Popcorn Chicken

Popcorn chicken in its mass-market form was developed by KFC, which began test-marketing it in the United States in March 1992 and rolled it out nationwide that September. The product is generally credited to food technologist Gene Gagliardi — better known for inventing Steak-umm — who patented a method (filed 1991) for turning cheaper dark thigh meat into small, uniform breaded pieces suited to high-volume frying. The bite-size, kernel-shaped format had clear antecedents in deep-fried popcorn shrimp and in Taiwanese fried-chicken street snacks, but KFC's launch is what fixed the name 'popcorn chicken' in the American fast-food vocabulary.

Each piece is mostly crust: a thin, well-seasoned, audibly crunchy shell around a small nub of moist chicken. Eaten by the handful, the texture is closer to a savory snack than to a meal of meat, and the seasoning — salt, pepper, garlic, sometimes a peppery or spicy kick — carries it. The little pieces stay hot and crisp because there is so much surface area, and they beg for dipping. The pleasure is rhythmic: crunch after crunch, one after another.

Cutting the chicken into small cubes maximizes surface area, so the crust-to-meat ratio is high and the pieces fry through almost instantly. A buttermilk or egg-and-flour wet step glues the dry dredge on; in hot oil the coating dehydrates and browns via the Maillard reaction while the moisture inside the meat turns to steam and keeps the small nub juicy. Because the cubes are tiny, the fry is quick and the oil must be hot — around 350–360°F (175–182°C) — or the pieces sit too long and turn greasy. Thigh meat, with more fat and connective tissue than breast, resists drying out at that size, which is why it was the original choice.