I’m southern (both parents grew up in Georgia, and I spent part of my childhood there). I make excellent fried chicken.
I think there are two parallel fried-chicken traditions, one of which is a crunchy batter and one of which is not. (Kentucky Fried Chicken subscribes somewhat to both traditions, although their original recipe is only marginally akin to how our family makes fried chicken. Among other things, they ‘fry’ it in a pressure cooker, which isn’t conventional tradition, however nice it may be).
Hmm, an interesting theory. I’ve certainly had fried chicken with a softer crust that didn’t crunch other than my grandmother’s (aside from KFC, but that’s still pretty “ehh” chicken) that I enjoyed. But they always were dishes that had been prepared hours before and I assumed that the meat had softened the crust while it exuded water.
That’s true for their Original Chicken Sandwich, but their new Ch’King sandwich, which is clearly meant to mimic Chick-Fil-A, as well as Popeyes’ chicken sandwich, does, indeed, have pickles instead of lettuce.
It’s in how the chicken is prepared prior to putting it in the frying pan. We don’t use milk or complex batters of any sort — just rinse the pieces then roll them in salted & peppered flour. It makes a soft coat not a thick crunchy shell. Deep fat fry until rich golden brown.
I remember eating Popeyes chicken in the 80s (way before I’d heard of Chik Fil A) and Wendys (among others) chicken sandwiches in the 90s, and they were crispy and crunchy, and Chik Fil A never seemed that big a deal to me (they started taking over mall foodcourts in the late '90s in my area) ever. I haven’t really been big on fast food the past 15-20 years or so. It’s not even very convenient to purchase and it’s now relatively expensive when it is. The only time I’ve had fast food chicken in the past several years (other than trying the new Popeyes, which was IMHO not much different than the old Popeyes or Wendys or KFC, etc) is Raising Canes a few times. I’d probably take their chicken fingers sandwich (or make my own with a box combo with their sauce and bread) over the others right now.
Never been to Chick-Fil-A. Not because I disagree with their politics, which I do, but rather because whenever I find myself near one, it’s somehow always Sunday.
I like the little bit of vinegar they leave on the bun, but I don’t like the pickles themselves. So, I would rather have a chicken sandwich that once had pickles on it.
Oddly, I learned “plain fried chicken sandwich, pickles only” while living in Hungary, as that was the customary way to serve the basic one (there are “deluxe” sandwiches with other toppings) at the fried chicken sandwich outlet (Csirkefogó) I used to patronize out there in the late 90s. That said, pickles of all kinds with fried foods is a popular pairing in at least Eastern Europe. Whenever I eat anything fried, I crave a pickle or something sour to go along with it, to cut through the richness of the fat.
And, yes, it has to be crispy. For me, non-crispy fried, breaded/battered foods are sadness. That’s the whole point of frying it as opposed to baking it. Why the hell would you fry a breaded food if you didn’t want it to be crispy?
One minor data point. In the 80s at least, the Wendy’s chicken was hand breaded every morning as part of the prep. There was some sort of milk based liquid in 1 gallon containers and then a big thing of breading. The cutlets were raw and fresh and not frozen.
I hated that job and thankfully rarely had to do it. I was far more likely to close than to open.
Chick-Fil-A is definitely a softer breading. I feel the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich was an answer to that - going with a crispier breading. For those of us who prefer crispy breading, Popeye’s wipes the floor with Chick-Fil-A (for which I’ve never gotten the hype).
It does seem the new trend is the Popeye’s style - Burger King’s Ch’King is far crispier than their original chicken sandwich.
Yeah I’m sure that’s going to appear at a local fast food place sometime soon.
While I try hard not to eat it much anymore for health reasons, I’m an admitted mark for shitty junk food and fast food, and Chick-fil-a is really just the most famous of that “style” of chicken sandwich. I do not think they actually invented it, it’s been rolling around the South for decades at all kinds of different restaurants (many of them small hole in the wall places not fast food.) Chick-fil-a does formally claim it invented this style of sandwich in the 1940s, which is considered unsubstantiated–but it is conceded they were probably the first fast food chain to go big with it in the 60s.
FWIW I like CfA but my personal award for best chicken sandwich of this style goes to Popeye’s; many Popeye’s restaurants around here are poorly run and have long lines and frequently mess your order up, so I almost never go there, but when I do and get the chicken sandwich, it is the “best in class.”
I’d agree–my dad’s mom’s fried chicken was pan fried and not crisped up; but the crisped up style is its own thing that I’ve definitely seen basically my whole life.
I thought this was going to be about the gigantic piece of chicken not fitting on the bun. Personally, I start eating the side of the sandwich where the chicken is not hanging over. By the time I finish all the bun covered part, I’m usually full and don’t eat the rest of the (bunless) chicken.
More like the Jack In The Box taco of chikin sammiches but yeah, just like that. So disgustingly delicious. Sigh. The Wendy’s asiago chikin wraps too, those were just too good for this world.
