Chicken Strip Showdown 2020!

           

 While out shopping with my mom, I continued to debate, wondering how I would go about this. I had already told her what this blog was going to be about, so, as we left the store, she threw an idea at me: “We can go to three different restaurants and try their chicken strips.” Now, I’m a fan of chicken strips, and have been since I was young. However, she also suggested going to three different places I had never tried before to prevent bias. And thus, we traveled around to three distinct chicken restaurants that focused only on serving chicken. We came upon three locations that had exactly what we were looking for: Slim Chickens, Golden Chick, and Church’s Fried Chicken.

(Left: Slim Chickens) (Center: Golden Chick) (Right: Church's Fried Chicken)

Now, I won’t call myself a chicken strip connoisseur, but chicken strips need to have three specific components to them to make them delicious. 1) Seasoning. If they aren’t seasoned well, then the chicken will just taste bland. 2) Crispiness. The chicken needs to be fried perfectly, with a nice, crunchy crust to accompany the chicken itself. Finally, 3) Juiciness. No one likes a dry piece of chicken, so chicken strips should be no different.

With the criteria set, the chicken strip showdown began! Who would win: Slim Chickens? Golden Chick? Or maybe even Church’s? When doing this, I drank water to wash away flavors before going to the next one. I didn’t use any sauces with the chicken. Thus, I went onto the battlefield and saw what each place had to offer.

Slim Chickens: On the outside, these chicken strips were the smallest in terms of size. However, they were actually speckled on the outside with pepper, showing that they had been seasoned in some way. Upon my first bite, I immediately knew that I had been correct. Although the chicken wasn’t all that crispy, it was bursting with flavor. They were salty and peppery, with the hint of a kick in the back of my throat. They were oozing juice from the first bite all the way down to the last one. With this being my first piece, the other places had a lot to live up to.

Golden Chick: The presentation of the chicken was what I imagined when thinking  “Chicken Strip:” Incredibly crispy, with a nice, crackled look to it. I was excited to take a bite out of it, but from the first bite I knew this one wasn’t going to be a winner. The chicken wasn’t very seasoned at all, instead everything focused on that crispiness. Not only that, but it was dry, almost a little like jerky. What was worst of all was the mouth feel afterwards: It almost felt like the chicken had left a greasy film over my mouth that was almost impossible to wash out with water. Definitely not in my top 5 for chicken.

 

Church’s: The chicken here was very similar to Golden Chick in terms of presentation. However, in terms of flavor and juiciness, churches took it from its other competitor. The flavor was salty, mingling with the grease of the chicken. The crunch was incredible, the crunchiest out of them all, and it had retained some of its juiciness from the frying process. Because of this, I feel that it took a nice, solid second place. As for first?

Overall, I feel that Slim Chickens won out over the other two places. Its flavor and juiciness were beyond comparison with them, even if the crust left me wanting for more of a crunch. However, I’d gladly give that crunch up for a flavorful piece of chicken like that! And their fries were pretty good too! But, then again, so were Church’s… Ah, but a fry showdown is for another blog!