3 posts tagged “food”
The McNugget is a small piece of minced chicken and mechanically separated meat held together with phosphate salts. The pieces are coated with batter, lightly fried to set the batter, individually quick frozen, packaged, and sent to stores. At the McDonald's stores, the McNuggets are deep-fried and sold.
In November 2003, McDonald's switched to using all white meat for McNuggets instead of the traditional combination of white and dark meat. This was heavily promoted as an effort to improve the item's flavor. McDonald's state that they use mechanically separated breast meat in the production of their McNuggets. A small amount of chicken skin is recovered with the breast meat.
At the same time that they stopped using dark meat, McDonald's announced that they were using less salt in the preparation of the McNuggets. This was recognized as an attempt to make their products healthier. However, the sodium levels listed in McDonald's nutrition facts have actually increased: from 530 mg for 6 pieces between 2000–2002, to 670 mg for 2003–2005.
Chicken McNuggets come in two shapes. The first resembles a boot -- a rectangular shape with a stub jutting out of one of the corners. The second is a circle. Though the exact origin of these shapes is unclear, most believe the circle and the boot resulted from a need to maximize yield from the meat mixture.
The 2004 documentary Super Size Me alleged that McNuggets were, at one point in time, made from sick and/or old chickens unable to lay eggs, and that they included chemicals such as TBHQ (a preservative), Dimethylpolysiloxane (an anti-foaming agent), and other ingredients not used by a typical home cook. In 2005, these two ingredients were listed as ingredients of other McDonald's foods, not McNuggets. However, McNuggets do contain genetically modified ingredients.
Wiener Schnitzel for Dummies
For the longest time I thought it was futile to write about the most Austrian of Austrian dishes... or what is commonly perceived
to be an Austrian dish, as it apparently originates in Milan. I guess
we're just very good at spotting talent and hyping it enough for
everybody to believe we invented it - as is the case with goulash,
apple strudel and many other dishes! Last weekend, though, when I was
making these yummy breaded escalopes, it dawned on me that there are
many things to say about the Schnitzel... and seeing that so many get
it wrong, here's the dummies' guide to our beloved Wiener:
1) Yes, that's right. For us, a Wiener is an escalope, not a sausage. We call the sausages Frankfurters.
2) Let not the Germans fool you: a Wiener Schnitzel is NEVER to be served with, let alone in sauce.
3) You want your Schnitzel crispy and crunchy. No soggy shoe sole swimming in a pool of ready-made sauce mix.
4)
The thickness of the escalope is a matter of personal preference. After
a heated argument over our very first Schnitzels when we had just moved
in together, I convinced my (now) husband that thin is beautiful. He's
now a devoted Schnitzel flattener and evenly batters them down to no
more than 3 mm.
5) If you're a fan of the breadcrumb-coating (my
brother used to eat the crust first, before devouring his escalope
"naked"), you can make it thicker by either double-coating them or
omitting the milk from the egg-mix or, like for tempura, using potato
flour instead of plain flour.
6) When it comes to eating your Schnitzel, never, ever
make the mistake of asking for ketchup with your Schnitzel. Here's
where even my daughter gets it wrong - and you think things of this
importance would be in our DNA...
7) The only condiments allowed near a Schnitzel are lemon juice (to
sparingly drizzle over - you want it to cut through the grease, but
don't allow the breading to go soggy) and cranberry compote. If you
want to avoid dropping pips on your meat, wrap the lemon in gauze for a
"safety net"...
8) There's only one exception to the condiment rule:
the Schnitzelsemmel! (see top picture). This Austrian version of a
hamburger (some even eat it with ketchup and mayo, although I prefer my
version with fresh tomato, mustard, salad and pickled chilli) is
perfect for taking leftover Schnitzel to work the following day - and a
great hang-over cure, too!
9) And finally, but most importantly: No
matter how much (stingy) people might insist that you can make
escalopes from pork, make no mistake: only a veal Schnitzel is a real Schnitzel!
Wiener Schnitzel
(serves 4)
500 g veal escalopes
4 eggs
ca. 50 ml milk
flour and breadcrumbs for the coating
500 g potatoes
50 g butter
1 handful parsley (finely chopped)
oil and butter for frying
To serve:
lemon juice
cranberry compote
salad
Flatten the veal escalopes thoroughly to a thickness of your liking
(I recommend 3-5 mm). Season with salt and pepper. Boil the potatoes
until soft, then set aside, keeping warm.
To bread the escalopes,
arrange 3 soup bowls next to each other on your work surface, filling
one with flour, one with the eggs beaten up with the milk and one with
the breadcrumbs. One by one, thoroughly coat the escalope with flour,
then pull through the egg mix and finally coat with the breadcrumbs.
Heat
some oil in a pan, about 5 mm high, add some butter taking care not to
burn it, then fry the Schnitzels over a medium heat, turning over
repeatedly in the process. Keep warm until you have fried all of them.
Heat some butter in a pan, add the parsley and roll & reheat the
potatoes in it.
Serve the Schnitzels with the potatoes, the cranberry compote and some salad.
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