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Chicken Buying Smarts

Patricia Cobe, Senior Editor

August 31, 2006

1 Min Read
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The ever-popular chicken nugget comes in a variety of breadings.

Breaded, fully cooked chicken nuggets, tenderloins and filets (whole muscle boneless breast pieces) are available from a number of producers. They may go through several processes, including marinating, pre-dusting, battering, breading, frying and/or oven baking and quick-freezing. Here's help on breading terminology from Perdue's online poultry school.

Breading pickup refers to the amount of coating that adheres to the chicken

Lightly breaded-Up to 14% pickup

Breaded-14 to 30% pickup

Fritter-30 to 64% pickup

Croquettes-64% and higher pickup

Homestyle-Process by which a fritter-breaded product is flipped around to replicate a hand-breaded appearance

About the Author

Patricia Cobe

Senior Editor

Pat plans and executes the menu sections of Restaurant Business and FoodService Director, covering food and beverage trends, Menu R&D, profiles of chefs and restaurateurs and Technomic research. She also contributes to the digital content of both RB and FSD and is editor of two weekly e-newsletters, Recipe Report and On the Menu. Pat’s weekly podcast, MenuFeed, covers a wide range of menu topics through interviews with chefs and operators.

Pat came to Winsight from Hearst, where she was an executive editor. She is the co-author of the Mompreneurs series of books as well as two cookbooks. She graduated from Cornell University and earned a Masters in Journalism from Boston University. She is active in several professional organizations, including Les Dames d’Escoffier and the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC), and serves as a judge for the James Beard Media Awards.

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