Chicken Nuggets

The last few decades have witnessed a sharp rise in the consumption of ready-to-eat meals in India. From Idli and Dosa mixes, to instant cake mix batters, the ‘fast food fever’ has certainly gripped the country with the stronghold of a "shnarashi" (forceps in Bengali).

Their popularity can singularly be attributed to their convenience. Companies, both homegrown and international, have been steadfastly doling out processed food that can be cooked in minutes and gobbled up in seconds. Their appeal is understandable because the preparation time is dramatically reduced, even if purists scoff at the 'adulterated' variations of dishes.

Not just vegetarian items, even non-vegetarian dishes can be made using processed, pre-marinated meat. And the one processed meat dish that has achieved cult status is the America-born Chicken Nuggets.

Chicken Nuggets are small, bite-sized crispy patties that you can mop up with a side of rich, sour tomato ketchup or vinegary sharp mayonnaise. It's a textural explosion in your mouth as you bite into the golden-brown crunchy nugget enveloping a filling of moist, succulent chicken bits. What makes them a handy snack item is that they can be frozen and stored for months in airtight bags without any change in taste or texture. It can be best described as a flatter, blander version of a Chicken Pakoda, with a coating of bread crumbs instead of besan (gram flour).

Considering the incredible popularity it enjoys now, it is almost impossible to believe that these chickeny tidbits were in fact conjured up to boost the dwindling sales of chicken in post-World War II America. During the Second World War, chickens were grown in bulk to meet military demands. Nevertheless, by the end of the war, American households started switching to other poultry meat because a whole chicken wouldn't suffice for a mid-sized American family for one meal. Furthermore, at the same time, an increasing number of women began entering the job market. This meant that these default homemakers wouldn't have enough hours to dedicate to slicing, roasting and frying meat to churn out complex dishes.

A food scientist named Robert C Baker seemed to have just the solution of the hour. Therefore, in 1963, he created the first chicken nuggets at the Cornell University laboratory that were meant to maintain their structural integrity, frozen or fried. So he dehydrated the ground meat with salt and vinegar, and then used milk powder to bind the meat into malleable balls.

The creation, then called Chicken Sticks, became an instant New York classic, so much so that local stores reportedly sold as many as 200 boxes within the first few weeks.