McMakeover - Healthier Chicken McNuggest

Ingredients in Chicken McNuggets

White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

MMMM - dimethylpolysiloxane, used in making Silly Putty, it's also a critical ingredient in Rain-X.  It's also found in Wendy's fries.  Or at least their old "unimproved" fries, the new ones seemingly made out of shards of salt licks.

And what's TBHQ? That's tertiary butylhydroquinone, a butane based preservative, which among many other things, is used in the stabilization process of explosive compounds. One to four grams of TBHQ can cause some serious symptoms that will make the flu look like winning the lottery.  Five grams of TBHQ can kill you.

Many of the store bought nuggets don't have those two particular ingredients, but they are still full of things like sodium phosphates, caramel color, methylcellulose, and " spice extractive", even if they come in little dinosaur shapes.

No thanks, I'll eat at home.  Happy Meal toy notwithstanding, if my grandchildren want "McNuggets" my chicken will come with a beak, not a beaker. Ad in some homemade brad with a thin slice of cheese and a little salad and they will say "McDonald's WHO?

Ingredients in a Johnson household McNugget.

Fresh grain-fed chicken breast, grated fresh ginger, a squeeze of lemon juice, butter, flour, cayenne pepper, extra virgin olive oil, a cast iron skillet.

Chop one extra large chicken breast into large nugget sized pieces.  If you have the patience to cut them into little dinosaur shapes like the frozen grocery store nuggets have at it.  Mine are shaped like pieces of chicken.  I'm creative that way.

Dip each piece in a mixture of a few tablespoons of melted salted butter to which you've added about half a thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, grated and a splash of lemon juice.  Dredge in a small cereal bowl of flour to which you've added a few pinches of cayenne pepper.

Cook in a medium/hot cast iron pan with just a little EVOO until lightly brown on both sides (turning with tongs), reduce heat, cover and cook until done.  Remember, you are just lightly browning, not frying in a lot of oil.  Just a few minutes is all it takes and it turns out buttery, savory and oh so juicy.  Serves two for a light meal or snack.