Mock chicken is a
luncheon or
sandwich meat that is exactly what it says it claims to be:
Fake Chicken. While this sounds relatively
unappetizing, it is one of my personal
sandwich favorites. It tastes surprisingly like
chicken, and the
signature orange paprika rim has graced many a sandwich.
Mock chicken is a
star of the modern industrial food market. Originally created in
small delis, mock chicken
loaf is a mixture of several meats, namely
pork,
beef and
chicken, finely ground and cooked as a large deli loaf. This mixture is then cut into
lunch meat. As anyone who buys lunch meat at a grocery store knows, sliced
chicken and
turkey are some of the most expensive deli meats available. Some crafty
deli owner concocted a chicken
substitute with less expensive pork and beef, touched it up some
paprika and laughed all the way to the bank. Modern food producers have taken up this
clever creation and produce it on a massive scale.
The typical
ingredients of mock chicken are finely ground pork, finely ground beef,
cornflakes, finely ground chicken
base (roasted chicken, salt,
monosodium glutamate,
sugar, flavoring,
turmeric) and a paprika coating. It is the same color and consistency as
bologna, and it has a surprisingly convincing chicken
taste. I suggest serving it on light
rye bread, with
sharp cheddar cheese and
hot mustard.
Yummy!