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A Milwaukee kitchen "mock"-up
Just when I thought chicken was destined to be chicken again after the whole pink slime chicken nugget controversy, I stumbled across a tweet from the official Milwaukee Public Schools Twitter account proclaiming the lunch menu for Thursday, April 25, 2012: "What's for lunch today? Mock chicken leg, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots, whole grain roll, chilled pears & grapes and milk."
What in the hot lunch tarnation is "mock chicken leg" and why are we serving it to school children?
I posed that very question via Twitter to @MilwaukeeMPS only to get this response: "@LindsayGarric Mock Chicken Leg is one of the most popular lunch items!"
OK. It may be popular, but what IS it? And should we be serving it to kids?
I Googled "What is mock chicken leg" only to find out that this delicacy may be a culinary colloquialism defined by citydictionary.com as:
1. A favorite food of kids in the Milwaukee Public School System (MPS) and a Milwaukee classic! Pork shaped into a form kind of resembling a chicken drumstick, but really flat, coated, and fried.
2. Yummy breaded, fried, processed pork product served to school-age children to make them big, strong Brewer fans.
3. Never pronounced clearly: (Mahchikinleg). Best hot lunch ever.
4. Something can't get enough of.
How have I been oblivious to this obvious delicacy for almost 36 years?
I'm not going to waste time pissing off a bunch of people by going in to how this particular hot lunch item is most likely high in saturated fat and chock full of processed proteins and carbs not fit for human consumption – let alone an item we should be giving our students at school as fuel for their academic pursuits. Instead I am embracing the curiosity within me to get my hands on some mock chicken leg.
Who's cooking?
Talkbacks
heinslor | June 22, 2012 at 8:09 p.m. (report)
I volunteer at lunch at my daughter's MPS K4 - grade5 school - it seems like almost every Thursday is mock chicken leg day! It's a good thing there are a lot of parent volunteers that day. The way it's served is particularly cruel - with a plastic spork! There is no way these little kids can pierce the hard fried batter with those "utensils". And, it's covered in gravy so it's impossible to eat it neatly with your hands! We parents get "real" knives and forks from the kitchen and frantically cut at least a hundred of those things during a lunch period!
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deb1223 | April 27, 2012 at 1:04 p.m. (report)
LOL, I have always loved mock chicken legs....however, I don't know if I would now, as an adult. I cannot stand real chicken legs, though! :)
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Kstohl1 | April 27, 2012 at 12:38 p.m. (report)
Roundy's also sells these in the Meat Dept. Tasty and not pink slime...: )
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porsche2 | April 27, 2012 at 11:52 a.m. (report)
HOME MADE MOCK CHICKEN LEGS ARE DELICIOUS AND COMPRISED OF PORK AND VEAL. GET DOWN TO RUPINAS AND ORDER A DOZEN, FIRST EGG, BREAD CRUMBS, BROWN IN OIL, AFTER ALL HAVE BEEN SEARED, FILL THE POT WITH ONIONS AND BROTH, SIMMER 2 HOURS.
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