paste-like and batter-like poultry product produced by forcing bones with attached edible tissue through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone from the edible tissue. Mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since 1969. In 1995, a final rule on mechanically separated poultry said it would be used without restrictions. However, it must be labeled as "mechanically separated chicken or turkey" in the ingredients statement. The final rule became effective November 4, 1996.

posted by Miko at 7:41 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]

is it possible this wasn't a result of wonky cooking/saucing/spicing the skin on dark meat chicken?
posted by anthropomorphic at 7:43 PM on October 21

I imagine it is probably marketed something like this. I can't imagine them marketing it as "light-colored breast-appearing outer layer conceals the dark funky meat within!" but maybe someone will know this particular product from experience. Otherwise "Unbreaded Chunks" seems like a likely description.
posted by nanojath at 7:47 PM on October 21

Jesus Christ, Miko, that photo. Hen paste.
posted by nanojath at 7:50 PM on October 21

Some yummy reading about the processing.

This sort of product is certainly made in the U.S., but in Googling "processed chicken" + "indian food" I found a listing of processed- chicken exporters in India. It could be that the products made for the Indian restaurant/buffet market differ somewhat in composition and appearance from those made for American frozen-food products and institutional kitchens. It does seem to be a growth area, with many developing countries getting into the poultry exporting business. India's Ministry of Food Processing mentions:

The introduction of new poultry products and perceptible shift in eating habits are moving people to branded food such as chicken yummiez, cold cuts, breaded and coated snacks, marinated snacks, chicken nuggets, canned chicken curry, freeze dried chicken pulao, meat soup, powder omlette and scrambled egg mixtures, sandwich, pizza, burger and dial-a-chicken and fast food joints, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), McDonald's, Wimpy, Pizza Hut all these are going to change the palatability of the chicken consumer.

This company makes the afrementioned "chicken yummiez."
posted by Miko at 8:01 PM on October 21

Something else to consider, one restaurant trick to make crap meat more palatable is to soak it for a while in a water/bicarb soda mix. The idea is to tenderize the meat, but left in a little too long it will actually make the meat go slightly gummy and taste just plain weird. You'll mostly run into this trick in Chinese restaurants using the cheapest cuts of beef possible, but I've certainly had chicken done like this. It gets a slimy, almost pre-digested texture to it - adding a sauce may well do extra weirdness as well.

However, this tends to be meat sliced into small pieces rather than larger portions.
posted by ninazer0 at 3:16 AM on October 22