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Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @01:27PM (#20801810)
I've invested money in a local butcher in Chicago and source pretty much all of my protein from another one closer to me. I'm familiar with the locavore argument and agree that the quality is higher. There are still higher levels of quality to be reached by sourcing heritage birds, and you can optimize for flavor even more by sourcing game birds. Where do you draw the line? I'd rather eat a local farm chicken than a Tyson breast, just like I'd rather eat a dry-aged ribeye than a wet-packed eye of round. That doesn't make the eye of round somehow inedible or "barely meat".
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by acollins1331 on Monday August 26, 2019 @01:36PM (#20801901)
The term "barely meat" as used in the parent was definitely talking about the ground beef you get at fast food restaraunts. Which has been shown in lots of cases to contain additives, notably taco bell etc. You brought up chicken because it's harder to call it barely meat, but fast food chicken is still shittier.
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @01:38PM (#20801922)
"Shittier" how? Chick-Fil-A's fast-food chicken is likely better than the median supermarket chicken (it's all supposedly antibiotic-free now). I'd like to see a better grounded argument, one that doesn't depend entirely on the premise that "fast food meat must be shitty because we disdain fast food".
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wcfields on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:06PM (#20802209)
All chicken in the US is technically antibiotic-free. [1]

[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/overuse-of-antibiotics/what-...

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:08PM (#20802223)
Here I think we’re referring to the “raised without antibiotics” standard.
[dead]
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @01:44PM (#20801983)
Did you read the first half of that comment and not the second? Local chicken is generally "better" than supermarket chicken. That doesn't make supermarket chicken "shitty"; supermarket-grade chicken is necessarily what most people are going to eat, most of the time. It has for more than half a century been our standard, and our standard is better than what preceded it.

You can always do better. But I'd like to see a well-grounded argument that KFC-grade chicken is somehow "shitty". I think it's possible that there is one (I think the argument that all fast-food chicken is necessarily shitty is much harder to defend) --- but I haven't seen it yet.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by okmokmz on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:49PM (#20803039)
Not arguing about the quality of meat, but how these organizations source their meats are also an important differentiation. Sure, maybe it is 100% chicken meat, but I don't particularly want to eat meat from animals that were essentially tortured and abused their entire lives, and I imagine that has some kind of negative affect on the quality/healthfulness. KFC has been accused of animal cruelty multiple times, and the videos of the factory farms they source meats from are pretty disgustingly shocking.
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by windexh8er on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:27PM (#20802876)
> You can always do better. But I'd like to see a well-grounded argument that KFC-grade chicken is somehow "shitty".

I'd say if you buy your meat from a local butcher and you know the actual source of the meat, then you'd likely say that raising chickens in high capacity growth sheds doesn't put out what many would define as quality birds. [0] The chicken is likely fine for consumption, agreed. But if you were born, pumped full of feed to make you as fat as fast as possible, and barely had room to move during that time - would you qualify yourself as healthy? Just as an athlete vs a couch potato have significantly different body composition one could assert this is also true for chickens. In the grand scheme you get what you pay for. In a race to the bottom of cheap meat you need scale and it's much easier to throw lots of chickens in a small place than it is to free-range them.

Finally, while subjective, it's a common pattern to leverage MSG in products that are of generally low quality. I don't know anyone who puts MSG in recipes using pricier butcher cuts, I know I never have. KFC has Monosodium Glutamate in most things they sell.

I guess if you want to stand on a soap box and call out that KFC meat quality isn't "shitty" just because nobody has proven it to you, then more power to you. But, it's hard to argue that there isn't a difference of quality by a mass producer of chicken vs non-mass producing vendors. I mean, it's why people pay more for a friendlier and healthier growth environment for said meats. "Shitty" in the sense of this argument seems rather subjective anyway. But I will say it's hard to argue mass produced chicken isn't "shitty" for the environment. [1][2]

[0] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2999689/The-35-day-... [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221431731... [2] https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/77/4/197/5...

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @04:23PM (#20803385)
I'm a little lost here. I agree: heritage birds that are free to roam uncrowded pastures will taste better than CAFO chicken. What's your point? A dry-aged ribeye also tastes better than a bottom round steak. If you're eating dry-aged ribeyes (or heritage chicken) every day, you're wealthy. Congrats, but most people don't have that option.
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by windexh8er on Monday August 26, 2019 @06:37PM (#20804443)
Let's not jump to conclusions - I never said anything about tasting better. What I said was that the quality of the bird with regard to health is likely very different. I also never said I'm eating any of those things. In fact I don't eat red or white meat at all anymore. And that's my point. Why eat sub-par quality meats when there are better alternatives that are cheaper or similarly priced? If I did still eat meat I surely wouldn't be wasting money on eating low quality meat on a daily basis and instead eat it less often but buy better.

Your request doesn't have an objective answer, so I'm not sure what you were looking for other than to present something indefensible. But, you also gloss over the main points of how "shitty" this practice is for the environment and instead you try to deflect with a backhanded "you're wealthy" comment.

At least I presented some points to the conversation.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @11:30PM (#20806098)
Wait, I'm saying it tastes better. It feels like we can't even agree about what we disagree about.
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wolco on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:24PM (#20802376)
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-KFC-bad-for-our-health

Summary, too much fat, salt, antibiotics.

Chicken tastes watery because they soak it in salt.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tptacek on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:50PM (#20802555)
You mean they brine it? Like home cooks have been urged to do by Cooks Illustrated for 20 years?
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wolco on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:31PM (#20802909)
Not familiar with the advice given in Cooks Illustrated over the last 20 years is it related to sport's illustrated where they show you cooks wearing swimsuits.

Brining if you can call it that is only step 2. Here's the steps they use to prepare.

https://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-kfc-actually-makes-their-fri...

Are those the steps Cooking illustrated gave you? Are you cooking your own kfc at home now?

You seem like the guy who went to the coke/pepsi taste test challenge and said they both taste the same.. they taste like 7up.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by mynameisvlad on Monday August 26, 2019 @04:01PM (#20803156)
Those are generally the steps for deep frying chicken, yes. Obviously you'd use home utensils and appliances, but brine -> bread -> fry is basically the only way you're going to get fried chicken.

I'm not exactly sure what you were trying to do with that link, but I'm pretty sure your intended outcome wasn't to show that KFC fried chicken is just like any other fried chicken, but with stricter recipes and industrial machines.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by chipotle_coyote on Monday August 26, 2019 @04:15PM (#20803289)
So, from the very first paragraph of the article you linked to: "It's basically like how your grandma would do it—except they use an infernal magic machine called a 'pressure frier.'"

Thanks! I feel a lot better about KFC chicken now!

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wolco on Monday August 26, 2019 @05:29PM (#20803987)
And the extra fat/salt/antibiotics.. and 26 questionable substances out of 29 for the spices.

Just like grandma.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by mynameisvlad on Monday August 26, 2019 @05:37PM (#20804049)
Several things to unpack here:

- Unless you are in the SLT of KFC, you have absolutely no way to know what's in their spice blend. It is one of the most closely guarded recipes in the world.

- There's famously 11 spices in the original recipe. So not only could you not possibly know what's in it (and therefore what's questionable), but you didn't even get the number of ingredients right to criticize.

- Based on all the various copycat recipes out there, I highly doubt that 10 out of the 11 ingredients (same proportion that you used, just adjusted for accuracy) are questionable. You know, unless "salt", "flour", "thyme", "garlic salt", etc. are all questionable. There's only so much that can go in a spice blend after all.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wolco on Monday August 26, 2019 @06:05PM (#20804255)
Read the original link for details on the 29 ingredients not to be confused with spices.

Let's address the mystery of the 11 spices. Here they are..

2/3 Ts Salt 1/2 Ts Thyme 1/2 Ts Basil 1/3 Ts Oregano 1 Ts Celery salt 1 Ts Black pepper 1 Ts Dried mustard 4 Ts Paprika 2 Ts Garlic salt 1 Ts Ground ginger 3 Ts White pepper

Have fun frying tonight.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by mynameisvlad on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @04:19PM (#20814028)
> on the 29 ingredients not to be confused with spices.

> and 26 questionable substances out of 29 for the spices.

Maybe you should take your own advice there, buddy. I was specifically replying to what you said in your comment.

Furthermore, you can very well guess what's in the spice blend, but you still have no way to actually confirm it, nor any way to confirm it's the current recipe, or if the recipe diverged from the first one used (which was indeed leaked).

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by wolco on Monday August 26, 2019 @06:33PM (#20804412)
Link to the mainstream pub posting the recipe.

https://www.chatelaine.com/food/trends/kfc-secret-recipe-rev...

Secrets like this need to be out in the open.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by askafriend on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:21PM (#20802348)
Yeah take the L and move on. You didn't even bother to read his comment.

There is nuance. Take the time to understand it or don't waste your time commenting at all.

Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by zrail on Monday August 26, 2019 @01:42PM (#20801958)
(Point of order: tptacek probably brought up chicken because TFA is about KFC, a purveyor of ... chicken.)
Re:Beyond Meat and KFC partner to test fried plant-based ‘ch... by tripzilch on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @07:38AM (#20808476)
The article is about plant-based meat replacements. I think it's ludicrous how everyone in this thread seems to think it's oh so important to argue whether their real meat is actually really good or not.