Why is the fried chicken sandwich the perfect solution?

Last year, during a brief family trip to New Orleans, my brother and I had planned to no longer take our responsibility to drive two hours further west for a pilgrimage to New Orleans. last Popeyes buffet on the planet. It seems strange these days. Popeyes, which is already an ideal gourmet establishment, has proven itself: a robust chicken breast – wrapped in a legendary fried breadcrumb – lined with mayonnaise, nestled on a cold block of two thick-cut gherkins, held in place by the gentle embrace of a brioche bun light, light and flexible. I spend my summer in Canada, where the sandwich was not introduced; I may or may not have dreamed of going home just to have a taste.

Popeyes' new Fried Chicken Sandwich seems to be a creation of the best of all worlds, a rare example of almost unanimous approval by the general public. It takes again the objective, populist perfection of the characteristic flavor profile of Popeyes, and applies it to a proven sandwich form popularized by Chick-fil-A for more than six decades: fried chicken, gherkins ( always under the chicken, never). above), buttered bun, and not much else. This is not the most ambitious crossover event in history, but it may be the most logical. His torrential success is therefore not a surprise.

The sandwich has become a sensation. You know that. Competitive companies know this because many of them have stimulated the same economy under the common belief that a rising up raises all brands. By the time you read this, the sandwich will already be exhausted for the day. The Great War of the Fried Chicken Sandwich of 2019 is the subject of heated debate over the best fried chicken sandwich.

But if Popeyes' unveiling of the sandwich may seem like the most important moment in the history of fried chicken sandwiches (if you live on the internet), we've already seen it. Although the hype seems incessant, the fried chicken sandwich, as a form, really reached its peak in 2015.

In June of the same year, David Chang presented his ideal version of the fried chicken sandwich by opening the first Fuku in the East Village of Manhattan; A few weeks later, Danny Meyer's expanding Shake Shack empire launched Chick'n Shack in Brooklyn, which then expanded across the country in early 2016, contributing to an increase of 43 % of the company's earnings for the first quarter of 2016. In October 2015, Chick-fil-A opened a 5,000-square-foot facility in Manhattan's Garment District, its first full-service location in New York. New York, where lines of opening took place in a loop. That same month, J. Kenji López-Alt, best-selling cookbook author and recipient of the James Beard Award, organized the same month of fried chicken sandwich pop-ups in Harlem and San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles. Angeles, using techniques inspired by science The food laboratory. I watched the old food stand owners staring in amazement as a huge line was forming in a food court of an Asian supermarket that, most of the time, was sparsely populated – all to taste the monstrous fried chicken sandwich with kimchi sauce, pickled, twice fried in beef tallow, topped with gochujang mayo and pickles. Ironically, 2015 was the year McDonald's abandoned its southern fried chicken sandwich, an almost identical approximation to a chicken-fil-A sandwich. (Last month, McDonald's franchisees begged the company to produce a new competitor Chick-fil-A in order to take advantage of a market in high demand.)

It's also in 2015 that Los Angeles has discovered the latest addition to its pantheon sandwich. Howlin 'Ray', a Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant that has become one of Los Angeles' busiest food institutions, unveiled its hot chicken sando modestly in August 2015, when company operated a food truck. It is probably the most instinctive sandwich of the city; Howlin's shop in the Chinatown neighborhood now sees two hours or more waiting regularly. I was one of the first to try the sandwich, a week after Chef Johnny Ray Zone finalized the recipe, at the L.A. Arts District Farmers Market. I had my moment of transcendence with a fried chicken sandwich years ago – at Bakesale Betty in Oakland – but Howlin 'Ray' Ray was the closest I've ever been to since.

In 2016, the fried chicken sandwich was recognized as a national trend in its own right by Enjoy your meal, but at that time, they were actually only declaring the evidence. The formula for the success of the fried chicken sandwich over the years is really the formula of a fried chicken sandwich, right? At the center is fried chicken – a touchstone of American cuisine, in every way – and everything in its orbit is intended to serve as a counterpoint to equalization. A sponge-shaped bread contrasts with the crispy outer fried, mayonnaise serving as a bond to ensure that the texture transition is done in a fluid manner; the acidity of the gherkins cuts the fat from the frying work; the cabbage salad (if any) offers another type of crunch, a guy who perseveres even if the fried chicken does not. The fried chicken sandwich establishes its balance by simulating a complete meal and all the sensory factors that are part of it. Fried chicken is universal; Condiments and additions to the party can vary greatly from one provider to another, but basically, it's a unifying form.

I can almost trace the arc of my life in fried chicken sandwiches. I was 6 years old the first and only time I felt indestructible: I hosted by myself an original Burger King chicken sandwich, its oblong and underwater shape making it look a lot more great than the typical burger. I was in Dallas for a high school speech and debate tournament the first time I ate at Chick-fil-A, which ignited my dedication to the franchise at the university. A new Chick-fil-A opened one kilometer from my college apartment and each new Chick-fil-A has a draw that awarded a set of 52 free meal vouchers to 100 random people who signed up for camp at the restaurant. day; I did it and I suffered some of the worst food poisoning of my life for these free meals. In 2011, during the lockout of the NBA, I published a blog on Chick-fil-A entitled Starving on Sundays, in which I reviewed the menu items, prioritized the many sauces available, analyzed the The effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and, ultimately, counted that the company has openly supported and funded anti-LGBTQ groups. I have eaten at Chick-fil-A sparingly since. (For transparency, I had no Chick-fil-A waffle fries in the top five of my personal fast food rankings.)

Chick-fil-A is, for better or for worse, the standard bearer. He claims to have invented the form, but given the history of the South's black suppression and success, as in the case of hot chicken in Nashville, the full schedule of fried chicken sandwiches may never be unveiled. As such, Chick-fil-A can always be the measuring stick. Popeyes has seen countless comparisons between Chick-fil-A over the past week, just like Fuku, Shake Shack and McDonald's.

Each of the predecessors of Popeyes' major market has experienced a wave of hype that has finally disappeared, but the excitement of fried chicken sandwiches seems to be constantly regenerating. And today, the pocket piece has become a form of passive resistance against a titan in the industry; Chick-fil-A can still be the archetype, but it's clear that it's worth looking for something better. Thus, the fried chicken sandwich – an amalgam of two ideal forms of food – as its name suggests – has become an essential food of viral age: a symbol of perfection that nevertheless has the power to capture l & # 39; imagination.