Home – style McChicken

There is one thing and one thing only that I like in the McDonald’s menu–the McChicken. Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC and even Jollibee have their versions but McDonald’s McChicken is still the best. Or was, rather. The chicken in the McChicken had shrunk so much during the past two years or so that it’s not as satisfying anymore. There was a time when eating a whole McChicken was like eating a cup of rice with ulam but not anymore. Worse, it looks like they’re using some kind of processed meat these days–not anymore the whole chunk of chicken breast meat that they used in the past. So, since McDonald’s McChicken is no longer as satisfying, a home version sounds like a better alternative.

Home-style McChicken sandwiches were last night’s dinner. We were feeling summery and my husband finally moved the picnic table and chairs that he bought last Christmas to the now-small backyard (it shrunk because we built a kitchen wing a year and a half ago). New outdoor lights had been installed (part of the renovations that I mentioned a few entries ago) and it was fun eating dinner outdoors–much, much preferable to eating inside the house. Except where there is airconditioning, the house is an oven until around 10.00 p.m. when the cooler night air pushes out the trapped heat.

The heat is also one of the reasons we often prefer sandwiches for dinner these days. The usual full Pinoy meal of rice and ulam (viand) just feels so heavy and, in the heat, seems to trigger a feeling of indigestion.

Preparing home-style McChicken isn’t difficult. You need chicken breast meat fillets, salt and pepper, some flour and cooking oil. Cut the chicken breast horizontally so that the pieces are no more than three quarters of an inch thick. Any thicker than that will be rather difficult to bite into. Season them with salt and pepper, dredge in flour and fry in very hot oil. Flip once during cooking to brown both sides evenly. Drain on absorbent paper towels before serving.

To make our home-style McChicken sandwiches, we cut a whole loaf of French bread into four equal parts. We split them open, spread them with mayonnaise, laid lots of romaine lettuce on the bottom half, arranged the fried chicken breast fillets on top of the lettuce, covered everything with the top half of the bread and then we devoured them.

Of course, those were just the basic things that went into the sandwiches. There were variations. My 13-year-old daughter Sam had more unique ideas for her sandwich spread. She mixed together some mayo, French mustard and ketchup and used that as the base for her sandwich. Me, I liked it simpler. A generous spread of mayo was enough for me.

Since I only bought one French bread yesterday, those who wanted second helpings (my husband and 12-year-old daughter) had to make do with the regular white bread. Actually, any kind of bread would be good with fried chicken breast fillets. You can even serve them as an entree, rather than as a sandwich, with dinner rolls and a salad. You know, like chicken fillet steaks.

Another way of serving fried chicken fillets, and this is something I have enjoyed many times before, is to use cole slaw instead of mayo and whole lettuce leaves. Spread a generous amount of cole slaw on the bottom half of the sandwich, place the chicken on top and cover with the top half of the bread. It’s really delicious. I would have done that last night but the thought of making cole slaw, in addition to cooking the chicken, made me feel that I would wilt in the heat. Another time, when the weather isn’t so offensive, I’ll do that again.

So, that was last night’s home-style McChicken–100% chicken breast meat with no extenders, no extended coating to make them look bigger and only the freshest lettuce, not shredded leaves that had been wilting in the fridge for days. You control the amount of mayo you put in it or you can even ditch the mayo if you’re on a serious diet. Definitely loads better than fastfood junk.

[tags]chicken+sandwich, sandwich+recipe, McChicken, chicken+recipe, cooking+blog, food+blog[/tags]