British Highschoolers try Popeyes for the first time

[TheBatsEar]

I must say, Popeyes' chicken sandwich is just incredible. I don't know how they managed to get the outside of the chicken so crunchy:

The rest of their stuff is "OK." Interesting that the kids loved just about everything.

On the topic of fast food i only have three thing to say.

1) The lightly smoked BugerKing Cheeseburger flavor is better than any other
2) 1 Cheeseburger, 6 nuggets without sauce, a salad and a cup of coffee is my default order
3) BurgerKing around here is cleaner and more inviting than McDonalds.

 

[ahofer]

Scientifically designed fast food often has so much mouth appeal we create social stigmas to keep ourselves from eating it all the time.

Like drugs.

 

[Timcognito]

Scientifically designed fast food often has so much mouth appeal we create social stigmas to keep ourselves from eating it all the time.

Like drugs.

And I have an addiction to fried chicken. So much so that I have limited myself to having it only on my birthday with a coconut cream pie and when I travel. Lucky for me about 10 miles from me is Taqueria La Mexicana in Half Moon Bay for when I fall off the wagon. Mexican fried chicken? No the down home stuff, not fast food and also good Mexican food or so they say. You can be the judge of that check out the photos.

Taqueria La Mexicana - Half Moon Bay, CA

Specialties: Our menu has a little of everything, and everything on our menu is pretty dam good..

www.yelp.com

 

[Prana Ferox]

A ten minute video is fast enough to cut in and cut out before having to show the panicked children fighting for access to the nearest bathroom

 

[Killingbeans]

I take it that you've not been there, then.

Popeyes' or northern Europe?

 

[antcollinet]

I take it that you've not been there, then.

Whaddaya talkin' about?

Boiled cabbage and wallpaper paste is too good for us.

 

[Philbo King]

I ate Popeyes food once, got sick for 3 days, and never went back. 'Don't let the same dog bite you twice...'

 

[radix]

I must say, Popeyes' chicken sandwich is just incredible. I don't know how they managed to get the outside of the chicken so crunchy:

The rest of their stuff is "OK." Interesting that the kids loved just about everything.

I was expecting a panther and graphs

 

[Keith_W]

Scientifically designed fast food often has so much mouth appeal we create social stigmas to keep ourselves from eating it all the time.

Like drugs.

Oh yes, I agree! I am quite fascinated by kitchen science and over the years, I have bought several copies of the kitchen version of Toole as gifts for friends - McGee.

A few years ago I was interested in the perfect French fry. Specifically, I wondered how McDonald's could do it so well, with consistency across multiple franchises in different countries, and cooked by wage slaves with no formal training. I came across an article (sadly, I couldn't find it with a Google search) which delved into the science of a perfect French fry and how McDonald's does it so well. The secret to consistency is a 3 stage cooking process - parboil, initial fry, then frozen. It is delivered to franchises as frozen fries in the correct portion, then it is put into electronic deep fryers with automatic timers. Even the salt dispensers dispense the correct amount of salt for this portion.

Prior to learning this, I always made my own fries by parboiling it first and then doing an initial fry. However, after learning that freezing was an important step prior to the third fry, I have a new technique - just buy frozen fries from the supermarket and deep fry them. It turns out surprisingly well.

 

[OdysseusG]

Oh yes, I agree! I am quite fascinated by kitchen science and over the years, I have bought several copies of the kitchen version of Toole as gifts for friends - McGee.

A few years ago I was interested in the perfect French fry. Specifically, I wondered how McDonald's could do it so well, with consistency across multiple franchises in different countries, and cooked by wage slaves with no formal training. I came across an article (sadly, I couldn't find it with a Google search) which delved into the science of a perfect French fry and how McDonald's does it so well. The secret to consistency is a 3 stage cooking process - parboil, initial fry, then frozen. It is delivered to franchises as frozen fries in the correct portion, then it is put into electronic deep fryers with automatic timers. Even the salt dispensers dispense the correct amount of salt for this portion.

Prior to learning this, I always made my own fries by parboiling it first and then doing an initial fry. However, after learning that freezing was an important step prior to the third fry, I have a new technique - just buy frozen fries from the supermarket and deep fry them. It turns out surprisingly well.

That sounds just like https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-french-fries-recipe. Similarly, in a former life in restaurant kitchens, I played around with making fries before giving in and just buying frozen. I feel freezing made a bigger difference for convenience than quality. An under rated challenge was drying the fries; sure, a colander for the parboiled did well enough with the heat probably finishing the job. However, a bunch of oil would stick after the parfrying and I couldn't bring myself to likely ruin a salad spinner really getting it off.
Two additional tips that elevated things dramatically: first was using Kennebec potatoes (make sure not to keep them too cold). The last thing that elevated the end product to near religious experience was frying them in lard. They had some carnitas going and it caught my eye. Eventually I asked if I could borrow some space and dropped in a fryer basket. Transcendent

 

[JustJones]

This is crunchy fried chicken. Plus it's world famous!

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken: Winner 2022 Best Fried Chicken

Gus's Fried Chicken is the award-winning fried chicken joint that started in Mason, TN has 30+ locations across the U.S. Try our award-winning chicken today!

www.gusfriedchicken.com

 

[amirm]

On the topic of fast food i only have three thing to say.

1) The lightly smoked BugerKing Cheeseburger flavor is better than any other
2) 1 Cheeseburger, 6 nuggets without sauce, a salad and a cup of coffee is my default order
3) BurgerKing around here is cleaner and more inviting than McDonalds.

That used to be the case before we moved to where we live now (remote area). Nearest Burger King is the worst run fast food restaurant ever. I used to love a whopper. What I get out of here is something under heat lamp for a couple of days. It is so bad that I throw half of it away most of the time. I really like BK fries. Except this place doesn't change their oil often enough so it gets rancid. That in turn causes the fries to have this awful chemical taste. The food also takes 15 to 20 minutes to get! Gives a new meaning to the word "fast food!"

MacDonald is about 10 minutes past BK. It is extremely well run one with 5 times the employees working there. Service is superb and food always consistent. So if I can help it, I go here now instead of BK. Boy do I miss the good whoppers that I used to get back in 1980s....

 

[Digby]

On the topic of fried chicken, it is nice, great even when done really well, but I can't say it is better than baked thighs. There is a proviso though, the chicken must be high quality, corn fed, free range chicken. A lot of the chicken in British supermarkets is this kind of...uh, grey looking stuff. A good quality chicken should have a nice yellow hue.

Most British people buy the grey supermarket chicken, but *proper* chicken has a fantastic, rich chicken flavour, so much so that it doesn't need much beyond salt and pepper in the way of seasoning. Obviously you can add more seasoning, but it is not a blank slate, lacking any flavour of its own.

I wonder if this idea of chicken 'tasting of nothing' comes from an unavailability of good quality chicken, particularly in America....? Most towns and many villages in Britain have local butcher where, with luck, you can purchase high quality meat, but what is the situation in the US - is frying chicken a necessity to add in missing flavour?

If you watch this video, you'll see the kind of chicken I mean. Big difference from the stuff in the supermarket

 

[ahofer]

I haven’t set foot in a Burger King, Macdonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, KFC, or Popeye’s, in decades. I guess the social stigma worked on me.

A big diner breakfast used to be my guilty pleasure, but now I only eat breakfast once a week. I have a weakness for cheese, though. Even if it might as well be ice cream, nutritionally. 6pm is known as “Cheese O’Clock” in my house.

 

[Digby]

Scientifically designed fast food often has so much mouth appeal we create social stigmas to keep ourselves from eating it all the time.

Like drugs.

I agree, but only somewhat. Fast food has a very specific taste and, as someone who can cook reasonably well (after many years of trial and error), almost all fast food has that characteristic synthetic taste (industrial flavour enhancers?) that I have never tasted with any home cooked food, good, bad or otherwise. That synthetic taste doesn't appeal to me, personally.

 

[ahofer]

I agree, but only somewhat. Fast food has a very specific taste and, as someone who can cook reasonably well (after many years of trial and error), almost all fast food has that characteristic synthetic taste (industrial flavour enhancers?) that I have never tasted with any home cooked food, good, bad or otherwise. That synthetic taste doesn't appeal to me, personally.

I get that, and feel similarly. I think that’s a mix of inherent palate preferences and the way we’ve been socialized/socialized ourselves or simply become conditioned. If you cook a lot at home, or with certain ingredients, those tastes will become a key trigger for a satisfying meal. However, most humans seem to be born with a predilection for high glycemic index foods and the tastes of fatty protein. There’s an evolutionary theory for that, of course. Nuggets, burgers, fried chicken, shakes, etc. all hack that predilection.

I’ve noticed that a lot of elderly will like a particular food or meal so much they simply eat it every day. And bugger off if you try to introduce some variety.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Om nom om... Popeyes Chicken! Do all English students wear dress shirts with a tie and blazer? Or is dressing up formally only for private schools like it is in Canada?

I strongly endorse the idea of school uniforms, which as you say @Doodski, isn't the norm in public, (i.e. state), schools in Canada. IMHO, when there are no school uniforms, the general appearance of kids to tends fall to the lowest common denominator.

Many, many years ago the high school I attended had completely separate, (i.e. non-co-ed), sections for boys & girls. The boys had to wear neck ties of personal choice, the girls had to wear regulation tunics. It wasn't such a bad thing,

 

[ahofer]

I strongly endorse the idea of school uniforms, which as you say @Doodski, isn't the norm in public, (i.e. state), schools in Canada. IMHO, when there are no school uniforms, the general appearance of kids to tends fall to the lowest common denominator.

Many, many years ago the high school I attended had completely separate, (i.e. non-co-ed), sections for boys & girls. The boys had to wear neck ties of personal choice, the girls had to wear regulation tunics. It wasn't such a bad thing,

An under-appreciated aspect of a school uniform is how it helps even out socio-economic status among the students. On the other hand, it can be viewed as breeding a certain cultishness.

You’ll notice a lot of uniforms in Asian public schools, US Charter schools, Parochial schools, and a few fancy boarding schools.

 

[Gorgonzola]

I must say, Popeyes' chicken sandwich is just incredible. I don't know how they managed to get the outside of the chicken so crunchy:

The rest of their stuff is "OK." Interesting that the kids loved just about everything.

I once watch a lecture series online by the well-known linguistics professor and commentator on Black American affairs, John McWhorter. Out of nowhere he once, seemingly spontaneously, said, "Popeyes is better than Kentucky Fried, it just is!". Must be said that such off-the-cuff remarks are normal in McWhorter's lectures: he is really quite troll.

 

[Keith_W]

On the topic of fried chicken, it is nice, great even when done really well, but I can't say it is better than baked thighs. There is a proviso though, the chicken must be high quality, corn fed, free range chicken. A lot of the chicken in British supermarkets is this kind of...uh, grey looking stuff. A good quality chicken should have a nice yellow hue.

Most British people buy the grey supermarket chicken, but *proper* chicken has a fantastic, rich chicken flavour, so much so that it doesn't need much beyond salt and pepper in the way of seasoning. Obviously you can add more seasoning, but it is not a blank slate, lacking any flavour of its own.

I wonder if this idea of chicken 'tasting of nothing' comes from an unavailability of good quality chicken, particularly in America....? Most towns and many villages in Britain have local butcher where, with luck, you can purchase high quality meat, but what is the situation in the US - is frying chicken a necessity to add in missing flavour?

That's a good point about chicken. Nearly all chicken available in Australia was bred to be inexpensive and fast to grow with as little cost as possible. Before the pandemic, it was possible to buy a whole chicken for A$8.00 (USD$5.50). You get a big chicken with a lot of meat and tenderness, but no real flavour.

In Asia you can get what they call "free range chicken", but this is not the same "free range chicken" you can find in your supermarkets. These really are free range chickens, as in they forage for their own food and do a lot of running. As a result they are rather scrawny, have little meat, and the meat is quite tough. But they make up for it in flavour. They have to be cooked carefully (gentle poaching is best) to avoid toughening the meat further. When it's done properly, the meat has a nice texture - yes, it's a bit tougher than supermarket chicken, but in a pleasant way with just a bit more chew. And the flavour is so much better.

When I was in France, I paid through my nose to taste one of their famous Bresse chickens in a famous Parisian restaurant - Le Coq Rico. 160 Euros for a roast chicken! But it was truly an "oh my God" moment. I consider that 160 Euros well spent because I have never forgotten the flavour of that chicken.