YumSugar

But Won't Your Soda Get Warm?!?

YumSugar — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:28:31 -0800

Most of the time I love living here in San Francisco, but occasionally, something pops up that makes me wonder why oh why I don't live somewhere else. Usually it's food related, and this time it's the Col-Pop. The Col-Pop is South Korean based BBQ Chicken's new gizmo that combines a drink container with a food container. Col-Pop could seriously take over the world, but right now they are available on the US East Coast only. Our friends at Serious Eats got to check it out and even made a video and a chart. Be sure to check out all of their coverage, or check out the video when you read more.

Reader Recipe: Chicken Littles

YumSugar — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:20:31 -0800

If the little ones - or big ones - in your life love Chicken Nuggets, but you'd rather not let them indulge in the mystery-styled meat, you could always do like TeamSugar member jennifer76, and make your own. Her recipe for Chicken Littles is based on an old Martha Stewart one and features actual chunks (aka nuggets) of chicken breasts that have been breaded and fried. It's like fried chicken, but nuggetized! To get her tasty recipe, read more.

Chicken Littles
Submitted by TeamSugar member jennifer76

The kiddos loooove chicken nuggets, and while I'll give them the Morningstar fake veggie nuggets, I'm not a fan of mechanically separated frozen sawdust. . . . I mean chicken nuggets. So, I adapted an old Martha Stewart fried chicken recipe to make them that nuggety goodness.

Marinade Ingredients
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 tbsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. cayenne
3 chicken breasts, nuggetized

Frying Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. pepper
Wholotta peanut oil

Mix together the buttermilk, coarse salt, and cayenne. Put chicken nuggets in a gallon Ziploc bag and pour in mixture. Put Ziploc bag in another Ziploc bag. Consider putting both Ziploc bags in a bowl. I have serious issues with possible chicken funk fridge spills.

Marinate overnight. Remember that buttermilk is acidic, so if you leave the chicken in the mixture more than 24 hours, it will start to toughen up the chicken meat. The cayenne will make the mixture reddish and spotty, so try not to look at it too much or you'll gross yourself out.

Heat up your wholotta peanut oil in a big saucepan over mediumish heat. Whisk together the flour, salt, and pepper. Because of the buttermilk, your flour mixture will get clumpy as you go. So, you'll want to take portions of that mixture and put them on a plate to bread the chicken, dumping the mixture when it gets clumpy and putting fresh flour mix out.

Drop a tiny pinch of flour in the oil, if it sizzles up, your oil is good to go. Bread the chicken in the flour mixture, covering each piece completely.

Mmm...raw chicken.

Cook it in the oil, turning frequently until golden brown. It takes about . . . for-ev-ver. I go totally by color and not at all by time.

Nice, clean early-oil.

Also, if you're smart like me, you'll scrub down your whole stove including all the burners and drip pans before you get a big azz pan of boiling oil going. Trust me . . . you will be so proud of your forethought.

They taste better than they look.

Be sure to pilfer some Honey Roasted Sauce from Chick-Fil-A.

I don't usually use a Spiderman plate, but I used all my little plates for breading . . . and, so I had to share.

Print recipe with images | without images

Yummy Link: McDonald's Topped Pizza

YumSugar — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:27:11 -0800

Apparently there are some things in life that just need to be created. This time it was McDonald's topped pizza. Complete with chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers and fries. Oh and in the last pic, what is with the gun!? - Rabat Joie

Yummy Link: Make McDonald's Nuggets at Home

partysugar — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:30:00 -0700

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to make these McDonald's style chicken nuggets at home. They are perfect football watching food! - For the Love of Food

Love McNuggets? Thank The People Of Knoxville

partysugar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:01:11 -0700

If you love McDonald's chicken nuggets and are looking for someone to hate for your unhealthy addiction, don't blame the employees of McDonalds. Instead point a finger to the residents of Knoxville, Tennessee. Before chicken nuggets made their debut at McDonald's in 1983 (I'm older than the chicken nugget, who knew?) Ronald and his crew had to test market the bites of fried goodness and they chose Knoxville as the lucky city to evaluate their popularity. On today's date, 27 years ago, the chicken nugget was first offered in Knoxville's McDonalds. They were such a hit Ronald and co. had to quickly look for a secondary supplier of "chicken" (how much real chicken goes into producing the nuggets?). The rest of the story is, of course, history as McDonald's has made chicken nuggets one of America's most well liked finger foods.

Yummy Links: From Bobby Flay to Chicken McConfit

partysugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:50:23 -0700

Bobby Flay may be the world's worst horse race caller. - Grub Street
Find out where Bernie Madoff used to eat. - Eater
Got old school photos of your parents partying? Send them here. - Keggers of Yore
The nation's top 10 food trucks. - GQ
Must make: caramelized onion, potato, and blue cheese tart. - Serious Eats
Ten ways to barter for food. - Chow
Meet Rani Cheema, the lady who makes the Food Network's fake food labels. - Sunny Anderson
The latest trend to hit the beverage scene? Bartenders who farm. - Gourmet
Learn how to turn chicken McNuggets into chicken McConfit. - The Feedbag

Healthy Menu Options May Lead to Overindulgence

partysugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:50:31 -0700

The question "would you like fries or salad with that?" is one regularly asked by waitresses across the nation. While it's easy to think the answer is a personal decision that reflects one's eating habits, a soon-to-be-released study shows differently.

The New York Times reports that "the presence of healthy options on a menu can induce some diners to eat less healthily than they otherwise would." In the study, a group of college students were given two menus. One featured regular fast-food items (chicken nuggets, french fries, etc.) and the other was exactly the same with the addition of a salad. When choosing from the first menu, only 10 percent of the subjects ordered french fries. However, when given the menu with salad as an option, 33 percent of the same subjects asked for french fries.

This is an interesting concept and I'm curious to read the report, by the Journal of Consumer Research, when it comes out. Until then, I can only speak about my own experiences and the truth is I've looked at salad on a menu many times and thought, "I should have a salad. . .nah, I'll get the fries." What do you think of the news? Have you ever shunned a healthier dish for something more indulgent?

Source

Study Finds Girls Have Superior Taste to Boys

YumSugar — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:00:46 -0800

For those of you who never understood how your college boyfriend could eat delivery pizza every night, we may have found your answer.

A study of 8,900 Danish schoolchildren at the University of Copenhagen has found that girls are better at recognizing tastes than boys, particularly when it comes to sweet and sour. Since males and females have the same number of tastebuds, the difference lies in how they process taste impressions.

According to the study, boys need, on average, 10 percent more sourness and 20 percent more sweetness than girls to recognize the taste. In addition, because boys seemed less sensitive to recognizing tastes, it only makes sense that boys tended to prefer more extreme flavors than girls.

The study attempted to quantify the tasting ability of children, and its results had a clear message: Children are better tasters than the industry presumes them to be. "One could easily develop more varied food products and snacks for children and young people," said Bodil Allesen-Holm, the scientific head of the study. Could fish sticks and chicken nuggets make way for something more gourmet in the future?

Source

Trend Alert: Foodies on Facebook

YumSugar — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:15:08 -0800

Foodies may be serious about eating, but apparently they're serious about computers: Fast-food chains, food companies, and food celebrities are raising their profiles on social-networking platform Facebook.

Last month, we mentioned that Pizza Hut was the first fast-food chain to launch a Facebook online ordering system, so die-hard users never have to leave the site to order dinner. And yesterday, number one fast-food chain McDonald's launched a Facebook fan site of its own to honor the 25th anniversary of its wildly popular Chicken McNuggets.

In a push to connect to its younger customers, pizza delivery Papa John's has launched a new promotion: Anyone who becomes a "fan" of the Papa John's page on Facebook will receive an online redemption code for a free medium pizza with any online order.

It isn't just fast-food chains who are promoting themselves on Facebook - other food industry insiders are following suit. Candy company Mars advertised its "Get Some Nuts" campaign for Snickers on Facebook, and rumors about Next Food Network Star finalist Lisa Garza spread after she changed her marital status on her Facebook page.

I'm surprised to learn that Facebook has become so important in the world of food. Have you been following the food and beverage industry there?

Source, Source, Source, and Source

Would You Use the Fizz Cup?

YumSugar — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:03:31 -0800

Yesterday I told you guys about the amazing Col-Pop device that allows you to hold soda and chicken nuggets at the same time. Most of you thought it was cool, so today I want to find out what you think of The Fizz Cup. It's the "ultimate on the go soda float device," and yet, something tells me it might be the only on the go soda float device. You put the ice cream in the top, and you screw it on to the top of a normal soda bottle. I don't know if we really need an ice cream float on the go device, but I guess it's kinda fun. What do you think?