Fried Chicken - Comfort Food, Indeed!

I am a big supporter of comfort food (or I am big because I am a supporter), that is food loaded with calories, likely bad for one's health but totally satisfying. Among these foods are meatloaf, chili and gumbo and, certainly, fried chicken. TLJ is very careful not to provide such treats at least not too often and fried chicken not at all. The reason is, beyond the calories, that such treats will likely cause arteries to close in protest and one by-pass operation is enough, thank you.

However, the other day, purely for research and being willing to sacrifice my body upon the altar of knowledge, I set out to check several chicken joints in the neighborhood to report on the products at Popeye's, KFC and Church's, three chains in northern Hillsborough County. I was armed with enough gas and heartburn meds to ward off the anticipated pain.

My first stop was Popeye's which offers regular and extra spicy varieties of chicken, all with interesting side dishes which I ignored with breathtaking forbearance. (It is not easy to pretend that Louisiana red beans and rice doesn't exist.) On the theory that, if I were to drop dead, it might as well be with a good taste in my mouth, I ordered the spicy chicken breast. This treat has 360 calories, enough fat to float a good sized ship and 760 mg f sodium; one can order the same piece of chicken sans skin and breading, but what's the point. The chicken was moist inside and the skin/breading crisp and, as advertised, spicy. Most interesting the chicken was not at all greasy.

Really satiated, off I went to the local KFC store. KFC had been "Kentucky Fried Chicken" before the politically correct folks decided not to stress the "Fried". KFC has its traditional fried chicken in two varieties, original (with the famous secret blend of spices as formulated by "the Colonel" many years ago) and "extra crispy". Here one has to make a decision, to stick to the original with its superior taste and overwhelming amount of grease than runs down the arm, or to go with the crispy that is extremely bland but will not leave a puddle of grease on multiple napkins, hand, table and clothes. In the interests of science, I chose the original. It was far wetter than the Popeye's variety but tasted equally great, except for the abundant amount of grease.

KFC's original chicken breast and extra crispy has 370 and 470 calories, respectively, lots of fat and over 1000 mg of sodium. Again, the skinless and breaded versions cut the calories and sodium considerably, but I liken that to kissing one's sister: pleasant but that's not why I look forward to the experience.

KFC recently came out with a grilled chicken. The calories drop to less than 150, the sodium to less than 459 mg, but I found the breast to be terribly dry, the taste so mild that it did not qualify as "comfort" grub. As a matter of fact, it tasted as if it might be healthy and that's not the point at all.

By now, I am feeling sorely in need of a nap, but I pressed on to Church's Fried Chicken, a much smaller chain in our neighborhood.

Church's has its original fried chicken and, now, a spiced up version with habanera pepper, chipotle and lots of cayenne pepper. The size of the chicken breasts are slightly smaller than those at Popeye's and KFC, which explains the caloric numbers for the original and spicy at 180 and 320, respectively. This company's products have more sodium than its competition so I guess that makes up the fewer calories!

By this time, I'm not sure I was an adequate reviewer; I was too stuffed to really get into it.

Of the three chains, I prefer Popeye's, even though it will certainly offer the worst heartburn. The taste of KFC's original variety is marred by its greasiness and Church's extra spicy has a "kick" but the pieces are small.

But comfort food it certainly is.

Now I am going to rest, take a nap and try and recover.

That was fun!