Slim Chickens Chicken Tender Review - Part 1

This evening, I went to Slim Chickens and ordered what they call a "Slims Plate". This item comes with 5 of their chicken tenders, fries, two pieces of toast, and a drink. I misplaced the receipt but I believe the total was around $8.50 before tax. I have been to this place a few times and have been extremely pleased with them on every visit. They promise "Life Changing Chicken", and I believe their tenders certainly qualify. Below is a picture of my order.

Breading
The breading on these chicken tenders is minimalist, but highly effective. It is crispy when it needs to be, but very light and generally stays out of the way of the chicken tenders. It is a uniform golden brown, not greasy, and delicious. However, I would also categorize this as the weakest part of the tenders as it could be crispier, but it earns a 9/10 anyway.


Juiciness
This is easily the best facet of these chicken strips. From the moment you bite in to them, they explode in juicy deliciousness. I cannot fathom a juicier chicken tender. 10/10, and easily.

Spiciness/Flavor
The strips are not spicy, nor do they need to be. The chicken is moist and flavorful enough on its own, so no heavy spicing is needed to compensate. The flavor is perfect. 10/10.

Texture/Consistency
The strips are perfectly tender throughout. There are no rough spots, no inedible portions, and nothing to get in the way. This is how a chicken tender should be. 10/10.


 Overall
These are possibly the chicken strips of the gods. They are ambrosia and the juice is nectar. If the breading was slightly crispier, they might be more than that. If I had three wishes, two of them would be for two buckets of these chicken tenders. 

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Jack In The Box Chicken Tenders - Round 1

Today, I will be doing my first round review of Jack In The Box's Crispy Chicken Tenders. I have had these before, but from my experience they are generally pretty consistent in regards to quality. Specifically, I ordered a medium #13 combo, which comes with 4 of their tenders, and with a total cost of $7.80. I also ordered regular fries and a Coke.

Breading
The strips themselves have a rather flat profile compared to most chicken tenders. The breading of the strips isn't particularly thick compared to the size of the strips. The breading is crispy and the flavor of the breading is best described as "greasy". The breading was consistent, however, and this is probably the best aspect of these chicken tenders. 6/10

Juiciness
The chicken itself was fairly lacking in flavor. The grease from the exterior of the strips greatly overshadows any juiciness of the tenders within. 4/10

Spiciness
Is grease a spice? 3/10

Texture/Consistency
The chicken texture was surprisingly good. There were no rough spots and each strip maintained its texture throughout. Especially for fast food, I have no complaints. However, the strips do lose points simply from being so...thin. 6/10

Overall
These strips are pretty par-for-the-course for fast food chicken tenders. The greasy flavor is actually fairly endearing, even though it does have a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste. Still, it's an good, edible strip, but stay away if you don't like greasiness.

Another Reason Chicken Nuggets Are Inferior

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/health/tyson-chicken-nugget-plastic-recall/index.html

I will let the article speak for itself, but basically Tyson is recalling 130,000 pounds of cooked chicken nuggets due to them possibly having pieces of hard plastic in them. I have never been a harsh critic of Tyson - if you are going to do frozen chicken nuggets then their Southern-Style Chicken Nuggets were pretty good (although I'm not sure they still make them). However, the quality of any chicken product is severely compromised by the introduction of hard pieces of plastic. You don't see this kind of thing with real chicken tenders!

Burnt Chicken

Arby's Chicken Tenders - Round 1

My first review will be for Arby's Prime-Cut™ Chicken Tenders. I will post a final overall score once I have had a chance to visit twice, preferably from different locations. I ordered a 3 piece #20 combo with curly fries and a Mountain Dew. Total cost was $6.67. The fries weren't that great and the Mountain Dew was flat, but that is not why you are here! The chicken tenders.

Breading
I think the best way I can describe them is "decent strips with excellent packaging", by which I mean the breading. The first bites of each strip were pretty good - the breading was flavorful and crispy and did exactly what it was supposed to. They were just SLIGHTLY over-breaded near the end, but the overall impression is positive. 8/10

Juiciness
The tenders were fairly juicy for fast-food, but not competitive with most sit-down restaurants. The first tender was the worst of the three but the final strip was quite good. I would add a point if all the tenders were like the third. 7/10

Spiciness
This might be the hardest dimension to measure. The breading certainly had a peppery taste that was not too bad. Otherwise, they were flavorful, especially compared to fast-food restaurants. 7/10

Texture/Consistency
This is the weakest component of these strips. The first tender had an area near the end that was inedible and I had to work around. This is a never a good thing. The second strip was only passable with regards to consistency, but the third strip was okay. 5/10

Overall
Pretty good for fast food, and not too bad for the price. I look forward to revisiting Arby's for my second review and providing the final score.

Thoughts on upcoming 2016 Presidential Debate

I doubt either candidate will directly address chicken tenders, so the debate will likely lie outside the scope of this blog. Should a candidate specifically mention chicken tenders, I will report on it. Please stay tuned.

Introduction - Chicken Tender Review

Welcome to the Chicken Tender Review blog. The purpose of this site is to document, review, and rate chicken tenders from a variety of sources. First, I think it is important to provide some definitions and to outline the scope of this site, as well as the criteria I will be using to rate the tenders. I must also clarify, up front, that I have no training in food criticism, cooking, professional writing, web design, nutrition science, or any related fields. I have only my passion for quality chicken tenders to rely on.

What is a chicken tender?
Chicken tenders, also sometimes known as chicken fingers, chicken strips, or chicken fillets, are generally strips of chicken breast meat, that are breaded and fried.

What is NOT a chicken tender?
Similar items such as fried chicken breast or other on-the-bone chicken, chicken nuggets, chicken wings, schnitzel, chicken fried steak, or other similar meat products are not chicken tenders. As a result, these will fall outside the scope of this blog. This is not out of any disrespect to any of these dishes, but allow a more apples-to-apples comparison. Apples are also not considered chicken tenders as they are a fruit.

How will the chicken tenders be rated?
I will taste-test chicken tenders from each location two times (in order to reduce the chances that a one-off error produced a bad sample). I will order and consume the tenders "plain", which means I will not utilize any sort of sauces, including dipping sauce. Also, if the location has the option of Spicy and Mild, I will order Mild. When tasting the tenders, I will rate them on the following dimensions and provide a final score (which will not simply be the sum of the various factors). Each piece will be rated on a ten point scale, as will the final score.

1) Breading
The coating should be crispy, but not too crunchy. A cross section of an idealized chicken tender should contain more chicken than breading. The breading should not be too dry, nor too soggy.

2) Juiciness
The juiciness of the chicken itself is paramount, and is generally the single greatest indicator of the overall quality of the chicken. Dry chicken strips will be marked down.

3) Spiciness
Although I will be using the "mild" version of chicken strips if available, that does not mean that the strips need be bland. The saltiness and spiciness of the tenders contribute greatly to the quality of the meal.

4) Texture/Consistency
The texture of the chicken is also important. Encountering a rough spot, bone, or something inedible that needs to be spit out is a major penalty.

How will the chicken NOT be rated?
Not included in my ratings will be nutrition information, cost/value, portions, service, and convenience. If one of these factors is significant, I will mention it but it will not generally impact the final rating.