all right it's time for me to weigh in on a matter near and dear to my heart are y'all fucking ready here we GO
Chicken nuggets.
Okay look, there's a lot of misunderstanding here. I've done a Twitter thread on this in the past but I think, now that longform is possible, I can spare a few minutes to clear this up.
"That's just a chicken nugget!"
No the fuck it ain't.
SO I'M GONNA BREAK IT DOWN
Chicken Nugget:
This is a bite-sized, maybe two bites-sized piece of chicken, most likely the kind that's put into a blender and shaped into a flattish, rounded shape. If you've seen a McNugget, you know what this is. It's not all too complicated!
Popcorn Chicken:
The emphasis on popcorn chicken is that they should be about the size of popcorn--if you can't eat it in one bite, it's too large, although you might prefer to eat them in two. The type of chicken in it isn't important--whether it's fileted breast meat or ground-up whatever--so long as you can easily fit a few of them in your hand and easily eat multiple pieces in one mouthful. The appeal here is the breading--using smaller pieces of chicken allows for a higher breading-to-chicken ratio, so this style is good for folks who love the coat but don't actually care all that much about meat.
Boneless Wing:
If I order boneless wings and you bring me chicken nuggets I am going to bodyslam you. A boneless wing should be too large to be eaten in one bite (without getting silly about it, anyway), ideally roughly drumstick-shaped, filet-style only. If that meat ain't striated you have failed.
"What about chicken tenders versus chicken fingers?"
Chicken fingers can be ground, are generally thinner, chicken tenders had better be striated or I'll bodyslam you again.
They’re not just non-ground meat, the tender is a specific named part of the chicken, attached to the breast. Just like a chicken only has two legs and two wings, it only has two tenders! (aka tenderloins)
Okay SO
a “chicken tender” is not NECESSARILY a “chicken tenderloin,” and you need to keep an eye out for that because they will certainly use the former to imply the quality of the latter
