483: Chicken Nuggets
Molly 0:00
Hi everybody, it's Molly here popping in all by myself to say that I am going to be teaching a writing workshop coming up soon it's going to be on April 11. That's a Sunday from 12 noon to 2:30pm. Pacific. And it's called taking happiness seriously and approach to writing emotion. It is for writers of all kinds, even people who feel shy about calling themselves writers. And I'm going to be talking about an approach that I use to try to get real life emotion onto the page in a way that feels vibrant and true. So join me if you'd like to, to sign up just go to Molly weissenberg comm slash shop so that's Molly weissenberg comm slash shop. Hopefully I'll see you on April 11. Thanks.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:00
I'm Matthew.
Molly 1:01
And I'm Molly. And this is spilled
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:03
belly this year where we cook something delicious. Eat it all in you can't have any
Molly 1:08
This is our third time recording the intro and we finally have a lot of energy. Yeah, I've
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:13
been pounding red bowls monsters, that there's not we already did an energy drink show this is no I drank some pretend imaginary energy drinks
Molly 1:23
well, and nothing makes me feel as energetic as today's show topic, which is chicken nuggets.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:30
Yeah. Is that what they were referring to? When they say dank? nugs?
Molly 1:36
I've never heard that. I mean, I've heard Dang, but I've never heard nugs
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:40
I think it I think it's a chicken.
Molly 1:42
Like we buds weed berries.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:45
I think they're weed weed berries. Yes. Yeah. My favorite. Your favorite great Seattle. breakfast cereal.
Molly 1:55
Okay, all right, Matthew. It is 946 in the morning when we're recording this. Do you have any chicken nuggets nearby?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:04
I don't have any chicken nuggets nearby. But I want to tell you about Comedy Week on Stitcher. Is that a good segue? Yes, yes, this is perfect. They are celebrating our show and many other hilarious podcasts for April Fool's no tricks, just treats, you can listen to spilled milk, and many, many other great comedy shows, discover some new obsessions for free on Stitcher.
Molly 2:24
And here's how it works. You can even check out their curated homepage to find your next comedy podcast obsession. So like Comedy Bang Bang, How did this get made? And you can listen to them ad free?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:36
Yep, for 499 a month or 3499 a year you can use the code spilled milk to sign up for stitcher premium and get our show ad free all those other shows ad free. That's at stitcher.com slash premium. And it's not valid on in app purchases. Don't you love being curated? I love it when we get curated. I do too. Especially when we get curated like in like an old fashioned curating shack with a little smoke.
Molly 3:01
Yes. Old Fashioned Curie.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:04
That's so dumb. Let's talk about chicken nuggets. How about it?
Molly 3:07
Okay, so Matthew, here we are. We're doing chicken nuggets. Was this suggested by someone?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:12
I think it was suggested by me. I think it was a thing on a previous episode where I'm like, I can't believe we've never done chicken nuggets. And you were like, I don't know.
Molly 3:21
Yeah. So, you know, usually one of us does the research for any given episode. Today, we really split it up. And we emphasized our strengths.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:29
Yeah, I think you did most of it, though.
Molly 3:31
I went deep on the corporate research, and Matthew threw in a few things. Exactly. Eating and cooking. Anyway, but um, yeah. So today, we're talking about chicken nuggets, which I think most of us think of as primarily like an industrial food. Yeah. But I actually I was intrigued to learn more about them and think about how like, I have actually encountered many chicken nugget that I enjoy. Ah, ha,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:57
yeah, it's not just dinosaurs.
Molly 4:00
I don't even you wrote that on the agenda. And I was like, What are you even talking about?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:04
Okay, we'll get there. Okay. All right. Let's go down memory lane. Did you eat chicken nuggets? As a child, I imagine this as being a thing your mom, which would not let you eat?
Molly 4:14
No, I was allowed to eat this. So here's the thing when I was a kid, we didn't really go to McDonald's. My mom preferred Wendy's. I think because Jamba that the period of time when they had a big potato bar and stuff. Yeah, we more often went to Wendy's and at Wendy's, I would always get you know, like the kids meal. However, at some point, in childhood, I got the opportunity to go to McDonald's or like we broke the seal on McDonald's. started going. And it was years before I ever had a burger at McDonald's because all I ever ordered at McDonald's was the chicken nugget. Okay, yeah. And I would always get what was this is the smallest size it was at four piece six piece.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:57
Oh boy. Four Is it for I was gonna say five but like I remember it's like the progression of sizes was kind of unexpected, right?
Molly 5:08
Yeah, we're gonna say more about that in a minute. And it seems to me that as a kid or like an adolescent I would have gotten the four piece but for some reason the phrase six piece chicken nugget just comes rolling right off my tongue.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:20
It does sound good.
Molly 5:21
I must have gotten the six piece chicken nugget and I would always get it with honey for dipping, huh? Yeah, he told me that was like the way to do it. And I was the kind of kid who if you told me it was the way to do it. That's how I would do it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:35
That makes sense. Now can we name all the dipping sauces off the top of our head?
Molly 5:39
Absolutely not. I only ever had honey,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:42
because there was there's honey was there also honey mustard?
Molly 5:45
I want to say that there was
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:47
there's barbecue there sweet and sour. Is that that might be it. I'm like some most people listening I think know the answer and are going to be very disappointed in us.
Molly 5:56
Yeah, that's okay. It does seem like there should be something creamy like a ranch dressing situation. But that would be best with like a spicy nugget.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:05
Yeah. Which we'll get Oh,
Molly 6:07
yeah, I think yeah. So what about you, Matthew? Were there many chicken nuggets in your childhood?
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:13
Kind of so? I don't remember honestly, whether they were not one of my favorites as a kid. I did not like chicken mcnuggets which I know makes me like that. even weirder than not liking ketchup as a kid like something about them. I'd still not a big fan of chicken mcnuggets I don't know what it is.
Molly 6:30
No, he I have very vivid memory. And I should say McDonald's really was the only place I ever ate chicken nuggets. I have a very vivid memory of like getting a little like Grizzly mouthful that like
Unknown Speaker 6:43
when it wouldn't chew.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:46
So I remember when Burger King introduced chicken tenders, which like we can argue and I think we are going to argue like viciously about whether chicken strips are chicken nuggets, chicken tenders maybe a little more on the chicken strip end of the spectrum, but they I thought they were much better than than McNuggets
Molly 7:04
i think that i thought that anything that wasn't a mcnugget was just sort of like a sad, like second generation like watered down. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:17
I mean, because like I think frozen like Costco frozen nuggets, like started to become a thing around the same time we would have been discovering our nuggets.
Molly 7:29
When you discovered you
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:32
know, they just like, I guess kind of from the time they descended.
Molly 7:36
You have to
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:38
I got the two pack. We discovered out the smallest size.
They're more strip shaped.
Molly 7:59
Drip shaped like do you have just dripped to get to them?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:03
Sir, I guess. So that eventually I tried the Wendy's chicken nuggets. I think those are the best.
Molly 8:15
just brought it right back. But I've never had Wendy's chicken nugget. Seriously, I really think I thought this was only a thing that could exist at McDonald's.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:24
haven't you gotten the four for four at Wendy's?
Molly 8:27
Absolutely not. I only get like a cheeseburger at when Okay, that's all I ever get. Cuz like I in a frosty.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:34
I feel like if I start talking about the four for four, it's gonna sound like this episode was sponsored by Wendy's, which unfortunately, it was not.
Molly 8:40
Wait a minute, hold on what's the 444444
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:43
is the is like, the greatest and most terrible achievement of capitalism. Because for $4 you get like a small burger of your choice, which can be like a, you know, like a bacon cheeseburger, I think four nuggets, small fries, and a drink which you can substitute a frosty at no additional charge.
Molly 9:03
This is amazing. It's amazing. And I don't want to eat a burger and chicken nuggets.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:13
Yeah, that's my thought every time I order it and then I get it and then I eat all those nuggets.
Molly 9:20
What about the all the burger and all the fries?
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:22
I think I can eat everything out and then and then I'm kind of good for the day.
Molly 9:26
Okay, all right. So hold on let's let's just get right into it here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:31
nugget and why? Okay,
Molly 9:33
so, Matthew, this is gonna answer like a lot of the questions that you wrote into the agenda about the definition and like the lines between chicken nuggets and other chicken things.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:46
I'm so happy about that.
Molly 9:47
Here we go. A chicken nugget is a small piece of D boned chicken that is breaded or battered than deep fried or apparently sometimes baked but I don't know who does that. Of course, it's most popular in the world of fast Food. It's also sold as like a frozen food for home use. But let's talk really quick I want to talk about like chicken nugget history. But first I want to talk about how they're made.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:11
Yeah, please do I want to know well,
Molly 10:13
we'll get into like, you know that the Frankenstein version of this in a minute. But at its most basic, the idea of a chicken nugget is just D boned meat. But there are three different ways of D boning me. Okay, okay. Okay, you ready? Yeah. So you can either do it manually
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:30
with a knife. Okay, okay, probably that's probably not how many nuggets are done.
Molly 10:34
There are also machines that do it with like a series of automatic blades which is kind of cool to imagine
Unknown Speaker 10:39
that is pretty cool. Like that
Molly 10:42
would cut up the chicken and then like turn different cuts in different ways to remove the bones
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:47
has Wolverine ever been hired to D bone chicken?
Molly 10:50
Is that like a construction company? Like, like? Are you mean that the animal? No,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:58
keep going? No. I'm here if you're more guesses about what Wolverine is?
Molly 11:02
Well, I'm thinking like, you know, like the companies that make like excavators dump trucks.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:09
I was thinking Wolverine the comic book x man.
Unknown Speaker 11:12
Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:13
who is like a guy a guy with claws like a claw is about every good point. I was his her hands is kind of the the original Wolverine except probably Wolverine predated Edward Scissorhands.
Molly 11:28
I almost referred to him as Johnny's name that came up for me first.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:37
No, like, like, Wolverine like Edward Scissorhands. Like, like Johnny says your penis would all would have had support group for for like people with blades.
Unknown Speaker 11:49
Not done with the three I know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:53
But you made it through two of them. And I that's good enough.
Molly 11:56
Okay, Matthew, repeat for me. What have we learned? What? What is one way of devoting chicken?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:04
Okay, one way is manually with a knife. Okay. One way is Wolverine, aka a machine with blades. Okay,
Molly 12:12
the third way is by grinding so you can imagine like you just put the whole thing in the grinder and like the stuff that cannot be ground apparently won't pass through the plate. But this seems really frightening to me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:24
It's very Yeah, it's like it's definitely like, you know, a like how the sausage is made kind of scenario. Yeah,
Molly 12:30
right. Yeah. Anyway, so if grinding is the method, of course, then the resulting like meat paste has to be shaped back into a nugget. But of course, you know, if it's done manually or with Edward Scissorhands. Then you wind up with something that's more like a strip or like a Tinder, right, like something that you could actually produce in your own kitchen.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:53
Oh, so that's, that's the one where it's not ground. Correct.
Molly 12:56
Okay. I mean, I think most of the time what we encounter in like the fast food context we think of as being like made from meat paste. Yeah, because of all the horror videos about McDonald's, which we'll get back to in a minute, but okay, but yeah, so So basically, I do think that chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, chicken strips. All these things, I think are the same thing. But I think that some people choose the word that they use to maybe try to point us thinking in the direction of like a higher class fancier, just like D boned piece of chicken as opposed to meat paste.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:35
Oh, I think it works. Like I definitely think of like a chicken tender as being higher class than a chicken nugget. But like, I'm just I'm just falling for their for their PR.
Molly 13:44
Well, and also we can I mean, you can buy chicken tenders? Like at the butcher shop. You know? Yes. So right. Like it's closer to the actual animal that it came from even though in truth it's just encountered a few you're a few fewer blades.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:01
Yes, but but may have like it may have passed through the the hands of Edward Scissorhands and Wolverine on its way to your plate
Molly 14:09
it might have it might have one can never say so. Hold on. I think that like to sort of get to how we got here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:19
Yes. I think we got here on some some sort of excavator.
Molly 14:23
Let's talk about. Do you remember the episode when we were flying around in a dumpster?
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:28
I do. I don't remember what episode it
Molly 14:30
was sometime in 20. Okay, anyway, let's talk about when these became like a thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:35
I'm gonna guess the 80s
Molly 14:36
so you're close. It was actually the late 70s. Okay, when they became like sort of a mass market thing, but interestingly enough, and I do think this is kind of interesting. You know, I love the old like corporate history. Yes, I do too. So chicken nuggets as like, a concept of like a food product that could be battered and fried and then frozen and distributed. Like the product itself was invented in the 50s. Now, I'm not saying that like prior to that nobody had ever battered and fried a piece of chicken. That's not what I'm saying. But like as an industrial product that we know, as a chicken nugget.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:14
So you're saying that for that nobody ever ever battered and fried a piece of chicken.
Molly 15:18
That's exactly what you have been listening. So according to Wikipedia, there's this guy named Robert C. Baker, who was a food science professor at Cornell, and he was the one who invented the mechanism that made it possible to like mass produce what we now know as the chicken nugget.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:38
So chicken nuggets have an Ivy League pedigree.
Molly 15:41
Yes. In fact, according to Wikipedia, whatever this phrase means he published his version of the chicken nugget as an unpatented academic work okay, it never occurred to me to do this kind of work when I was in academia. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:56
like to do like weird chicken experiments. Yeah,
Molly 15:59
I just never thought of it at so many missed opportunities.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:02
Yeah, no, you could have been like a principal chicken investigator
Molly 16:05
I could have been anyway he called it a chicken crispy. Oh, I like that. Yeah, so apparently around this time the meat industry was trying to figure out how to make something like what we now know as the chicken nugget, but they were having trouble on two fronts they were having trouble like getting the meat to clump without some sort of like a casing or a skin Okay. And then also producing a batter that could be both deep fried and frozen without like detaching from the meat clump. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:35
get where they're coming from because like i've i've had like a like a coating detach in the kitchen. This sounds like this is a setup for a bit but but like, actually, no, it's just really gross. When that happens and upsetting.
Molly 16:47
He came up with some innovations, which honestly seem like just good food science. He came up with some innovations that solve both problems. So in order to make the the meat hold together, he coated it in vinegar, salt, grains and some milk powder. Okay to like, kind of like making a meatball frankly, like, yeah, seems like he just used some like binding stuff. And then he used an egg and grain based batter, which sounds to me like any batter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:17
Yeah, that's kind of what a batter is.
Molly 17:19
Right. That could be fried as well as frozen. Anyway, thank you, Robert C. Baker.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:25
I mean, his name is Robert C. Baker, but it seems like he was more of a fryer than Right. Right. Yeah, really makes you think.
Molly 17:32
Yeah, then then we really get into corporate history, which is that I think that the nugget really became what it is today, when McDonald's brought out the MC nugget. Okay, when was that the recipe that was developed in the late 70s for what is known as Chicken McNuggets, which is its own recipe. And it was launched into select markets in 1981. And then kind of became I saw that it went to Canada in 1984. And I assume sort of you know, spread out from there. Anyway, so So yeah, Matthew, you and I have grown up in the age of the mcnugget. We are we are
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:11
made of McNuggets Yeah, we
Molly 18:13
Yes, exactly. And what I find really fascinating and weird about the MC nugget is as I learned from researching this episode, their nuggets come in four shapes. Are you ready?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:25
Yes, I've heard this before and always forget.
Molly 18:28
Okay, the bell the bow tie the ball and the boot so these shapes were reportedly chosen because McDonald's claims that they are the perfect equilibrium of oh my god did my autocorrect change to disability?
Unknown Speaker 18:47
Yeah, no, no,
Molly 18:48
they are the perfect equilibrium dip ability and fun three would have been too few and five would have been like
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:57
wacky
Molly 18:58
so have you I found a picture out there on the interweb of the four shapes although what appears to be the that maybe the bow tie
Unknown Speaker 19:05
shape here is called oh yeah shape
Molly 19:08
these to me just look like no I think I think you could go get
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:12
like if you didn't know about this you could like go through your whole life casually munching nuggets and not notice that like there are only four fundamental shapes
Molly 19:21
I'm struggling I mean so now that I learned this I do remember eating one of the ones that is technically boot shamy to that's the that's the the outlier I think yeah, I mean it's hard to miss that one because it's really it's got this like Italy thing going on like it's really got a little a little heel
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:40
yes, no, it's definitely Oh, it's got it's got Italy thing going on like it's really it's called one country but it's really like a lot of like autonomous regions. Yeah, they're with their own history and culture.
Molly 19:52
I remember dipping the pool Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:54
in my Yes, exactly. I remember the the. You got you got to really get in Now that Priscilla kata, got a little peppery, like, like red pepper, God,
Molly 20:06
I really, really love the way that Emilia Romagna is it Emilia Romagna or Amelia Romana? Romagna it tastes with barbecue sauce.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:18
Yeah. Like, it makes sense because Emilia Romagna and like all the regions of Italy goes through the most barbecue sauce
Molly 20:28
anyway, their parcel
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:29
to sweet baby Ray's
Molly 20:31
okay so wait Matthew but look at these shapes so the I'm sorry got the right now
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:35
I can't look away
Molly 20:37
or like not that different like if you turn to the ball like 45 degrees to the left it would just look like a bell
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:43
well and they're only one letter one vowel different. You feel I feel like I'm high right now. Oh, I'm
Molly 20:52
not so fun anyway, um, yeah, so I did not really know this but i mean i get it like I although I think if I had to choose one I would just keep eating the boot over and over and over
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:05
again. I agree the boots which what is the point of the boot? No, not the point is in like the goal. But in Italy like because because the pool is the heel of the boot. Right?
Molly 21:19
Well, yeah, having compania
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:20
the toe of the boot, maybe Alright, I'm sorry, I have
Molly 21:25
those breaches. But I can't tell you just pull your extend all the way down to the
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:31
calabria's the toe of the boot and then the heel.
Molly 21:35
Okay, just pull you go all the way to like the Vibram sole of the heel.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:39
No, that's facilite kata
Molly 21:40
that's what I thought I did not because pulley is a little higher on the heel.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:44
Okay, so no pulley it goes all the way down to to the sole of the heel and like kind of up the back of the shoe. But oh okay. Okay, yeah, and then Basilicata is like is like the the arch
Molly 21:55
got it. Okay, so Basilicata would be on the the Mediterranean side and pull yeah is on the G No,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:03
the Oh no, I just closed the map.
Molly 22:05
Oh my god.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:06
Oh, no, no, sorry. This is so important to this episode. So Jakob Okay, just a minute
Molly 22:12
what see is that over the Adriatic
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:15
pulley is on the entry attic. I almost
Molly 22:16
said a gn and I was like, that's wrong.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:19
So So Calabria is on the Ionian Sea on the south side, or the east side and the tyrrhenian Sea on the west side, which is part of the Mediterranean. They're both part of the Mediterranean. And Basilicata is on the Gulf. They the like insole of the arch area forms the Gulf of Toronto, Toronto, not not Toronto,
Molly 22:40
not Canada. No, where's Ontario?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:44
Ontario is in Eastern or Eastern Oregon, and Southern California. We went to Ontario for are
Molly 22:52
also in Canada.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:53
Yeah, God, I
Molly 22:54
just served that right to you. Dude, you were just talking about Toronto?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:58
Yes, I know. I know. Ontario's in Canada
Molly 23:04
This is our worst episode. Okay, anyway
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:09
I'm so bad now I've got a Wolverine out
Molly 23:12
I totally went did my pool yeah in in honey.
Unknown Speaker 23:20
back
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:20
No, no, I know.
Molly 23:31
Can we just go back to this question of like the pink slime.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:34
Oh yeah, sure. I mean that's that's like the machine the way they grind it up with the bones and remove the bones so yeah, is the pink slime something other than just like super finely ground chicken meat with the bone sort of sieved out?
Molly 23:48
Well I think that maybe I'm guessing here because I did not go deep on the pink slime investigative trail. I had enough of that when I was like in middle school Yeah, sure. But I venture to guess that there like preservatives and things in there that make it that color
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:03
and like additional fat for sure. Like like because there's a whole a whole chicken is not that fatty. What correct chicken nugget is
Molly 24:11
well and you know surprising no one. A study in the American Journal of Medicine analyzed the composition of chicken nuggets from two American fast food chains. They found that less than half of the material was skeletal muscle. So muscle being what we usually eat of chicken right? with fat occurring in an equal or greater proportion. other components included that sounds pretty
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:35
good to me,
Molly 24:36
right? Like well marbled beef. Okay. other components included epithelial tissue, bone, nervous tissue and connective tissue. The authors concluded that chicken nuggets are mostly fat and their name is a misnomer. I don't know. I mean, nothing. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:51
don't know that
Molly 24:52
like you're gonna have a nugget of gold. Why can you have a nugget of fat?
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:54
Yeah, absolutely.
Molly 24:55
Matthew Hold on. Let's just go a little further into like the weird thing. About chicken nuggets,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:01
I will go as far down the nugget hole as you're willing to take. Okay, okay,
Molly 25:05
that so there's a person named Thomas wellborn.
Unknown Speaker 25:08
I love the name funny name.
Molly 25:10
Okay, who holds the world record for eating chicken nuggets? Okay. 42 chicken nuggets. That's 746 grams in three minutes. So three minutes 42 nuggets. Honestly, I was a little surprised that it wasn't more than that. Hmm, well, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:27
mean, it's just it's like the three minute cut off because that makes it that makes it really like more about speed than capacity. No, no, that's
Molly 25:34
not what I'm saying. But I am. Yeah, I guess you're right. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:38
I mean, cuz obviously he was still hungry after. Okay. The chicken nuggets Do you think you could eat like I think I once listened to an episode of maybe the doughboys podcast where they did like a chicken nugget Power Hour where they were trying to eat one nugget per minute for an hour, which is a bad idea. I think I can eat like a baby.
Molly 26:00
Are we talking about like McDonald's chicken nuggets or
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:04
like are like nuggets of that size?
Molly 26:06
I could definitely do six or eight E's okay. Big time. Okay, Matthew. Let's let's talk about the largest recorded chicken nugget.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:15
Okay, picture this like like the largest nugget that was like like an accident like, like an oops on nugget accident at the ethnic nugget factory or like some kid opened up like the four pack it was three regular sized ones and like one like like 16 pound like nugget tumor.
Molly 26:33
No, you are way low balling here because the largest recorded chicken nugget weighed 51.1 pounds. It was 3.25 feet long and two feet wide. And it was unveiled at kosher fast in Secaucus, New Jersey in 2013.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:49
The thing is, when you say largest recorded that makes it sound like it was some sort of natural
Molly 26:54
phenomena right now. Right? Like, like at McDonald's in Secaucus, New Jersey, like somebody was frying nuggets, turned away for a second and turned back and they had all fused together into 150
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:07
pound nugget. It sounds like is one of those like miracles were like they're like you see, like the Virgin Mary's face on a nugget. Yes. So I assume that the giant kosher fest nugget was kosher, right,
Molly 27:18
assuming so I don't know why else it would be at kosher.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:22
Right. Well, I mean, it might have like interloper,
Molly 27:25
maybe legs and walked in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:28
Yeah.
Molly 27:31
Ah, Matthew. So wait a minute. Let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:34
we've been talking all about. Sorry, I have to go back to the world's largest nugget. Did they like cut it up? Okay, first of all, did people eat it? I hope so. I don't want it to go to waste. Like did they cut it up into like regular nugget sized pieces? If so, were they boot shaped? And if not, did they just like ring a bell and then like a bunch of people just like ran in like the Oklahoma land rush and just started knowing on this nugget until it was gone? And if so, is that on YouTube?
Molly 28:02
The thing is like, imagine if you cut it up? I mean, this thing is two by three feet.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:07
Yeah.
Molly 28:09
It'd be mostly like eating
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:11
bread meat.
Molly 28:12
Yeah, like an unseasoned meatball.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:14
Yeah, this sounds bad. This sounds terrible. I'm
Molly 28:17
glad I wasn't there.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:19
Yeah. Okay, wait,
Molly 28:20
hold on. Actually, I was gonna steer us away from fast food nuggets. But first, I do want to talk about the number of nuggets that one can order, please. So McDonald's describes their Chicken McNuggets as small pieces of reconstituted boneless, Wait, is this really what they describe?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:41
I don't know. There's a lawsuit. And they have two
Molly 28:43
small pieces of reconstituted boneless chicken meat that have been battered and deep fried. Okay. So the portion sizes that you can order they vary by country. And in the US, they come in packs of four 610 20 and 50. In selected stores, which they market for things like the Super Bowl and whatever, okay. In some other markets, they come in for six, nine or 20.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:08
I remember nine I feel
Molly 29:10
sitting by this, like how like, how did they decide like, oh, let's do nine in this market and 10 in this market? Like did they do focus groups like nine is considered a lucky number in this country? Or I bet it was something like that. This sounds like the product of like intense marketing research. Hmm. And also they wanted to be able to sort of say 69 Yeah, they did. They did. Okay, well, anyway, I think that's all I really need. You know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:36
this reminds me of is like, Munchkins, is that is that? Are those the ones that dunkin donuts? That doughnut holes that you can Yeah, like in boxes, like like a box and like 1020 like 50 or 100. And like, the really big box just seems so appealing to me. Even though like after like four doughnut holes. I'm kind of done.
Molly 29:56
I get that maybe for our next corporate retreat. We'll get like you know 100 pack or some now, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:03
mean, I think I would be happy just to get like the 20
Molly 30:06
Okay, cool. So Matthew, I think we have we've reached the end of of my portion of the show. Can we talk about like chicken tenders? Or like nugget format chicken meat that we've encountered maybe in like non fast food contexts?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:22
Yeah, no, I'm glad you introduced verb are my favorite segment nugget format chicken meat we have encountered. So when I was thinking about chicken nuggets, I asked myself like is chicken caught dog ate chicken nuggets? And I think it is.
Molly 30:36
I think it absolutely is.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:38
So it's khata gay is is a Japanese fried chicken preparation where you you cut up boneless chicken meat into chunks, you marinate it, you bread it and you fry it and usually serve it with a squeeze a lemon. And that's a nugget and it's a delicious nugget. Like it's like very lightly breaded compared to the nuggets we've been talking about. It's usually just tossed in, in like, starch, corn starch or potatoes, potato starch, something like that.
Molly 31:07
I was gonna I was gonna ask how it's breaded. Is it is there egg involved?
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:12
There is not okay. So usually it's marinated in in you know like with like, soy sauce and ginger or something like that. And so so then you've got like this, this wet marinated chicken chunk that you then just toss with with a pretty substantial amount of starch and then fry god
Molly 31:30
oh my god Good
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:30
call dog is so good. So good. And it stays hot. Like I mean it's good cold like all fried chicken is at nuggets, nuggets or not right now. Well, I
Molly 31:40
think that Yeah, once again, like I don't want to eat a fast food nugget. Cold because the texture of the like industrially. Ground nugget meat is like, challenging at best,
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:53
right?
Molly 31:54
I mean, there's all that epithelial tissue in there. Oh, boy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:59
And then that got me thinking of like, I've definitely had Kirk like nugget format Korean fried chicken. Like, you know, I've been to like a Korean place where I got the Korean fried chicken and it was boneless and it was served in kind of nugget shape. You know, I'm
Molly 32:13
thinking about who Nan, the Chinese restaurant of my youth. I'm just thinking about like, I can pick a platter of their sweet and sour chicken. Yeah, that was basically like, a much more delicious version of nuggets.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:27
Yes.
Molly 32:28
Oh my god. Why? Why do we only associate Well, I guess chicken nuggets is an industrial product but breaded and fried pieces of debone Chicken show up all over the place. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:40
we cannot forget to talk about dinosaurs by the way.
Molly 32:43
Okay, what what about
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:44
dinosaurs? Because then then we're gonna get back to to like non fast food nuggets. Because there's one other thing that we need to talk about. That's very important, but like this, it's definitely still exists. And like you can get it at Costco. It's I think, I think like dyno buddies is one of the brands gets its chicken nuggets in in dinosaur shake.
Molly 33:03
I bet they all look like the boot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:05
Yeah, I bet they all look like the boot if the boot is like a Stegosaurus?
Molly 33:08
Yes. Do they haven't even a Brontosaurus is like with a really long neck.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:13
Yes. They had to rebrand them as a pad of Saurus and then back to Brontosaurus.
Molly 33:19
Wait a minute. Are we back to Brontosaurus? I forgot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:22
I think Brontosaurus is back baby.
Molly 33:24
Really?
Unknown Speaker 33:25
Oh man. I
Molly 33:26
gotta catch up on this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:28
Yeah, cuz like Weren't you so mad when they when they said it wasn't Brontosaurus?
Molly 33:31
Yeah, because I mean one of the like, some of the only dinosaurs that are widely known by like just random people or like Brontosaurus T rex maybe Stegosaurus Triceratops or
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:43
Raptor but only after yes Jurassic Park came out
Molly 33:47
Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:48
that was pretty cool actually have Jurassic Park was like, This is gonna be your first this dinosaur you've never heard of is going to be your new favorite dinosaur. Yeah. And it worked. It totally worked.
Molly 33:57
What about the old pterodactyl do people talk about pterodactyls anymore?
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:01
I think I think like I among like my
Molly 34:04
they got their names change too. It's like Terra Don
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:07
Oh no, really? I think oh, okay, hold on. Cuz like it turned out they didn't wait wait because a dawn is a tooth right? And a dactyl is a is a is like a finger. Oh, wait
Molly 34:17
a minute. pterodactyl.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:19
God. This is so important. Right here.
Molly 34:22
dactyl is the common term for the winged reptiles properly called pterosaurs.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:27
Oh, okay, that makes sense.
Molly 34:28
Scientists typically avoid using the chairman concentrate on individual Jin Jin era
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:34
genera. Jana? Yeah,
Molly 34:36
it was Tara. Tara dawn
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:38
okay Rana, Don to Rana does like a big Terra dactyl.
Molly 34:42
I left out a syllable in there, but it seems like they're different things to ranadive with Lyra dactyl
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:49
I wish I could beat dinosaurs. That would be so cool. Like,
Molly 34:53
I just looked at this picture of one that just came up in my Google Images and for a second I thought it was real because it had been like photoshopped onto backdrop of like, like, what looked like the California coast?
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:03
what you thought it was real like someone really took a photo of a dinosaur
Molly 35:07
a second like it really looked like a photo and I got really hopeful, but it was like
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:12
a chicken is tactically a dinosaur to bring things back around, right?
Molly 35:15
Oh, yes. So maybe that's why they made like dyno nuggets or whatever they're
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:21
called. Exactly, but I guess and these became a thing like in the 90s. That was like, used as like a cudgel to criticize moms. Like, you know, like, you know, you let your kid eat, like dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets all day long. Like what kind of parent are you? It was it got it got like, like, stirred into the the misogynistic stew. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 35:41
I love
Molly 35:42
dinosaur nugget in my stew.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:45
Yes, but like a beat. Everything's pretty fucked anyway. Couldn't we just do Jurassic Park?
Molly 35:51
You mean? Like, we've already tried all kinds of other bad ideas? Like let's make a real Jurassic Park.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:58
Yes, exactly. Like would like what a real Jurassic Park be like, among the 10 worst things going on right now? Absolutely. So now and like, it would be so cool. It would be so cool. If I was like in an outhouse and got eaten by a T Rex. Like I would love that like, best way to go.
Molly 36:16
I would totally sacrifice my little glass of water to put it on the dashboard. Exactly. tremble.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:23
Yep, that is so good of you.
Molly 36:25
Okay, hold on back to non fast food wings. Well, let's go let's go fast food adjacent. Let's go to Buffalo Wild Wings.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:32
Let's go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Should that be the first restaurant we go back to like pandemic Navy?
Molly 36:39
Maybe? Oh, wait, what didn't we get like giant Margarita or something there? Or like, is that what we got? That seems so random with nuggets. I mean, with wings?
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:48
It's good.
Molly 36:49
No, but that's what we got in my mind. Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:52
I mean, it goes because Mark rays are like a sports bar thing at Buffalo Wild Wings. It's sort of a sports bar, but like they're certainly not bad together. That's true. Okay, anyway, so so like, if you go to a wing place, they're going to have boneless wings. That's like the Kaiser nuggets. Right
Molly 37:07
on that nugget. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:08
yeah, they haven't like painstakingly de boned a wing, but even if they did, that would still be a nugget. Yes, absolutely. And they're very tasty like the boneless wings of Buffalo Wild Wings are great.
Molly 37:18
Oh, they're delicious. Oh, God, Matthew. I miss old times.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:23
Yeah, me too.
Molly 37:24
Okay, well, let's I feel, oh, we could talk about dipping sauces, but I feel like I'm done with nuggets.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:30
Yeah, I like the barbecue sauce.
Molly 37:32
I don't know what I like anymore. All right, let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:34
go into our segments then. Okay, I mean, we already did our first segment. nugget nugget. nugget like chicken products you may have encountered.
Molly 37:44
I thought you were playing Duck Duck goose.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:48
nugget, nugget nugget. If you ever had goose nuggets.
Molly 37:54
I love the idea of playing Duck Duck goose where you're all sitting in a row in one place or you're all sitting in a circle and one person is like nugget like
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:08
the last thing you say is chicken product. Because I guess you can say we're like chicken chicken chicken nugget. But no, I like yours better. No. Bell ball ball boot.
Molly 38:23
As fast as you can get the idea they have to get up and chase you. Yeah. You take their seat. Right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:30
Well if the if the person fleeing makes it all around all the way around the circle then one thing happens but if you like catch them and tag them, then something else how they're, they're out out. I don't think this is a very good game. Honestly. No good.
Unknown Speaker 38:44
No good. Yeah, no
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:46
that would that would improve it for sure.
Molly 38:50
Oh, man, Abby, please put this on the agenda for our next corporate retreat.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:55
That we're gonna Oh, that the three of us are gonna play nugget nugget chicken product. Okay, I'm in.
Molly 39:06
I'm recording this episode in my bathrobe. It's really hot in here. Oh, I'm so sweaty. I'm really glad I haven't showered yet.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:16
Yeah, I mean, either. It's one of those mornings like I slept in a little this morning. I like dragged myself out of bed. I ate a piece of toast and now I'm talking about chicken nuggets.
Molly 39:25
I yeah, I'm right there with you. I
I actually I got up a little earlier than I had intended. And I made coffee and then I sat in bed and drank my coffee and read a book.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:35
Oh, that sounds great.
Molly 39:36
Oh my god. It was amazing. Okay. I never do sensible things like that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:41
No, that sounds that sounds great. That sounds like a real calgon what was what was the last one? Yeah, it sounds real like a real Celeste for one moment.
Molly 39:50
Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:53
Okay, our first segment is spilled mail.
We have a question from listener. Rob asks, Where did you find your theme music? And where can I do the same? What is the title of this cute little March? Now, first of all, like, do you think Rob wants wants to get their hands on our theme music like So? So that Rob can like do a knock off spilled milk
Molly 40:18
show course. I mean, right. Like, could you be more transparent?
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:22
Yeah. So nice. Try Rob. But but we'll tell you. The song is has a very catchy name. It's called vintage news medium. And it comes with GarageBand. Yes. Oh my god. Do you have a Mac? This is already on your computer. Many other podcasts use it periodically. We've talked about the idea of like conditioning a new theme song but like it wouldn't be better than like the dumb canned music we already have. You can also find it on YouTube. If you don't have a Mac just search for vintage news medium enjoy
Molly 40:52
listener. Rob, we can't wait to hear your podcast.
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:55
Yeah, no, make it a deep fake. Like you like you cut up old split. Like at this point. We've done so many episodes of this show that like you could cut them up and make us say absolutely anything. Don't do that. But, but I mean, math, Joe, I know that if you're gonna make a world but do do that if you're going to make us say something hilarious.
Molly 41:15
Oh my god.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:17
Yes.
Molly 41:17
Why did you say that? Matthew?
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:20
Oh, the thing about how you can cut us up and yes.
Molly 41:23
Now they're gonna do terrible things to us.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:25
I mean, like anybody who was gonna do that already had that idea. They don't need to hear about it for me.
Unknown Speaker 41:30
Oh, okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:32
Ah, all right, let's shall we meet a cute animal you need to know.
You abbreviated this on the agenda that never occurred to me occurred to me to abbreviate it. It's ca YNTK like Cain. I just pretty I
Molly 41:51
had to really sit there in front of my computer and be like, cute.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:55
Animals. Yeah, first letters, obviously. Q for Q. Yep. There you go. Okay, this one comes to us from listener Siri. And it's Nico the baby seal. It's a long video we're gonna put put the link in the show notes. It's lives at the Toba aquarium in ba prefecture Japan. I did do a little research check out to make sure this wasn't like a like a you know, SeaWorld like bad aquarium it seems fine. I cued it up to the best part where they're like you know getting getting Nikko like comfortable with with like the water I guess I don't I don't understand why you would need to like train a baby seal to do that. But anyway, they're like putting the letting the baby seal like like splash around in a little bathtub.
Molly 42:34
Oh my god. It's so cute. I was just looking at the part where it's like rolling around on its back. Yeah. Oh my god, Matthew. It's so cute. Yeah, so God,
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:49
I know it's kind of an obvious cute animal. But since clicking on this video, I can't help but feel that you indeed need to know him. And you're right. Siri we needed we need to know Nico, the baby seal and you do too.
Molly 43:01
Matthew, you need to start the video right around. This is a long video. And I'm just kind of put it out there that you should consider starting it if we can find a way to do the timestamp. Let's start it at five minutes. Okay, it's getting your face cleaned and it does this little squinty eye thing. Oh my god. Yes. started at five minutes. And now it's about to roll around. Yeah. Oh my god. It's so furry. Oh
Unknown Speaker 43:30
my god. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 43:32
it's a little pause.
Molly 43:33
I just want to nibble them
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:35
you know how we've done day of perfect meals could
Molly 43:38
like co pa I mean like nibble it not not
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:42
actually not exactly where I was going with this. No, I was gonna say we could could we do like like the spilled milk perfect petting zoo where like you come in he gets a pet like every cute animal that we've selected. Like you get to pet whisper the stoat. You get to pet a giant river otter if you want to. You get to pet the baby seal. There was some sort of moth
Molly 44:03
Oh yeah, the Rosie Maple moth,
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:04
the Rosie Maple bought there was a fish like a little a little blow Blow puffer fish.
Molly 44:09
That's right. I can't wait to meet Finnegan. Fox.
Matthew Amster-Burton 44:11
Yeah, Finnegan? You can you can? Yeah. So so you just got to like snuggle all these animals at once, including the slimy ones.
Molly 44:17
Okay, great. It's time for our final segment now but wow stuff we're into.
I'm gonna go first, please. Oh my gosh. Okay, so I follow on Instagram, the the writer, Alexander ci. And he mentioned somewhere on Instagram, I don't know. But anyway, this account called Chinatown pretty. It's at Chinatown, pretty on Instagram. And the tagline is celebrating the street style of seniors living in Chinatown. These people have the most incredible style. I aspire to be everything. One of them the mixing of patterns, the
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:04
glasses. I just pulled it up. Are you looking at it greatest? Yes.
Molly 45:09
Ash who's whose dad is from South Korea has long aspired to have the fashion sense of an older Korean man. And I can't wait to share this with them.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:21
I'm looking at this picture picture of Sydney un age 73. My god, I love this guy. Oh my god. I
Molly 45:29
love all of these people. It's incredibly inspiring. Check it out Chinatown pretty on Instagram.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:35
I just found the one where someone's wearing a sock that says my favorite salad is wine. Delightful.
Molly 45:42
These people know how to live.
Matthew Amster-Burton 45:44
Yes. All right, my now but wow is hosted by Nicole byer. Is it the new season of nailed it? No, although I certainly recommend that. Is it her hip podcast? newcomers? No. It's not that either. Although I also recommend that I love everything Nicole does. No, it's her long running podcast. Why won't you date me, which is a fantastic show about modern dating from the perspective of a black woman. And Nicole gets amazing guests like all kinds of different people. This show goes into issues of race and gender and size and gets like really deep into that stuff. But it is always funny, like every second of every episode. That is why won't you date me on all the podcasting platforms.
Molly 46:22
That is delightful. I'm so glad to know about it. All right, Matthew. I think I'm ready to boot this show out of the nugget box. All right, let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 46:31
let's let's put let's booted out of the old nugget box.
Molly 46:37
Thanks for listening to spilled milk. We already did the closing joke. I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 46:40
Molly weissenberg. And I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. Our producer is Abby circuito.
Molly 46:46
Yeah, you can also find us
Matthew Amster-Burton 46:48
on RIAA. You know what, like yeah, if you want to send us some listener mail contact, it's build up podcast calm. We have a Reddit subreddit, it's reddit.com slash are slash everything spilled milk. And, you know, it's our show, we can do things in any order. We want. We already signed off. So bye.
Molly 47:11
My God, where did this part of the agenda go?
Matthew Amster-Burton 47:15
It's further it's further down. Where the heck is it? It's in the section that says go deep on McNuggets okay.